Source for front panel acrylic lens? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: etl17
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 09, 2023, 11:25:36 pm
content: Hi there,This may be an obvious miss on my part, but I have no idea where to find plastic lenses (to protect an LCD screen) for front panels. Digi Key seems to have some discontinued parts, and that's it. Front panels express and Protocase don't seem to mention anything about lenses either. How does one go procuring transparent lenses for front panels? Are there any specific suppliers that specialize in this type of thing?Thank you in advance for any help or pointers in the right direction!

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 09, 2023, 11:43:33 pm
content: You probably want polycarbonate window as off the shelf part as it's much more scratch resistant than acrylic. As of acrylic, just order from any place that will laser cut it to required size.

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2023, 12:49:13 am
content: those are usually designed as part of the enclosure, since they’re usually pretty specific to the mechanical design requirements.what size is the display and what are you protecting against?for protection against dust/dirt/moisture, thin adhesive polycarbonate overlays are a common solution. they can be printed with whatever graphics you want, windows for indicators, etc, but are expensive in small quantities due to setup costs.if you want more serious protection, like against impacts, you need something much thicker. how thick will depend on the size of the display and the magnitude of the anticipated impacts.

author: g00se
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2023, 02:38:04 pm
content: I used a Chinese supplier from Alibaba to get a custom PMMA part molded.The initial mold charge is a bit expensive, but the per part cost is low after that, and you can get something exactly right for your design.

author: newto
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2023, 09:02:50 pm
content: What did the cost look like for the mold for something like that?

author: g00se
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2023, 09:16:28 pm
content: I think it was ~$2k USD for the mold, then $0.15/part

author: Infraviolet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2023, 06:19:57 pm
content: I don't think lens is the right word here. That would imply a specially curved piece of transparent material to focus light in some way or another, magnify or what have you...In the simple case laser cut acrylic could make a 2d protection covering layer, holes in the corners for screws to attach it with.If you need 3d for the sake of some features required for mounting then look for 3d printing services withresinprinting, who can do high quality transparent resins. If you have your own resin printer you could do this yourself, but most people with printers have FDM which can't do truly transparent parts. A resin printed transparent part won't be as clear as laser cut acrylic, and might not be good enough for optical lens use for even the most crude of magnification, but would be able to give a clear part shaped roughly like the one g00se showed.