Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]()
Clear or smoke lexan (polycarbonate) and Plexiglass (acrylic) are
available from AIN, Farco and a lot of other plastics houses. Polycarbonates are more flexable than acrylics but more shatter proof. THey are also a LOT harder to thermoform. They absorb moisture and will bubble when heated to froming temperatures so you have to bake them carefully at about 200ºF for several hours before forming to drive out the moisture. Acrylics come in two basic grades, extruded and cell cast. They don't absorb moisture so they don't have to be baked. For optical clarity after forming you want cell cast. Slump forming still requires very even heating to keep the optical clarity. IT is fairly easy to slump a shallow dome but it is very hard to get a full hemisphere to come out right. For a 21 cm diameter dome you need 1/4" thick material at a minimum and preferably 3/8". Personally I would look for a pre-made security or aquarium dome like this: http://www.aliendecor.com/acrylic_domes.htm. By the time you screw up a half sheet of 3/8" acrylic you could have paid for a real one. Jan Møller wrote: Looking for a source of Lexan or similar material that the supplier can form into a dome to be used as a lookout on my Open 40' singlehander. Radius is 21 cm. Have tried various places and Google but to no avail. Thanks in advance for any help and hints Regards Jan -- Glenn Ashmore I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com |
#2
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]()
You might also check one of the homebuilt aircraft suppliers like Wicks or
Aircraft Spruce & Specialty to see if there's a pre-fabbed bubble you can adapt to your needs. Greg sefton |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Forum | |||
OT--Not again! More Chinese money buying our politicians. | General | |||
Source for lexan or similar tranparent material - for tranparent dome on singlehander | Boat Building |