[z_beeblebrox]

Originally Posted by carpedav000

Polycarbonate is (IMO) much more suited to take impact than plywood is, hence me asking the question in the first place.

Plywood's not bad at impacts; it's springy and returns to shape when metal dents. Until our safety captain forbade it, I demonstrated that by hitting our demo swerve module with a hammer. We also ran over our prototype drivetrain with a car, with only minor damage.

We also use wood since it's so fast to make; we get turnaround times less than half an hour on our laser, while we'd have to cut Lexan by hand.