translucent pieces?

[wolfo68]

what material are they stock transclucents made out of?

 

[BuellerPilot]

*Pretty sure* its an Acrylate polymer (Acrylic) but not 100% sure.

~Mike.....

 

[RyBuell]

I'd assume they have to be stamped somwhere with what type its is....my money is on PET, Polyethelyene. Just look for the number within a triangle symbol, and thats your answer.

 

[BuellerPilot]

Nope, I have both an airbox cover and a flyscreen here in front of me, the only markings are date/time and lot number stamps and a part number. I was guessing Acylic over Polyethelyene because of it's britle-ness. But honestly I don't know.

~Mike......

 

[wolfo68]

thanks guys, I think the answer is acrylic I don't believe polyethylene gets the results that we see on the translucent parts. I'm probably gonna fiddle around with making stuff with both, but I'm leaning on the acrylics for the results I want

 

[RyBuell]

My money is still on PET, but its weird that its not stamped anywhere.

 

[wolfo68]

I sent a message to the man himself, and I'm now waiting for an answer if he'll give it to me.

 

[wolfo68]

the patent is on lockdown from H-D so I'm going to go with my original plan and test my chemistry skills. he did tell me that it's a special injection molded plastic so that is leaning me more toward PET. lol

 

[08levin]

Interesting.... All I know is that it is very tough to get such a clear result like they are. The mold must be prestine, or they have some special process to get the clear and smooth surface. Just the flow characteristics from injection molding would usually show up. however they do it, I'm impressed. Shape is too complex for stretching over a mold and would leave tooling marks on the plastic.

 

[wolfo68]

it's a high pressure injection I'm guessing, and the molds would have to be super strong, I'm working on other projects at the moment, but I'm drawing up plans for the winter on this one. my actual idea is to make a translucent front for a firbolt.

 

[Lando]

i would say it is polycarbonate, it is much more durable than acrylic and has better chemical and heat properties. It can also be injection molded or cast and can be clear or tinted. My second option would be acrylic and third would be PET. based on their chemical/physical properties.
My 2 cents.

 

[RyBuell]

We used to run polycarb and PET in totally clear for a company that made medical implants, The flashing was removed by hand and you could hardly tell how it was run: no tool marks. I've never vacuformed, or blow-molded with plastic so thick before, but we've done standard injecton molding with a little 50 ton with glass like results.
I would assume that Buell/HD could afford some bomb ass tooling.
+1 Lando on the PolyCarb....you're probably right.