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Reply to "I left the ignition on"

Biggest problem with Lexan besides its rather high cost  is bending it at home to conform to the compound curves in windows. Plexiglas etc is soft and will scratch from rubbing by the cat-whiskers in the door frame but softens at around 140F degrees so its easy & cheap. Lexan is tougher and some is very thinly hard-tin-coated which is why the military uses it in airplanes. It  softens at around 400F (melts at 550F) and develops steam bubbles inside it at lower temps in ambient air. Needless to say, this wrecks Lexan for cheap, easy transparent windows.

Shops that work with Lexan for race cars typically form it in a vacuum oven that can be controlled to 650F or below over bucks, without moist air around the hot plastic. If the bend is small, some guys successfully use a hand-held heat gun with downward pressure from the other hand (wearing a thick welders glove!) Decades ago I investigated it due to it being 1/3 the wt of safety glass but gave up due to the above properties & cost. It could substitute for the large flat rear glass window over the rear firewall. The glass always shatters in an engine fire anyway.

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