Foks, Need some help. I'm chopping my 51 Chevy Bel Air. I need to make plastic corners for the rear window. I have read about folks bending lexan or acrylic but am unsure of the process. Can you all help me out?
It's classified. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. Use a blow drier and go S-L-O-W. It can splinter edit: there is a grain to it, so look before you cut, and get enough to do it twice. Get double mar resistant if you can, you'll be glad you did.
Lexan is General Electric's trade name for polycarbonate. That stuff is too tough to mess with. Stick with some plexiglass or lexan - something soft and easy to bend...
I just bought a pair of repops that are laminated glass I'm cutting down for a chopped 51 bel-aire sled lexan does not splinter you had acylic and I like to let it sag over the original glass in an oven. watch it close or the wife will kick your ass
Polycarbonate can be bent on a brake. I would imagine it could be formed on a slip roll also. Worth a try. I'd protect it somehow, though. Wayno
Lexan can be bent cold in a sheet metal brake, and it does not crack. Most machine guarding systems that are required to be transparent are made from Lexan sheeting, sawn and bent to size, then glued together. To get a gradual bend, I think the "heat in oven and let droop over a form" method would probably work. Lexan polycarbonate sheet offers the highest impact strength of any transparent glazing product--250 times the impact strength of glass and 30 times that of acrylic. The entire family of Lexan polycarbonate sheet offers light weight, energy efficiency and excellent weatherability, plus abrasion resistance and clarity rivaling glass. Our standard grade for general purpose applications is Lexan Exell D LEXAN® EXELL D Download Technical Datasheet (PDF, 160KB) Lexan Exell D sheet is a transparent polycarbonate with proprietary UV protection, offering excellent weathering resistance, impact resistance and formability for skylights, covered walkways, roof lights, roof domes and barrel vaults. Lexan Exell D can safely be used outside and will not yellow from exposure to UV light. Lexan Exell D sheet is also ideal for machine guards, boat and car windows, and other glazing applications The material is supported by a manufacturers 10yr limited warranty. Click here for information about the warranty (PDF, 43 KB).
which is it? too tough to mess with or soft and easy to bend? At work, I emboss on polyester because it is soft, doesn't crack, and can't emboss or laser cut polycarbonate because it cracks and burns. Polyester is easier to work but scratches unless hardcoated = $$ a little heat alittle patience, it can be done
Lexan can be bent cold. others must be thinking of plexiglass. you don't have to heat it. some one that has bent lots of pieces, in a brake. jim.
Hey, To form Lexan, plexi , acrylic to a compound form, get your hands on a heat gun. These produce tempetures up to 1000 degrees, more than a disco-era hair dryer ever dreamed of! They sell these at home building supply centers, and paint supply stores. You can mould the new windows over the stock glass, and trim to fit, or if you're forming a very compound shape, like a late 50s dog leg win- shield, ya may have to build a form off the new window opening. Use gloves, eye protection and don't snort the plastic fumes! Swankey Devils C.C.
Had a Buddy of mine chop his 51 fleetline? And all he did was lean the top forward so the original glass went back in with minor sealing problems.Once sealed he's never had to touch it again.
You CAN deffinetly do it cold. It can be cut on a sheet metal sheer as well. It's the acrylic sheet that will brake and splinter. I make covers from Lexan at work all the time. There is a lot more springback to it than sheetmetal though...so you have to overbend quite a bit to get where you're going. I've never tried to form it in a sliproll.
we use to build bucks and use heat lamps to heat it, letting it sag over the buck to build race car windshields for cobra replicas
"which is it? too tough to mess with or soft and easy to bend? At work, I emboss on polyester because it is soft, doesn't crack, and can't emboss or laser cut polycarbonate because it cracks and burns. Polyester is easier to work but scratches unless hardcoated" PolyESTER is a different plastic family than polyCARBONATE. I know that polycarbonate is impact resistant and is used in automotive interior trim since it does not splinter on impact as some other plastics do. Remember in "The Empire Strikes Back" and Han Solo was coated in Carbonite? Bad-a$$ stuff, right? Carbonite=tough=(poly)carbonate
I have bent lexan in tight bends on brake, sharp bends will leave a white fogged bend. Plexi will not bend like this unless its heated. Lexan and plexi can be slumped over a form or vacume formed with heat.....The heat is critical, to much and the sheet will start to emit bubbles ruining the part. Lexan can even be formed with an english wheel, but the wheel better have some good polished wheels, the aperator has have some good tracking skills and watch the pressure.
Will the LEXAN® EXELL D stand up to wipers for windshield use? Won't a "plastic" sheet heat formed over the original windshield or back glass be slightly too big to fit correctly?
I've wondered that as well. A sheet of glass IS three dimensional--the thickness is thin, but on a curved piece, the inside of the bend is smaller than the outside of the bend. Another way to think of it is this: If you heat up a piece of plastic and form it to the Inside of a windshield, you will not be able to lay that piece on the ouside of the windshield and have it fit flush. -Brad
There's also a coating on some{?} lexan. I think its a uv thing. One side is sopposed to face the sun. We did the windsheild in my fiances car.... Just cut it to size and put it in..... Its a chopped 56 chevy, so theres a pretty big curve to the corners... A pain in the ass, but we didnt heat it at all.....
What windows is it legal for?? I heard that you can't use it for the windshield, or was that the side windows..
Giddy up! Thanks for the wealth of knowledge. I think i will give Lexan a shot and work it for a cold bend. If all else fails, the heat gun etc. will be the backup.
thats the only way to do it in my book! Unfortunatly you can't always have the original to mold from, but if you do it's the best way i'v found.
You might call around to marine places that actually work on boats, not just sell parts. My local marine guru has a setup for forming boat windsheilds from lexan, takes no time and he doesnt charge much. I was able to get a replacement for the broken curved lexan sheild on my '57 BlueStar speedboat done while I waited. 2t
Hey, That depends on what state / country ya live in......... In California you can't use plastic in any of your window openings "legaly", and 6.5 inches is max on a chop window opening. Swankey Devils C.C.
Don't you mean 6.5" minimum height? Also, what chapter # of DMV book is that info in? Not dissagreeing, just I'd like to read up on it... All I can find is "Passenger vehicle must have windshield tha provides adequate protection." without defining what adequate means to them..
Looking for some help on this one,...Lexan/plastic doghouse... Is there anybody in the Northwest that can bend Lexan/plastic to make this doghouse identicle to pictures posted below ???? No I dont have a break,..nor do I know anybody with one...I read the previous posts and looks extremley simple to do by the testimonials from guys who have done it,..this is for the Veneys Vega,..would need done almost ASAP...Please call or email any info,..very appreciated Thanks Vic 509-637-5303 [email protected]
Use a table saw to cut it down, clamp it between 2 2x4s and use a heat gun or a blow drier to make the bends.
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