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Door windows

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 11:08 pm
by seneca2e
Door windows are a little too crazed for my liking. Does anyone know if they're available relatively cheaply? It looks like it'd be fairly easy to fabricate them if not.

Re: Door windows

Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 4:15 pm
by n5913x
I did my old b2 in lexsand tinted . there easy to cut out if you have a patteren. lot cheaper .

Re: Door windows

Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 12:40 am
by seneca2e
n5913x wrote:I did my old b2 in lexsand tinted . there easy to cut out if you have a patteren. lot cheaper .
Unless someone knows of reasonably priced new ones that might be the way to go. Mine has a couple of round air scoops so holes would have to be cut out for those but I think I could get them cut out on a waterjet or just do in myself with a little work. I think it was probably just soft acrylic (trade name plexiglass) originally but not sure.

Re: Door windows

Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 8:46 am
by bryancobb
The round vent holes are very critical in the size of the hole, so the little vents fit snug and don't rattle around.

The plexi or Lexan has to be 2 layers thick (1/8") there so the little vents work right.

I did it all with a router with a Formica cutter with a ball bearing on it. I made a template on the lathe for the ball bearing to ride on. It took several attempts on sample pieces of 1/16" Lexan to figure out the right template size for the vent to work right.

Then I cut out 2 donuts of the Lexan using the same template for the INSIDE dia. The outside dia. was 3/4" larger than the opening, just sawed on the bandsaw since it wasn't critical. Cleaned the O.D. up a little with a file, and CLAMPED them onto the window with 2 flat pieces of plywood.
THE I.D. OF THE DONUT AND WINDOW HOLE MUST BE PERFECTLY LINED UP OR THE VENT WON'T WORK RIGHT!!!!
I used thin CA glue before I clamped the donuts. Use a small bead because it's thin and when you clamp it, it squeezes out. The goal is for the CA to fill the whole area where the donut contacts the window. This way it will come out perfectly clear and almost invisible.

Hope it works for you.

Re: Door windows

Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 11:49 pm
by seneca2e
Thanks for the how to. So you used only 1/16" inch thick Lexan overall for the windows and doubled it via the donuts to 1/8" at the air scoops? I've not measured my window thickness yet but thought it was probably 1/8 instead of 1/16. But then again they might have been replaced at some point for all I know.

Re: Door windows

Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 6:15 pm
by bryancobb
I THINK I remember calling the factory to verify 1/16, OR I may have looked at the NEW ship I saw at SUN-N-FUN in 2001.

1/8" weighs about 100 lbs/sqft (exaggerated) 1/16" weighs 1 lb/sqft.

If I used 1/8", I could't carry a passenger!

LMAO

Re: Door windows

Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 10:43 pm
by seneca2e
I did check mine today and they were 1/8" with no donuts necessary. Saving weight is always a good thing though :-) .