Mayf and list
For what it's worth an old aircraft trick for making sheet metal and plastic
pieces we have used .064 mylar (clear)
You can lay it over a blue print and using a scribe, a straight edge and
circle templates, French curves etc. to get the desired lines. By scribing
a little deeper the mylar can be snapped off leaving a nice pattern you can
see through and make any adjustments to the final pattern to lay over or use
to prefit for almost anything.that is difficult to duplicate any other way.
Once the pattern is done you can lay it in place to match mark hidden holes
that would other wise need to be laid out. I have purchased mylar 24'' x 48
'' sheets at craft stores and art supply stores. End result is you have a
re-usable pattern if needed.
Glen
----- Original Message -----
From: "DrMayf" <drmayf@teknett.com>
To: <land-speed@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2001 4:26 PM
Subject: Many Thanks and More Lexan....
> Lots of thanks to those who have suggested ways to hold the doors closed.
I
> will consider all.
>
> Now, the rest of the story....
> As ya'll know, I sometimes get to big in the head and it was thusly about
> the windshield. I say to my self, hell I am an engineer, it can't be all
> that bad or hard. So I first took the windshield frame from the car and
put
> in on the work bench. Pretty flimsy, it is. It was pretty rusty so I
buffed
> it with the wire brush and gave it a coat of primer. The I set about
making
> myself a poster board template. Cut, try, cut some more, oops, cut to
much,
> add some more back with duct tape. Keep trimming until it fits wonderfully
> well. Well, Ok, it really wasn't wonderfully well, but ok. So I bebop on
> down to the local ACE hardware place and got mysely a piece of Plexiglass,
> cast acrylic, that is. It was cheap! But it looked like the right stuff.
So
> I marked around my template and cut the drivers side. Oop! I cipped a
> little. Ah, not bad, I'll Just be a little more carefull. Put in in the
> frame and jeezze it was hard to fit. Struggle, struggle, snap! Broke that
> puppy right in the middle. Drat! $%^%^$##@ and other words. Then I
remember
> you all and got your advice...LEXAN is the olny product that is even
> acceptable. So I asked for suppliers and lots of ya'll responded. But, I
> went ahed and ordered a piece from Aircraft Spruce Specialties...Holy
MOley,
> only 59 bucks for a 4 x 4 piece! But UPS would not ship it. Would have to
> come FedEx from So Cal. and that was gonna be another 30 + bucks. So I
> cancelled the order. Went to the Las Vegas Home Depot and there it
> was....LEXAN....70 bucks for a 36 x 72 piece and no freight...Well
yesterday
> I decided I had screwed around long enough on this so I got my template
out
> again and marked the Lexan. Cut that puppy with my jig saw with a small
kerf
> blade.WOW! What a difference between Lexan and Plexiglass: no rips, no
> tears, no nothing except good cuts. So Afte trimming the drivers side abit
I
> starter "messaging" the Lexan into the frame. I had already drilled about
2
> million scre holes for 6-32 SS Phillips Pan Head bolts. I used SS Nylock
> "thin" nuts and 2 tiny flat SS washers (Mil Spec on those puppies).
Anyhool
> I am grunting and graoning trying to get this sucker to fit the frame. I
> anchored it down with several C clamps and it didn't look all that bad. So
I
> drilled the Lexan and put the fasteners in. Well, most of them. I
developed
> a large warp and bow. Ah, crap a dooly. Take it all apart and start file
> fitting it into place. Now I have a couple of sets of holes along the top
> flange. Stuill has warp and bow. More fitting, more fitting. then it dawns
> on me that my paper template is thin in comparison to the actual part...so
I
> cit it down some more. Looking better...Whoa! the frame is now stretched!
> Fortunatley I had measured the center and marked the pre installation
> dimension down, somewhere....ah, finally found it. MAde myself a strut to
> hold the frame at the correct center dimension and used a bailing wire
> turnbucle to hold it to that dimension. Now, started at the center and
> worked to the side, cut file, hell with it, cut more with the jig
> saw....finally it fit pretty well. Got all the bolts in and it is
reasonably
> decent, but it will win no awards. Next side....learned my lessons by now.
> Oh and in all of this bith hands developed cramps in the thumbs and index
> fingers...all at the wrong times. Damn, those hurt. Anyhoo, marked the
> passenger side piece and this time cut to the inside of the scribe line.
> Much better with only a little "adjustments". Got all the bolts in and
> doggone if it doesn't all look pretty good. I made a couple of backup
> pieces for the joint in the middle from aludimum and put fasteners in then
> at about the same spacing around the edges. Almost looks professional.
> Nah...not! I am an engineer, and a weldor, but not a plasticator. I am
gonna
> take a pix of the protective sheeting because it says LEXAN on it in about
a
> dozen different languages...
>
> Now, for the door latches......
>
> mayf the sometime dumb, always ignorant, desert rat
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