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lil evo

Copper - Posts: 61

Joined: June 20, 2008

Location: Ohio, United States

Posted: April 17, 2009 at 10:25 PM / IP Logged

So I've got a quick question that hopefully someone can answer. Here's my situation.

I'm working on a demo vehicle for my shop, still in the design process right now but I'm fast aproaching the build process. The project is a 2000 Dodge Dakota extended cab, 4 speakers, 2 amps, 2 subs, cap, in dash video and a custom enclosure for the subs. The idea is to retain some sort of seating in the rear (not that there was a whole lot to begin with), but I'll be building a center console for the rear cab. It will house the subwoffers, amps and cap and probably covered in a dark grey vinyl. Here's where I've come to a problem that I'm not 100% sure of the answer to. I'm looking at covering the top of the console with painted plexi, but I'd like it to be completely seamless, and there are some curves to the top of it. So......how does plexi react to heat? I was thinking that if I were to heat it and mold it to the curves, that would give me the seamless look that I'm looking for, but will heating and shaping take away from the transparent nature of the material? The down facing side will be painted with a black gloss finish, which I'm hoping will mask any 'stretch marks' from the heating and essetially streatching the material of the back side, but I don't know for sure since I've not tried this before. Anybody have any tips or tricks that I might be able to use?

I'll have a quick sketch of the console up later tonight, I've got to find the thumb drive I saved it on.

ckeeler

Gold - Posts: 1,461

Joined: June 20, 2008

Location: New Mexico, United States

Posted: April 17, 2009 at 11:05 PM / IP Logged

"stretching"? there is not going to be any stretching. heat is how you form, bend and polish plexi my friend. word of advise....practice first! heating plexi is easy and hard. it is magic and at the same time a nightmare. plexi will bend, shape and polish with heat, but you need to be careful and practice. too much heat will ruin it and the bad part is that it is so easy to heat up too much. it like a light switch, there's not too much in between, its either on or off, so use caution. another thing i am going to recommend to you is to invest in a Plexiglas bender. it heats it and lets you bend it much like a sheet metal brake works.

lil evo

Copper - Posts: 61

Joined: June 20, 2008

Location: Ohio, United States

Posted: April 18, 2009 at 3:08 PM / IP Logged

Thanks for the recomendations. looking back at my post, I worded that pretty poorly when I said 'stretch', but basically what I was trying to discribe was the loss of clarity in the material when it's heated and shaped. Anyway, I'm going to pick up a few extra feet of it to play with before I actually put the plexi onto the console. What does a plexi bender generally cost, and how big a piece of machinery are we talking about here? I have a relativley small work area and my table saw, router, tool boxes, workbenches, etc take up a good deal of my floor space as it is. As far as heating, I've got a Snap-On 3 stage heat gun. I'm thinking use the lowest heat setting and work my way around the console slowly. It'll take time, but hopefully will allow me to avoid any mistakes. Anything else I should take into account when working with a heat gun on the plexi?

lil evo

Copper - Posts: 61

Joined: June 20, 2008

Location: Ohio, United States

Posted: April 18, 2009 at 3:12 PM / IP Logged

And also, you had mentioned polishing it. What would you recomend for polishing the plexi? I've only ever used it for box windows and such, so any info that is available to make this process come out cleaner is greatly appriciated.

ckeeler

Gold - Posts: 1,461

Joined: June 20, 2008

Location: New Mexico, United States

Posted: April 18, 2009 at 4:00 PM / IP Logged

its been sooooo long since i purchased my bender i cannot really tell you a price. it also depends on how big of one you get. most will sit on a table top or counter. they heat the area to be bent and then you can bend it with the brake so it needs to be able to plug into an outlet also, or just get out the extension cord. polishing is also done with heat and it is very hard and takes some practice. sand the surface with wet 2000 grit sandpaper then clean it with a good glass cleaner and let dry. once dry you will use a hand held torch on its LOWEST it can go before not working and heat the surface you just sanded with the torch about 2.5"-3" away in small 2"x2" areas at a time in a circular motion. as you heat stay alert! all of the sudden you will see the surface instantly turn crystal clear like water! once it does take away the torch and start another area, don't keep heating that area, if you do you will create tiny bubbles in the surface and that will look like crap. try it out. try the sanding and heating technique i just described on a small piece and even try to over heat it and create the bubbles so you can kind of get the feel of how much heat is too much and the distance you want and all that stuff.

lil evo

Copper - Posts: 61

Joined: June 20, 2008

Location: Ohio, United States

Posted: April 18, 2009 at 10:52 PM / IP Logged

sweet, thanks for all the info, it's been a great help. i'll definetly get a coupe small pieces and to work on prior to actually doing the work to the truck.

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plexi

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