Glass, Lexan, Acrylic, Polycarbonate or other?

[dale911]

I am bidding on an interior wall at a hospital for their history display. The architect has spec’d glass wall panels on standoffs, corners only except for the largest panels. Panels include 2-4’x9’h, 5-4’x3’6” and 5-4’x3’. The design has the two tall panels on the ends with a row of 55” touch screen monitors across the middle of the wall with the remaining glass panels mounted above and below the touch screens.

I spoke with the architect when he forwarded the plans to me and he doesn’t care which material we use as long as it is budget conscious to end with the final look he wants. We are doing second surface prints on all of them so it has to be optically clear. I was going to price glass (I believe it would have to be tempered?) but think that one of the plastics would be better. Any experience or opinions? When I told him that I thought that 4 corner standoffs only on the 9’ panels wouldn’t be good enough, he said he thought it would be fine to add 4 more so that they aligned with the ones holding the other panels.

 

[Zendavor Signs]

I am bidding on an interior wall at a hospital for their history display. The architect has spec’d glass wall panels on standoffs, corners only except for the largest panels. Panels include 2-4’x9’h, 5-4’x3’6” and 5-4’x3’. The design has the two tall panels on the ends with a row of 55” touch screen monitors across the middle of the wall with the remaining glass panels mounted above and below the touch screens.

I spoke with the architect when he forwarded the plans to me and he doesn’t care which material we use as long as it is budget conscious to end with the final look he wants. We are doing second surface prints on all of them so it has to be optically clear. I was going to price glass (I believe it would have to be tempered?) but think that one of the plastics would be better. Any experience or opinions? When I told him that I thought that 4 corner standoffs only on the 9’ panels wouldn’t be good enough, he said he thought it would be fine to add 4 more so that they aligned with the ones holding the other panels.

Lexan is just a brand of polycarbonate, FYI. I would recommend 1/2in acrylic. Use the wing toggles on the standoffs and corners only should be fine for the smaller ones. 6 or 8 standoffs for the largest size.

 

[Pauly]

Glass..
people will touch them, they'll get dirty and will require to be cleaned. plastics will scratch over time where glass wont and it's much better suited for hospitals.

and yes, toughened glass is what would be required.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I've used 1/2" clear acrylic before and I didn't really like the finished product. Mine were 2'x6' or something like that.. and they were slightly wavy..and I did everything I could think of to get them 100% straight. This was years ago so maybe my technique was wrong but I've since stayed away from that stuff for that type of application. That and the scratching would be a big concern.. The ones I put up were out of reach and I still managed to scratch them...