I'm gonna be wanting to make a polycarbonate copy of some window glass in the near future (both side windows and a rear window too). Are there any 3rd gen pre made versions??

For those who don't know - polycarbonate is a plastic and if you get high quality (like the optical quality polycarbonate you get CDs made from) they work fine as windows (but are much much lighter than glass and about 300 times stronger!). The only problem is finding somewhere that'll do it! The only ppl I can find are mass-manufacturers and want upwards of £20,000 TO MAKE A SINGLE ITEM!!! This is cost for the tooling and mould, as the actual process is dirt cheap.

So - can anyone help me out or advise?

Cheers

Ryan

 

If they are the same stuff CD's are made of, then won't they scratch up really easily too?
Knightsports made a fiberglass rear hatch, and acrylic rear glass@ http://www.takakaira.com/
$880 for the fiberglass hatch, and $538 for the acrylic back windshield

 

apparently they put some sort of special coat on it that works wonders at keeping it scratch proof, but they dont use it on cd's either because its not cost efficient, or not very cd laser friendly (not sure which is true, have read many reasons)

i will go and have a look at that link you provided, thanks!

 

Fal makes one as well:

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...ght=fal+window

 

I hope that it works out for you, but for a street car, the thing that always comes to mind are polycarbonate headlight covers. After a few years, they always seem to yellow, fog and/or craze over. Of course, if you're building a track car, or if the pieces are cheap enough to periodically replace, maybe the longevity is not an issue.

 

Most Plastics are NOT very UV resistant (clear plastics in particular) and will discolor and/or oxidize with excessive exposure to SunLight (or any other UV source)

The Side windows are Flat pieces so can be cut from flat sheet (use a fine tooth recirocating or band saw) Flat sheet should be avilable from a plastics retailer/wholsaler. the rear hatch is MUCH more difficult as it contains compound curves and has to be molded or bent. bending/stretching a flat sheet to obtain the compound curves will introduce thickness variations and cause optical destortion.

artowar: this is exactly whu polycarb headligt lenses yellow so fast - not only are they exposed to a lot of UV from Sunlight - Quartz Halogen and Zenon bulbs tend to produce a lot of UV also.