Thanks for sharing your amazing craftsmanship once again. A couple of questions if I may: 1. What Thickness perspex are you using? 2. Didn't catch the oven set temperature or heating time? 3. Have you tried or considered making the buck out of the piece cut out from making the fender ? Seem like that would be the perfect starting contour.
7 месяцев назад
Great Questions: 1. I am using 1/8" Plexi 2. I started at 315F and bumped it up to about 340F for the last couple minutes. 3. The headlight opening I cut out of the fender ends up being too small, as I like to have that extra inch or two around the outer parameter...
We’ve all heard of “hand made” cars of course, but yours, Mr Runge, are the world’s MOST hand made machines on the planet! They are beautiful throwbacks to an era of automotive art. Outstanding at every conceivable level…
Love your channel. I curved plenty of plexiglass in architecture school, and the best trick I learned was to cool the plexy with tap water straight out of the oven, it tightens the curve slightly further than the mold, instead of the material popping back. Hope this is useful. Keep working those jewels you make!
Great suggestion. I just posted a vacuum forming method be used. I made a clear cockpit cover for the Indy 500 SUMAR streamliner in quarter scale and I carved a block of wood dead smooth. A model maker vacuum formed perfect covers. I think the same method could be used for the headlight covers...even a windshield. Carve the shape and the vacuum will pull the heated piece into shape.
Hey Chris, I find your channel so fascinating! I love watching people with amazing talent bringing amazing things to life. Without RU-vid I'd probably never get the chance to experience how one would hand make a car. And your cars are total works of art. Thanks for taking the time to document your work and sharing it with the world. I look forward to more coming our way.
I would’ve thought that the hot metal would put an imprint in the plastic. When I did this years ago, I used plaster molds with dowels and lined them with an aramid felt. Nice work!
Always great to watch and learn from your videos ✊. In case you don’t know, you can soften the edges of the plexiglass and make cutting face smooth as “glass” by carefully heating it up with a gas burner. Maybe an air gun will work, but I haven’t tried. I did that when I made blue plexiglass sun visors for my E-type.
amazing work!…i’ve ben watching you for the past few months, and very impressed by your skill in design and execution… love this particular car… suggestion:…i have an aluminum bike and fenders …i hate rattles and squeaks…the material is like a big speaker and broadcasts the sounds …i added leather washers and it did the trick…looks cool too because i have matching leather seat…you probably will have leather hood straps…could be a cool detail and touch… can’t wait to see you finished product!
Very cool! Kind of amazed that the plexi doesn't get scratched up or otherwise damaged, but the final bit looks great. Weird bigger question, though - do you save those aluminum forms in case the customer needs fresh plexi lenses? Actually, how much stuff like that ends up being part of the final car?
.... outer "perimeter", not "parameter"? I implemented a simliar setup on my 1974 Lotus Europa Twincam. What did you use for fastners between the plexi and the mounting brackets? Self-tapping or a suege-locked threadsert on the bracket? What about debris that can sneak in around the perimeter/periphery of the lense from the outside? Thanks. It's a piece of jewelry.
If I were to mount the headlight lenses I would make a ridge (about 1/8 in. around the inside of the light , add a rubber ring and make a headligk rim to attach to the outside . I think it would be much more pallative and wont let in dust and dirt ... just a suggestion , Cliff
Chris, fabulous fabrication as always. Finish line getting ever closer. One minor niggle from an old wordsmith - I believe you are confusing the word parameter with perimeter (outer boundary).
Excellent process. If I cannot source a windshield for my Manta Montage kit car, I may try a similar process on a much larger piece. By the way, where did you source the side mirrors? I assume you found quality parts. Everything thing I find in that style is plastic.
Looking good :). If it rains will water pool in the bottom infront of the headlight?, the headlight itself will be waterproof, is the indicator bulb sealed against water ingress?. Does this need sealed around the edges?, or would any water that got in just drain out? :)
@ Wow, I would have guessed several thousand $! I'm going to look into it. I love your work, especially being self taught. I taught myself to weld by fabbing a side exit exhaust thru the sill and most of the headache was getting even 1/2 inch clearance at the outlet with no banging againts the body. Used 3 inch pipe for the outlet and 2 inch for the pipe.
I was surprised that the left and right side covers could be made from the same molds. Is there not some asymmetry there that would require a mirror image rather than a duplicate?
7 месяцев назад
Hi Douglas, as the video shows, I made separate molds for each side… a left and a right.
If you try to seal that area it will cause moisture to build up on the inside of the lens, and fog over when warmed. Even stock headlights with covers are vented to prevent moisture build up. The slight bit of air that can get past the perimeter of the Perspex actually helps to allow any moisture that made it's way past the cover to not fog over from trapped moisture.
