kitfox 4 door upper glass, gas stained from fuel tank quick drain.

[Monocock]

Hi

It’s 1.5mm thick. Here’s a screen-grab from the order sheet. This was for the doors. For the windscreen it would need to be thicker.

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It’s so much easier to work with than a Lexan type material, and can be cut with decent household scissors or shears. It’s completely fuel-proof, so no worries about drains dripping, or splashing when filling with fuel.

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[Monocock]

It’s also much cheaper than other products. I’ve just done an online price check and a 1m x 1m sheet is only £17.50, which is about $21.

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[Eric Page]

It might be a good choice for side windows and doors due to its chemical resistance and workability, but PETG would be a very bad choice for windshields. It has about one tenth the impact strength of polycarbonate (Lexan). Acrylic (Plexiglas, Lucite) is worse: less than half the impact strength of PETG.

[jrevens]

It might be a good choice for side windows and doors due to its chemical resistance and workability, but PETG would be a very bad choice for windshields. It has about one tenth the impact strength of polycarbonate (Lexan). Acrylic (Plexiglas, Lucite) is worse: less than half the impact strength of PETG.

It has less scratch resistance than all of those other materials… that would be the primary reason I wouldn’t use it for the windshield. I don’t follow your comment about it being very bad for that use because of it’s impact resistance, then saying that Plexiglas is worse in that respect. Plexiglas is very commonly used for aircraft windshields, including Kitfox.

[Eric Page]

If that's the case, I'm surprised. Lexan is significantly tougher stuff than either Plexi or PETG.

[Monocock]

Politely, I’d disagree.

it’s more brittle, but not stronger.

:-)

[jrevens]

If that's the case, I'm surprised. Lexan is significantly tougher stuff than either Plexi or PETG.

Absolutely... no argument there. Acrylic is the most brittle among those three. Lexan can be cold bent (as is done with the Kitfox Lexan doors), and it has traditionally been used for "bullet-proof" glass, etc. It's just that Acrylic is more scratch resistant of the three and not nearly as vulnerable to damage from fuel as polycarbonate. It's obviously considered strong enough for many aircraft windshields, but I agree that the additional toughness of Lexan is good if you are willing to put up with the relatively softer, less scratch-resistant surface. The PETG sounds like a possible good replacement for the doors, even possibly the formed bubble doors. Lexan is not as easily formed like that.

[jiott]

To me the scratch resistance is one of the top properties I would want. When you go look at older airplanes, almost invariably the windshield and side windows are badly scratched with fine micro scratches to the point where they look somewhat foggy. I think that normal window cleaning over many years produces these scratches no matter how careful you are. This is with scratch resistant plexiglass on most airplanes. I imagine it would be much worse with the softer Lexan, etc. materials.

As a further example, my own Kitfox is now 8.5 years old with about 1200 hours and it has the standard Kitfox plexiglass windshield and bubble doors. The turtledeck is the standard Kitfox Lexan. I clean the windshield and doors after most flights and the Lexan turtledeck much less often but using the same care and cleaners. After these 8.5 years I can easily notice more fine scratching on the Lexan turtledeck than on the other acrylic windows. I have absolutely no fuel stains on my plexiglass bubble doors either. Of course my fuel drains do not leak, and I am very careful to close my bubble doors whenever I am refueling to eliminate chances for splash or drips on them.

[garellison]

I use PETG for the doors. It’s fuel-proof, and easy to cut to shape.

Thank you for the imfo, sounds like the way to go.