bambam

As the title states...
I have an idea for something ingenious and I was wondering if you guys knew anything? Like where to go for some custom plexiglass designing. TIA.

manifoldmiketyson

do you mean cutting plexi?

if so, you can cut it with about anything you want. i used to get displays for car audio stuff cut at a laser cutter or use a router.

bambam

Nah....actually I'm looking at custom making something for automotive application. It's not about just cutting a flat piece of plexiglass. Think of....making a 24x24 inch box of plexiglass (just for visualization).....who would I talk to or go to? I'm telling you...this idea would literally [freak]ing blow up in the car scene....import or domestic. It was weird how I came up with it...but understand I can't say anything about exactly what I'm talking about....I can guarantee that it would go far in the honda scene. I'm willing to invest 3k+ into getting the ball rolling...that's how serious I am about it.

h22 civic

is it a valve cover or intake manifold?

Niles

When he said "literally blow up" I thought of a clear oil pan.
Good luck with whatever you try. Look up glass cutters in the yellow pages they will have plexiglass, and be experienced in cutting and a little bit of sheet forming from window repair.

Bailhatch

You can bend and fuse some sheet plastics like that. I bet valve cover, and i bet it's been done

Goullish

Acrylics can be thermoformed, plastic/solvent welded, glued, extruded, injected, you name it...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bailhatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I bet valve cover, and i bet it's been done </TD></TR></TABLE>

It has. Show covers only, they warp. I've seen metal valve covers with windows too, don't know if they were any better.


Modified by Goullish at 10:38 PM 3/8/2008

NJIN BUILDR

I've seen a small block chevy with a clear valve cover.All you see is the oil about a second after start up and turned a opaque yellow haze after a couple weeks.

mcmotors

You can cold form plexiglass, depending on what your doing, you might want to look into having a mold made. Initial investment would be high, but from experience, cost per piece is about 12% vs. conventional methods.

Top Ramen

Its difficult to answer your question without more information, but working with acrylic is easy. It cuts nicely with any small-toothed saw with little or no kerf. You can glue it with a solvent that is almost as strong as the original plasic. Look up DIYs on acrylic fish tanks, etc. for information on working with plastics.

Any place that supplies sign shops should have a good selection of acrylic, other plastics and supplies. Many of them will also do basic custom fabrication.

If you are looking to vacuum mold something, that is also pretty easy and there are lots of DIYs on the net.

Best of luck with your project.

bambam

Thx guys...I appreciate all of your help.
BTW, it's not a valve cover....lol.

gabepari

I have a cnc router, and I do 3d molds for thermo-forming all the time. Can you send me some sketches or something, I could help you with the tooling or process depending on how it needs to be made.

Gabe