Re: 4000q cardboard

[Eric Maxon <emaxon@megsinet.net>]

Ken Keith wrote:
> 
> "Mike Del Tergo" <mdeltergo@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Anyone have a lead on the air deflection cardboard around the radiators
> > of the 4000Q? Preferably made out of something more durable like maybe
> > bread or pasta?
> 
> LOL!
> 
> Ken

Foam core PVC, (AKA USA made Sintra, or German made Komatex) which comes
in 1/8, 1/4" and thicker sheets in a rainbow of colors (including black,
white, red, yellow...), is cheap ($1 to $4 per sqft for 1/8 to 1/2"
thick,) durable, temperature resistant enough for this purpose, and VERY
easy to cut, drill, and even heat bend.  Since it's foam core, it is
VERY light-- It weight about as much as similar thickness corrugated
cardboard!

Best of all, it's got an "orange peel" like semi-smooth surface that is
very easy to clean, and looks like stock vinyl trim in most cars (albeit
with a finer "grain".)  I've made nice gauge panels, etc. out of the
stuff, and at a fab shop I used to work in, made durable structures as
complex as multi-shelf, doored printer cabinets.  

If you don't have a table saw, you can cut this stuff by scoring both
smooth surfaces along a straight edge then breaking it like a graham
cracker.

To heat bend, try the following--
1) set up a holding fixture (large board clamped perpendicular to a work
table) and gather scrap metal/plastic/wood (non-marring surface) with
which to weight down your work piece
2) get an old, straight, oven heating coil, wire it up to plug into
110V, and arrange scrap metal/bricks/wood on either side of it to
support your work about 1/4"-3/8" above the hot coil (higher for thicker
material)
3) score one side of the Sintra/Komatex to 1/2 depth on one side of the
planned bend with a 1/8" wide table saw blade
4) heat first on cut side until *just before surface bubbles* (takes
practice), flip and do same on other side
5) Quickly remove from heat (while still soft), bend to desired angle
and weight down your work 
against the fixture you set up to retain desired angle unitl cool/hard.

Any sheet metal or wood screw will hold well in this stuff provided you
drill a small pilot hole and don't overtorque.

A 1/8" 4 to 8 tooth per inch carbide toothed circular/table saw blade
will cut this stuff beautifully.

You can break sharp edges by scraping them with a razor blade.

Look in the business yellow pages for "Plastic sheet, rod, tube" for a
supplier-- The same people that stock full & cut sheets of acrylic
(plexiglass) and polycarbonate (Lexan/Tuffak, etc.) will generally stock
either the Sintra or Komatex brands of foam core PVC.

I've only bought/worked with the stuff in Michigan-- try Ann Arbor
Plastics or Cadillac Plastics.

Have FUN!

Eric.

-- 
The Manicured Mechanic's time & $$$ go here...
'86 5kcs, '85 4ksq, '84 4ks, (insert '83 Urq here... please:)
dust & bird droppings collect here...
'82 4ks, '81 Tercel SR5, '80 Scirocco