@Tim I talked to builder some time ago I am sure he said the hood is Plex & he has made the hood several times Because of cracking . Drilling, cutting & vibrations from driving . I talked to him for awhile I think he used a wooden buck to form . @Noah* Me thinking you could use Vacuum forming using a metal skin in oven . Cut out tricky ?
You have to take the plastic or paper off. Usually I will put it on t shirt material to keep it from taking impressions, but I didn't this time I made sure the template was clean. I did cover the secondary piece I made from plywood to press with with t shirt material to keep from leaving impressions in the hot acrylic. I usually heat 1/8" plastic at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
I did think of vacuum forming. I make signs for a living and have had vacuum formed sign faces made in the past. I found out the company that used to do that around here went out of business, so I just used the oven
@Noah* I would have to look for Owner / builder name , I think I ask why not made out of Lexanne I think it was because not able @ time to get other then clear , Your build is neat , My intentions for questions Are at times to see how others do / make especially at home and a small shop ,
made these inserts for the controls going in the roadster today at work. These will be the shifter and the switches for the ignition and lights. They are made from 1956 Mercury heater controls.
My opinion doesn’t mean anything, but to me your creativity is mind bending. I really appreciate you sharing the progress.
worked on the dash today. Combination of 1960 Desoto gauges, 1954 Ford Speedometer and 1956 Mercury heater controls.
Did you do how the lexan-louvers were done? I like the effect of both the lexan-inserts, & the louvers in the lexan. . TIA. Oh, interesting gauge cluster. . Marcus...
It is 1/8" acrylic (plexigl***), not lexan (polycarbonate). I stamped louvers in aluminum and used that as a form with a secondary piece on top to press the acrylic into the louvers. Heat at 350 degrees for 10 minutes
Thanks for the info. Not to be an ***, but what about the easy(?) scratching effect(s), iirc. Anything to offset that? In the past, I've not been successful in stopping that effect after a bit of time & use. I never did try coating w/clearcoat paint, much less hardened, nor the "ceramic" clears(not available then), or the now-available Cerakoat clear(if that'd even work). Very curious. TIA. Marcus...
I clean plastic with a microfiber towel and Novus Polish #1. I bent plastic for the corner windows in my truck years ago and they still look new.
Plexigl*** is obviously not scratch resistant but can be easily polished out. Coating it with any clear would only dull the view through the gl*** eventually.
Have tried the Novus(iirc, #1 & #2) yrs ago, but didn't help much. Must've done it wrong. Thanks for the comments n info. Marcus...
This is the kind of stuff I feel like you’d come up with if you had like an entire 1958 and older junkyard that you worked at. you keep seeing little bits and pieces and all of a sudden it strikes you “hey what if I took this and that and…..” Love it
The Jalopy Journal
