Mucksavage - gotta confess I struggle to suss the thinking behind the polycarb sprocket cover... I work with polycarbonate on a regular basis here in the sign & graphics biz... it's great for certain applications (backlit
sign & letter faces for instance) that have a situational need for improved impact resistance over acrylic (which is substantially less expensive)... you can also bend polycarb easily to hold a shape, or bend it in a metal brake... you're probably already aware polycarbonate (common brand names are Tuffak and Lexan) is used in settings requiring bulletproof "glass"... it's an absolutely impressive plastic in many ways. But... as a "service" surface - in trade-speak that's any surface that has any kind of regular
contact with other things - moving parts, peoples hands & fingers, particulate sprays of liquid or solid matter, coins or
currency, etc anything that contacts the surface of the plastic - clear polycarb scratches easily, actually even easier than acrylic. Also, over time, clear polycarb exposed to UV will yellow.
That said, MATTE polycarbonate with a very fine pebbled surface is often used in "service surface" situations that don't require optically clear material to preclude the obvious visual degradation clear polycarb would show.
All that to restate... clear polycarb sprocket cover is
interesting from a design standpoint but IMO won't fair
terribly well in long-term real world usage...
FWIW, IME, YMMV
Cheers,
D9
)
