Thermoforming Lexan

[ScubaSteve]

Carried out al little experiment today, to thermoform a spare piece of lexan with a view to making my own thermoformed lexan rear windscreen if it worked, heres some pics

after 30 mins

cool, so that worked, now i need a boot lid with glass or just glass on its own to use as a template, will happily accept any donors lol, if this all goes to plan i may even start making them available for sale

 

[Sparx]

where did you get the lexan from? and how much does it cost?

 

[ScubaSteve]

EBay its about 25 quid for a 1000x500mm sheet 4mm

 

[Flying Scotsman]

You can get it off ebay at a good amount of sheets for about £100...
That's what im using for the side and rear windows for the rally car, very strong stuff.

 

[ScubaSteve]

yeah i used 4mm for windows and rear 1/4's i think thats the msa spec required

 

[Flying Scotsman]

This is why you use Lexan over conventional glass... for those others reading this thread...

 

[melinamotor]

This is why you use Lexan over conventional glass... for those others reading this thread...

Point proven there I think

 

[JonB]

I would have thought that oven heating it would cause an age hardening effect and make it brittle, might have to let it cool very slowly to overcome that.

 

[ScubaSteve]

still feels the same as when it was original, its designed to be thermoformable its a property of the lexan, its also exactly how they make the rear windows in the thermoformed bits your buy off the shelves

 

[warrenpenalver]

nice.

Personally i prefer film coated glass for the door windows. Bit old fashioned but i know it can be smashed out easily if the door is jammed in an impact.

I will be making my quarter windows out of carbon/kevlar eventually. Can be made with the profiled edge but much lighter and neater than most plastic windows. And lets be honest you cant see much out of them anyway!!

Im also thinking of carbon/kevlar rear window when i do a carbon boot. I can only see a thin line of car above spoiler and small square between the spoiler pillars as it is, so again little lost visibility. Although if i did the rear window i would probably fit a rear camera and a rear view mirror screen to watch it on. Can use a nice wide angle camera meaning far better visability than ever possible as standard.

 

[ScubaSteve]

you can pull the windows out with your hands if you need to

 

[jacko]

all thermoplastics (basically everything apart from plugs / sockets / and some worktops) can be reformed using heat with no damage to the materials properties....

lexan / polycarbonate can be a bitch if it gets too hot as water bubbles (weird i know!!!!) form in the plastic. this usually causes a problem when vacuum forming it as its heated from one side so most manuf. put it in a proper oven and heat slowly first.

id just say heat both sides / glass steve and itl be fine

id def want a rear screen off you, esp if you could make up a template and do the black paint around the outside ;-)

ps; never use acrylic / plexiglass; its far too brittle and gets worse with age / uv.

4mm polycarb is what everyone uses so imagine its fia spec

 

[ScubaSteve]

yeah 4mm is msa spec

 

[JonB]

I remembered from working with Lexan years ago that we had to send it out to get it folded for some prototype aircraft interior work, and the contractor took ages. Reason he gave was they had to gently warm and slowly cool the finished job to restore its original properties of the Lexan.
Should have known you would have checked it all out first.

 

[Flying Scotsman]

There must be some companies out there that will shape your Lexan to the right shape for the windows and not compromise the materials properties...???

 

[ScubaSteve]

No its fine to thermo form the way I was doing it iv read all the spec of the lexan I use, its designed to be formed like that

 

[Flying Scotsman]

No its fine to thermo form the way I was doing it iv read all the spec of the lexan I use, its designed to be formed like that

Well good luck, let me know how you get on, i'll be doing the same for the rally car.