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Old 04-16-2004, 02:27 AM   #1 (permalink)
bodypainter
Psycho
 
Location: Sarasota
Fabricating a windscreen - Failure! (picture thread)

I hate to fail, but I did this time although it may not have been all my fault.

Anyway, I want a windscreen for my SLK. By all accounts, it reduces wind turbulence in the cabin but the mesh version that came with the car isn't that desirable (and was missing from my car when I bought it). So I shopped the internet and found what I thought was a very nice design for sale. Trouble is they want $300 for what amounts to $50 worth of stuff. I don't mind a business making a profit but I thought, hell - I *know* how to work acrylic so I'll just build my own.

So, off I go to Home Depot for a piece of acrylic. This was probably my first and only mistake. Home Depot quit carrying Plexiglas several years ago and replaced it with some generic acrylic sheeting but I was in too big a hurry to drive the extra miles to a plastics wholesaler for the good stuff.

First I cut out a cardboard template of the shape I wanted - a modified version of what is for sale.

I got the piece cut without problems.

I spent a freaking hour peeling the cheap shit plastic cover off the cheap acrylic sheet and was ready to do my bends.

I got the bends done and was test fitting it in the car, making sure it would clear as the top went up and down and POP, it snapped in my hands.

I'll tell y'all what, I have been working with acrylic for a decade. Anyone who's seen my aquariums knows I know how to cut, shape, bend, and bond acrylic. This should NOT have happened. I believe the acrylic sheet had a flaw when I bought it. That's about six hours of labor down the shitter.

Oh well, live and learn. I'll be off today to get some more stock and try, try again. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures titled "SUCCESS" with the completed windscreen installed and my wife and I can go for a cruise without her having to tie her hair back.

This is what the finished screen looks like. The next one will be the same only minus the broken drivers side wing.


/poorpoorpitifulme
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