Materials Overview

These Materials might be worth looking into when cockpit building

Plastics

• "Plexiglass" (tm) a Trademark name for PMMA ("Polymethyl methacrylate"), often also called "acrylic"
• Polystyrol/PS: sold in some German Home Improvent Stores as "Hobbyglass", (BTW: "Styropor" (tm) is also PS)
• Polycarbonate/PC: often sold under the brand names "Lexan" (tm) or "Makrolon" (tm). Commonly used to make CDs/DVDs.
• "Cutting Board Material" is usually PE-LD, sometimes maybe PE-HD.
• PE-LD: Polyethylene Low Density
• PE-HD: Polyethylne High Density
• UHMW: "UltraHigh Molecular Weight", Another Polyethylene Type, but with an extremely high density. It has some interesting properties: it is self-lubricating and can therefore be used sliding mechnisms. It is sometimes used to build the rails for DIY CNC machines/routers.
• POM: "Polyoxymethylene". Names/Tradenames: Delrin(tm), Acetal. Used in: geared wheels, zippers.
• PTFE: "Polytetrafluoroethylene". Names/Tradenames: Teflon, Halon
• PA: "Polyamide". Names/Tradenames: Nylon
• PET: "Polyethylene Terephthalate". Commonly used to make plastic beverage bottles and tapes/videotapes.
• PETG: "Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol". Names/Tradenames: Vivak, Spectar. Cheaper than PC, w/ similar properties.
• ABS: "Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene". Names/Tradenames: Cycolac(R). Used eg. to make plastic cases for electronic devices and knobs.
• PVC: "Polyvinyl Chloride".
• PUR: "Polyurethane". Used eg. in paints, foam, modelling, cushions and mattresses, sponges, car panelings.

Short descriptions of some of the above materials can be found here: http://www.brand.de/english/techinfo/plastic/plast2_e.htm

Don Lancaster has an article about "Injection molding and plastic prototyping" that he wrote for Nuts & Volts Magazine which might be interesting: http://www.tinaja.com/glib/resbn50.pdf

and while you are there, look around at his site http://www.tinaja.com/. This guy has had some interesting ideas.

Metals

• Aluminum (Aluminium)
• Brass: alloy of copper and cinc

composites

• PCB material, most common is called FR-4. It consists of thin copper layer on one (or both) sides of the base material, very good material to work with, but it does dull HSS drills or steel saws quickly.