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Lexan disappointment
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skyblast:
Recently finished my first mame cab and thus far I am very disappointed with Lexan.  You look at it wrong and it scratches.  You can forget whipping it down after dust gets on it.  Initally, I was under the impression that this stuff was bullet proof...which I'm sure it is but why then does it scratch and scuff soooo easily?

I'm at the point now where I am seriously considering having a professional glass company come out to custom cut me a piece of glass to cover the monitor.  Oh well, I guess you get what you pay for...oh wait...Lexan is relatively expensive.

I next plan to make a bar top and would like to use some type of plexi glass to cover the control panel.  That's what most people do right?

Any recommendations on what to use?  I'm afraid that if I were to use Lexan on the control panel it would look like crap relatively quickly?

Any thoughts?  Right now this is the only thing that is holding me up.  Thanks
protokatie:
I haven't gotten to that stage of my build yet, but from what I have seen over the last year on this site is that the preference is for precut-then-tempered glass (the silicate glass glass), often times slightly tinted to increase perceived contrast. The next in line is plexi. After that I see some comments about using lexan...

When I get to that stage of my build, I plan on using what most arcade machines have historically used, plain old tempered glass.

EDIT: My post was for front glass over the screen, the preference I see for the CP on this site is plexi, although it does scratch much more easily than tempered glass.
Blanka:
And don't forget the stiffness of glass. With glass you have a perfect mirror for ambient light sources. With plexi or lexan it's more like a laughing mirror. These sheets are very difficult to mount in a perfect flat plane, they always bend a little bit. I'm gazing into the top-lexan sheet of my MacMini and o boy are the window frames distorted in it.
Franco B:
Lexan is a trade name for polycarbonate. It machines easily but this also means its easier to scratch. Acrylic (plexiglass) is harder to machine but its also more scratch resistant.

If I was you I would definitely go for tempered glass. Its often cheaper that poly/acrylic too.
protokatie:
I might want to add something counter to what myself and other responders have posted. Once glass is tempered, it CANNOT be worked. No cutting, no drilling, etc. Just wanted to add that so you dont get stuck. Tempered glass would be best, but make sure to have ALL work done to it before it is tempered. Trying to drill or cut glass after being tempered will give you all sorts of little 3mm sized glass trinkets....(I guess you could resell them after mounting them to rings and necklaces....)
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