Clear Polycarbonate Sheet – 1/8"

High-impact, crystal-clear polycarbonate sheet – a lightweight, durable alternative to glass and acrylic for guards, glazing, enclosures, prototypes, and fabrication projects!

Build with confidence using Clear Polycarbonate, a tough, transparent thermoplastic engineered for applications where strength and clarity matter. Polycarbonate offers exceptional impact resistance while remaining lightweight and easy to fabricate, making it an excellent choice for machine guards, protective panels, enclosures, windows, prototypes, signage, and countless DIY and professional projects.

These clear sheets provide high clarity and light transmission while offering significantly greater impact resistance than standard glass. Unlike more brittle transparent materials, polycarbonate can withstand impacts, bending, and demanding environments without easily cracking or shattering.

Each sheet is film masked to help protect the surface from scratches during handling, shipping, and fabrication. Leave the protective masking in place while cutting or machining, then peel it away when your project is complete for a clean, clear finished surface.

Why Buy from MakerStock?

• Exceptional Impact Resistance: Polycarbonate is extremely tough and resistant to breakage, making it an excellent choice for applications where acrylic or glass may be too brittle.

• High Optical Clarity: Clear polycarbonate provides excellent transparency for windows, guards, displays, enclosures, and other applications where visibility matters.

• Protective Film Masking: Sheets arrive film masked to help protect the surface from scratching during handling and fabrication.

• Easy to Fabricate: Polycarbonate can be cut, drilled, routed, machined, and formed using appropriate tools and techniques.

• Affordable and Fast Shipping: $12 flat-rate shipping per 50lb box across the continental US from our two warehouses in PA and UT.

• Knowledgeable and Reliable Customer Support: Email support@makerstock.com, call, or LiveChat for assistance with material selection or questions.

• No Minimum Order Requirements: Whether you need one sheet or a hundred, for yourself, a business, makerspace, or school, we're your one-stop shop.

Perfect For

• Machine Guards & Safety Shields: Create clear protective barriers, equipment guards, splash shields, and enclosures where visibility and impact resistance are important.

• Windows & Glazing: Use as a lightweight, shatter-resistant alternative to glass for interior windows, cabinet panels, partitions, protective glazing, and other transparent panels.

• Robotics & Engineering Projects: Build durable robot panels, protective covers, competition components, equipment enclosures, and prototypes that can withstand repeated handling and impact.

• Makerspaces & Education: Ideal for STEM, CTE, engineering, robotics, architecture, and fabrication programs requiring a strong, transparent sheet material.

• CNC & Fabrication: Machine custom panels, guards, covers, templates, housings, and components using CNC routers and conventional fabrication tools.

• Signage & Displays: Create durable transparent display panels, sign faces, POP displays, exhibit components, and protective covers.

• DIY & Home Projects: Build protective covers, cabinet inserts, workshop shields, display cases, hobby enclosures, and other projects where clear visibility and durability are needed.

• Electrical & Equipment Enclosures: Polycarbonate's electrical insulating properties and impact resistance make it useful for clear covers and protective equipment panels.

Project Inspiration

• Makers & DIYers: Build clear workshop guards, protective equipment covers, display cases, cabinet inserts, or custom transparent enclosures.

• Schools & Makerspaces: CNC-machine robotics components, engineering prototypes, machine guards, and durable transparent project panels.

• Fabricators: Create custom machine guards, inspection windows, equipment covers, and industrial enclosures that allow operators to see components while keeping them protected.

• Robotics Teams: Fabricate transparent electronics covers, side panels, shields, and structural components that stand up to the bumps and impacts of competition.

• Designers: Incorporate clear polycarbonate into furniture, displays, architectural models, exhibit installations, and other projects where transparency and durability are equally important.

• Sign & Display Makers: Create durable sign faces, protective display covers, product showcases, and transparent structural elements.

Explore Related Products

• Clear Cast Acrylic: Choose clear cast acrylic when excellent optical clarity, surface hardness, and laser-cutting capability are more important than extreme impact resistance.

• Colored Acrylic: Add transparent, translucent, or opaque color to signage, displays, decorative projects, and laser-cut designs.

• OP3 UV Filtering Acrylic: Clear acrylic designed for framing, displays, artwork, and applications where UV filtration helps protect sensitive materials.

Specifications

• Material: Clear polycarbonate thermoplastic sheet.

• Thickness: 1/8" nominal / 3mm (approximately 0.118").

• Density: ~1.20 g/cm³ (~0.043 lb/in³).

• Masking: Protective film masked to help prevent scratches during shipping, handling, and fabrication.

• Impact Resistance: Extremely high impact resistance and significantly more resistant to breakage than standard glass.

• Temperature Performance: Polycarbonate provides excellent heat resistance and is suitable for applications requiring a wider operating temperature range than many common transparent plastics.

• Electrical Properties: High dielectric strength and excellent electrical insulating properties.

• Fabrication: Suitable for CNC routing, sawing, drilling, machining, forming, and other conventional plastic fabrication methods.

• Laser Cutting: Not recommended for laser cutting. Polycarbonate does not cut cleanly with typical CO₂ laser systems and can discolor, char, or produce poor-quality edges. Use a CNC router, saw, or other mechanical cutting method instead.

• Tolerances: Cut tolerance of +/-0.188" for all panel dimensions (in inches).

Pro Tip

Keep the protective film masking on during fabrication to help prevent scratches and scuffs. Remove the film only after cutting, drilling, machining, and final assembly are complete.

For the cleanest cuts, use a fine-tooth carbide-tipped blade designed for plastics or a properly configured CNC router. Support the sheet securely to minimize vibration and avoid excessive heat buildup during machining.

When drilling, use sharp bits and avoid excessive pressure near panel edges. Polycarbonate is considerably less brittle than acrylic, making it much more forgiving when drilling and fastening, but proper hole spacing and clearance should still be used to accommodate material movement.

Do not use a laser cutter on polycarbonate. For MakerStock customers working primarily with laser equipment, clear cast acrylic is generally the better transparent sheet material. Choose polycarbonate when impact resistance, toughness, and durability are the higher priority.

FAQs

• What is the difference between clear polycarbonate and clear acrylic? Polycarbonate is significantly more impact resistant and less prone to cracking or shattering than acrylic. Acrylic generally offers greater surface hardness and is much better suited to laser cutting.

• Can I laser cut this polycarbonate? No. Polycarbonate is not recommended for laser cutting. It tends to discolor, char, and produce poor-quality edges when cut with typical CO₂ lasers. For best results, cut polycarbonate with a CNC router, table saw, circular saw, jigsaw, or other appropriate mechanical cutting method.

• Can clear polycarbonate be CNC routed? Yes. Polycarbonate machines well with CNC routers when appropriate tooling, feeds, and speeds are used. Sharp carbide tooling and proper chip evacuation help prevent excessive heat buildup and produce cleaner edges.

• Why choose polycarbonate instead of glass? Polycarbonate is lightweight and offers extremely high impact resistance, making it a practical alternative to glass where breakage is a concern. It's particularly useful for protective glazing, guards, enclosures, equipment panels, and projects that may experience impact or vibration.

• How should I clean clear polycarbonate? Use a soft microfiber cloth with mild soap and water or a cleaner specifically approved for polycarbonate. Avoid abrasive pads and harsh cleaners that can scratch or damage the clear surface.