Hi everyone! Our team is kind of new to using polycarbonate sheets and we just wanted to know good places that other Auckland teams buy their lexan from.
When I competed in HS we used to get polycarbonate from PSP (on Rosedale Rd in Albany). They’re quite good for people on the North Shore, especially Albany. There looks like there could be a few good options elsewhere on Google, such as Cambrian Plastics out in Henderson and Supreme Plastics in Onehunga, although I’ve never used either of them. Explain what it’s for (i.e. a high school robotics competition) and how much you need of what size - they might be generous with off-cuts or something. However, buying a large sheet is a really good investment, and will last for years. Maybe even try checking on Trade Me.
Just make sure that what you get is no thicker than 0.070" thick - so 1mm and 1.5mm thick is fine, but 2mm is not. 1mm is quite nice and can be cut with just a good pair of scissors (although not at all ideal), whereas 1.5mm is quite a lot stronger but obviously a bit heavier. Obviously also make sure that what goes onto the robot can be reassembled back into no more than a single 12"x24" sheet.
Of course polycarbonate isn’t the only plastic you’re allowed to use (see <R7f>), but it is the most common and is generally suitable for pretty much anything you need plastic sheeting for on a VRC robot.
To add onto what George said, if you are only after thin polycarb you can get 1mm stuff from Mitre 10 Mega, it’s slightly more expensive that at the plastics shop but you can get it at smaller quantities off a roll.