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Ron Butler hardtop rear window
A while back, I bought a Ron Butler hardtop from someone on this site. He had told me that the original glass back window had broken and I would need another. Figured I would just make a new plexiglass one. The form to bend the plexiglass is just about done and I am ready to order stock. If I can make this work, is there any one else here that may be interested in one? Any words of wisdom for me on bending it?
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Plexiglass is easy to bend. Just heat it up. Lexan is a bit more time consuming. With Lexan, you need to bake it at 250 degrees for about 45 minutes, then turn the heat up to 350 for about 20 minutes. After that, it is smooth sailing.
Lexan has a lot of moisture, so you need to dry it out first or you will get bubbles. In both cases, work fast or you will be heating it again. |
Lexan is the only way to go. Have a professional plastic former do it. Most don't like to do Lexan because of the extra work involved but they are out there. You said, you have the form almost done, to do it properly you need TWO molds. You form the Lexan between the molds, if you think you are just going to lay the plastic on or in a mold and have it retain its shape as it cools you will have a complete new learning experience ahead of you. Professional molders use a liner of some type in the mold to reduce imperfections, find out what they use. The molds, I use are made of fiberglass and your wife's oven isn't big enough for what you want unless you have your own a pizza oven. If you can't find anyone, let me know and I will give you the address of the people I use in FL but look local. Their Lexan over Plexiglass was about 20-25% higher but in my opinion well worth it.
BillK |
I used lexan a lot in my business, and while it was a lot more resistant to breakage, we found that it scratched a lot easier. Have done some bending in the past and will give this a shot. If it doesn't come out perfect, I think that the stiffness in the hardtop will make the window confirm. At least I will give it a try!! Thank for the info. If I end up needing a second half of the mold, I will just do it.
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Too far back for my feeble memory. Most of my uses were not needing the extra strength, but needed to stay cosmetically good. In the few cases where we were making machine guards, lexan was always used. I think 1 inch was the thickest.
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