Sidescreen

[Robbie 2B]

I have cracked the drivers side sidescreen - yes it was my fault trying to leap out of the car at the local Argos car park. All I can say is the Perspex must be really brittle when it is cold.

 

Having got a replacement half sheet of Perspex and a fine toothed jig saw blade I am about to try and replace it. The question is what glue/sealant do you use and what method is used?

 

RH in their blurb state that the sidescreens are 'welded'. It is assumed that it is heat welding. If so can I use an iron just to heat the black rubbery stuff in the seam of the material after replacing the roughened Perspex?

 

Any comments and preferably some guidance gratefully received

 

Thanks

 

Robbie

[Guest micky bigthumbs]

post a picture Robbie i havent seen a RH solid perspex side screen ?

[Longboarder]

I would have thought that this was a job for your local trimmers. Very difficult to get temp, time and pressure right to weld and not just burn a hole.

 

Nigel

[Guest yosamite sam]

try using polycarbonate instead - perspex is not the same as far as i was told - iv just made some doors last month and used a band saw with a not too fine blade - it cut a treat - the polycarbonate is shatter-proof - no shards if it breaks - it drills great

 

 

the hinges were fastened directly to the poly - using larger washers on the back. Also to take off the strain i added some rests to take the stress off the hinges when the door is closed - due to the nature of lever action on them

 

[Robbie 2B]

Many thanks for the responses.

 

I have attached a pitures of the sidescreen - a picture being worth a thousand

words etc.

 

I have now checked the clear plastic sheet which was sold to me a 'Perspex'. It is "Ariel Clear Polystyrene" is this any good or should I use polycarbonate?

 

Thanks again

 

Robbie

[Guest salty_monk]

Polycarbonate was originally developed by Nasa for use in space helmets...

 

It's strength & clarity are amazing. Tends to be very expensive as a raw material though...

 

It can be bought as sheet, injection moulded & can also be heat formed too as it's thermosoftening not a thermoset.

 

One of the other benefits is it is also much harder to scratch then acrylic (perspex is just a trade name for acrylic, like Hoover & vacuum cleaner...)

 

Talking of vacuum cleaners... that's the application where most people will have seen Polycarb, it's used by Dyson in his cleaners....

 

I make these http://www.oemdirectinc.com/ezyflare.html out of them... & yes that vehicle parked on top of one is about the size of a transit with a 4.3l V6.... pretty heavy, you can see how strong the stuff is!!

 

 

In summary, yes it's a much better material than Acrylic, certainly for the application you want it for but it will cost you more $$$ & is harder to get hold of I believe...

[Guest elwe]

We got the polycarbonate for our sidescreens from DIY Plastics. It isn't too expensive. Just don't use 6mm like we did, its very difficult to bend!

[Guest Battery Bill]

Sam

Your sidescreens look very good, mind you so does the car

[swan]

hi

as bill says sidescreens look good

 

are they made of ali. ?

 

do you have any build pics of them ?

 

Questions ,questions

 

swan

[Guest Jaffer]

It is "Ariel Clear Polystyrene" is this any good or should I use polycarbonate?

 

Hi Robbie,

 

I certainly wouldn't use Polystyrene... it won't be very tough and unless its a special grade it is unlikely to be UV stabilised so will craze, go cloudy and become very weak. Polycarb, has to be the material of choice, its pretty good to work with and like Salty says its very tough. [Most grades used to produce sheet ought to be UV stable, but it might be worth checking!]

 

Acrylic is still widely used, but for your application, you would need a toughened 'impact' grade which is likely to be difficult to get in sheet form and probably more expensive than Polycarbonate.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Jaff

[Peter Bell]

As the others say Robbie use polycarbonate, on that style of sidescreen you will find the 'welding' consists of sikaflex.

Peter

[BigLee]

Wnen I repaired my style of Screens like that I wrapped the material round a thin metal bar both sides (about the size of a hacksaw blade) and used very small cap screws through the material, bars and polycarbonate.

 

Worked a treat. Lee

[Guest yosamite sam]

Sam

Your sidescreens look very good, mind you so does the car 

thanks swan and bill - the doors are slightly tinted polycarbonate - 4mm, the bottom half is screwed to the bottom using 4mm stainless round head allen bolts. the bottom half is 2mm thick ally sheet - i made a door using a carboard template then got the dimensions spot on to the roof fixings and the roof channels etc.. then transfered it over and used a bandsaw with a medium blade to cut it (made sure protective sheet was left on right till last to stop marking it). the door bottom ally sheet had to have a slight bend in it to fit flush against the side so i simply gently bent it over my thigh bit by bit until i got it to the right profile... i put the polycarb on first - then added the bottom to it to fit.. got some seal from NF Auto developments.. the elastic bungee loops for the catches are from B&Q 69p each.. when you are done you will notice a gap around the hinges - to fill that in i used 1mm thick rubber sheet - shaped and then put a ally gasket on the back to press and bolt it tight.. spot on!!

 

 

 

the polycarb was called 'makrolon UV' i bought it from ESP plastics (Durham)