Lexan Bend Radius

[J.Kahn]

Whats' the minimum bend radius for 1/8 and 3/16" polycarbonate sheet?

[David Lamphere]

The 1/8" Lexan (MR10?) I have for my project is REALLY tough! It won't
break unless you bend it over on itself - and even then, only when you beat
on the bend or bend it back and forth a bunch of times.
I would say that if you use a radius equal to the thickness or greater, you
aren't going to be getting into trouble. And I doubt you need to bend it
even that tightly!

Mighty nice stuff! Mighty expensive too :-)

Dave

"J.Kahn" > wrote in message
. ..
> Whats' the minimum bend radius for 1/8 and 3/16" polycarbonate sheet?

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

"J.Kahn" > wrote in message
. ..
> Whats' the minimum bend radius for 1/8 and 3/16" polycarbonate sheet?

Bending hot or cold?

I've seen references that suggest using a sheet metal brake which is an
almost negligable radius (and I assume a cold bend)

Hot you should be able to form it at will.

--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.

[Ed Sullivan]

On Tue, 5 Dec 2006 17:05:39 -0500, "Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe" <The Sea
Hawk at wow way d0t com> wrote:

>"J.Kahn" > wrote in message
. ..
>> Whats' the minimum bend radius for 1/8 and 3/16" polycarbonate sheet?
>
>Bending hot or cold?
>
>I've seen references that suggest using a sheet metal brake which is an
>almost negligable radius (and I assume a cold bend)
>
>Hot you should be able to form it at will.

I don't think lexan lends itself to hot bends, however I have made
several three panel winshields in a sheet metal brake. I bends
beautifully, however don't ever spill gasoline on it, especially if it
is stressed or it will craze and shatter almost immediately.

[Rich S.[_1_]]

"Ed Sullivan" > wrote in message
...
> I don't think lexan lends itself to hot bends, however I have made
> several three panel winshields in a sheet metal brake. I bends
> beautifully, however don't ever spill gasoline on it, especially if it
> is stressed or it will craze and shatter almost immediately.

I have had two aircraft with Lexan windshields - an Ercoupe and an Emeraude.
Both of the windshields were gently curved and installed cold. Both of them
were unsatisfactory as they developed internal crazing which rendered them
unusable when flying into the sun.

I would not use Lexan for this application again.

Rich S.

[clare at snyder.on.ca]

On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 00:38:10 GMT, Ed Sullivan >
wrote:

>On Tue, 5 Dec 2006 17:05:39 -0500, "Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe" <The Sea
>Hawk at wow way d0t com> wrote:
>
>>"J.Kahn" > wrote in message
. ..
>>> Whats' the minimum bend radius for 1/8 and 3/16" polycarbonate sheet?
>>
>>Bending hot or cold?
>>
>>I've seen references that suggest using a sheet metal brake which is an
>>almost negligable radius (and I assume a cold bend)
>>
>>Hot you should be able to form it at will.
>
>I don't think lexan lends itself to hot bends, however I have made
>several three panel winshields in a sheet metal brake. I bends
>beautifully, however don't ever spill gasoline on it, especially if it
>is stressed or it will craze and shatter almost immediately.


Or ANY hydrocarbon. Don't even think about wiping with a varsol
dampened rag. Even some waxes and polishes have a hydrocarbon solvent
base and can/will damage lexan.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

[John Ammeter]

You can hot bend lexan but you have to preheat it for some time at just
below 212* F to drive the moisture out of the material before raising
the temp to the bend temp.

I don't recall the time nor temp I used, though. This was done about 18
years ago for my landing light on my RV-6. The lexan did craze
somewhat. Would not have been good used for a windshield or window.

John

Ed Sullivan wrote:
> On Tue, 5 Dec 2006 17:05:39 -0500, "Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe" <The Sea
> Hawk at wow way d0t com> wrote:
>
>
>>"J.Kahn" > wrote in message
. ..
>>
>>>Whats' the minimum bend radius for 1/8 and 3/16" polycarbonate sheet?
>>
>>Bending hot or cold?
>>
>>I've seen references that suggest using a sheet metal brake which is an
>>almost negligable radius (and I assume a cold bend)
>>
>>Hot you should be able to form it at will.
>
>
> I don't think lexan lends itself to hot bends, however I have made
> several three panel winshields in a sheet metal brake. I bends
> beautifully, however don't ever spill gasoline on it, especially if it
> is stressed or it will craze and shatter almost immediately.

[Peter Dohm]

> > I don't think lexan lends itself to hot bends, however I have made
> > several three panel winshields in a sheet metal brake. I bends
> > beautifully, however don't ever spill gasoline on it, especially if it
> > is stressed or it will craze and shatter almost immediately.
>
> I have had two aircraft with Lexan windshields - an Ercoupe and an
Emeraude.
> Both of the windshields were gently curved and installed cold. Both of
them
> were unsatisfactory as they developed internal crazing which rendered them
> unusable when flying into the sun.
>
> I would not use Lexan for this application again.
>
> Rich S.
>
>
Every now and then, I get the nutty idea that Lexan would ake a great
windshield material because of its impact strength. About halfway through a
thread like this one, I start to remember a lot of the problems and learn a
few new ones. The two that always come to mind are the difficulty of
polishing out any scratches and inability to tolerate shock cooling: IIRC,
Steve Wittman tried a lexan windshield on one of his aircraft only to have
it shatter when he pulled it out of his heater hangar and into the cold for
a flight to Florida.

Peter

[Charles Vincent]

Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe wrote:
> "J.Kahn" > wrote in message
> . ..
>> Whats' the minimum bend radius for 1/8 and 3/16" polycarbonate sheet?
>
> Bending hot or cold?
>
> I've seen references that suggest using a sheet metal brake which is an
> almost negligable radius (and I assume a cold bend)
>

You adjust the bend radius on a sheet metal brake with the fingers
through a variety of mechanisms, the simplest being fingers with the
appropriate radius ground on their tips. If you do much sheet metal
work on anything other than HVAC ducting or roofing flashing, bend
radius is a big thing. Basically, anything structural requires
attention. Do a google search on Sheet metal Brake and you will see a
number of variations. The following link:

<http://www.randmachine.com/sheetmetalbrake.html>

is for a small cheap brake. It incorporates a single blade or finger,
but it is reversible with a 3/8 inch radiused side. It mentions using
the radiused side for Lexan specifically.

Charles

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

"Charles Vincent" > wrote in message
t...
> Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe wrote:
>> "J.Kahn" > wrote in message
>> . ..
>>> Whats' the minimum bend radius for 1/8 and 3/16" polycarbonate sheet?
>>
>> Bending hot or cold?
>>
>> I've seen references that suggest using a sheet metal brake which is an
>> almost negligable radius (and I assume a cold bend)
>>
>
> You adjust the bend radius on a sheet metal brake with the fingers through
> a variety of mechanisms, the simplest being fingers with the appropriate
> radius ground on their tips. If you do much sheet metal work on anything
> other than HVAC ducting or roofing flashing, bend radius is a big thing.
> Basically, anything structural requires attention. Do a google search on
> Sheet metal Brake and you will see a number of variations. The following
> link:
>
> <http://www.randmachine.com/sheetmetalbrake.html>
>
> is for a small cheap brake. It incorporates a single blade or finger, but
> it is reversible with a 3/8 inch radiused side. It mentions using the
> radiused side for Lexan specifically.
>
> Charles

Ok, I stand (sit?) corrected. I was thinking siding brake - not sheet metal
brake - My mistake. Sorry.

--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.

[[email protected]]

Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe wrote:
> "Charles Vincent" > wrote in message
> t...
> > Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe wrote:
> >> "J.Kahn" > wrote in message
> >> . ..
> >>> Whats' the minimum bend radius for 1/8 and 3/16" polycarbonate sheet?
> >>
> >> Bending hot or cold?
> >>
> >> I've seen references that suggest using a sheet metal brake which is an
> >> almost negligable radius (and I assume a cold bend)
> >>
> >
> > You adjust the bend radius on a sheet metal brake with the fingers through
> > a variety of mechanisms, the simplest being fingers with the appropriate
> > radius ground on their tips. If you do much sheet metal work on anything
> > other than HVAC ducting or roofing flashing, bend radius is a big thing.
> > Basically, anything structural requires attention. Do a google search on
> > Sheet metal Brake and you will see a number of variations. The following
> > link:
> >
> > <http://www.randmachine.com/sheetmetalbrake.html>
> >
> > is for a small cheap brake. It incorporates a single blade or finger, but
> > it is reversible with a 3/8 inch radiused side. It mentions using the
> > radiused side for Lexan specifically.
> >
> > Charles
>
> Ok, I stand (sit?) corrected. I was thinking siding brake - not sheet metal
> brake - My mistake. Sorry.
>
> --
> Geoff

I've bent 1/8" Lexan in a sheet metal brake, with little difficulty.
The jaws will scar the Lexan unless the protective plastic is left in
place. 1/16" Lexan is much more workable. I have a Lexan windshield in
my Jodel, ten years now, and it's scratched up pretty good. Lexan is
soft and scratches too easily compared to Plexiglass.
Lexan can be polished up for awhile using Lemon Pledge furniture
polish.

Make sure dust is washed off the windshield, not wiped off. Same
holds for Plexiglass, but Lexan is much fussier that way.

Lexan's attraction is its toughness and ease of working. Can't
break it, no problem bending or drilling it, not many birds are going
to punch through it. Needs no heating for tighter curves as Plexiglass
does, so no big ovens required.

Dan