Smoked Polycarbonate
 

My team wants to use 1/8 black smoked (http://www.mnpctech.3dpixelnet.com/p...ctech.com6.jpg) plastic sheet to protect our electronics and for the all important style points. What we were wondering is where can you get it? All I can find on McMaster is solid colored sheets. Let me know, thanks.

Re: Smoked Polycarbonate
 

www.eplastics.com carries the product you are looking for but its not inexpensive. You may wish to see if you have a "local" plastics distributor as your desired sheet size is going to influence your shipping costs. That said I've had no issues ordering films from them in the past but we generally order material that borders between film and sheet (1/32" and 1/16" usually).

Re: Smoked Polycarbonate
 

Try TAP plastic.

http://www.tapplastics.com/

Re: Smoked Polycarbonate
 

You might also give http://lairdplastics.com/ a shot.

Re: Smoked Polycarbonate
 

Gray tinted semi-clear impact resistant polycarbonate is available from McMaster under part numbers #87225K21 up to #87225K27, depending on the dimensions you want. Here is a url of the smallest available size.

Regardless of what you purchase, make sure what you get isn't acrylic or you're gonna have a bad time.

Re: Smoked Polycarbonate
 

This. It's better to know now than to know after the robot comes back to the pits with it shattered (been there, done that).

Re: Smoked Polycarbonate
 

AndyMark?

http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-2324.htm

Re: Smoked Polycarbonate
 

We've used a fair amount of smoked PC from mcmaster and it isn't that great of a look (especially for the price increase). We have found that spraying the underside of clear PC with black or a team color looks much better. It maintains a nice glossy finish this way.

Re: Smoked Polycarbonate
 

Might have to try this out... How have you attached sponsor logos with this method?

Re: Smoked Polycarbonate
 

We do this for body panels with logos, sponsors, and such. It makes the panel fully opaque and allows for a much thinner material (we use 0.03" for panels.) This saves a lot of weight over 1/8" sheet. Just make sure you spray a couple even coats of your color on the inside of the panel and let the paint dry between each coat.

Cheers, Bryan

Re: Smoked Polycarbonate
 

Some hobby stores do offer translucent black tint paint. I have also wondered about using window tint. Has anyone tried that?

Re: Smoked Polycarbonate
 

The problem with most common 'translucent paints' is that they're very hard to apply to big panels through a traditional 'rattle' paint can. I've done this on plastic automotive parts before, and it takes a decent bit of skill to get two parts to look anywhere close to identical.

On the window tint subject, I'm fairly sure that the right tint (probably around 35%) would do the trick. The only concern here is the heat used during application, since it could - in theory - warp the polycarb panel if the applier wasn't careful.

Many "quick" and "diy" window tints are applied cold. They are lousy for durability on cars, but should last quite a while on a bot can get them at walmart anf similar.

Be careful with tints that may have metallic components, as they can block EM waves (like theradio signal).

Re: Smoked Polycarbonate
 

We have used both the spray on tint (translucent black hobby paint) and car window tint sheets.

The spray on works well just make sure you have a steady hand...its a rattle can and will end up streaky/runny if your not careful.

The window tint works great on flat lexan that isn't expected to flex. It'll crack the tint on a flexing piece.

Re: Smoked Polycarbonate
 

All the plastic you could ever want Boedeker Plastics

Tell them you are on a high school robotics team and they will give you a discount.

Highly recommended service, almost like Andy has a Texas brother....