Matronics Email Lists :: View topic - Another Windshield Install Question

Matronics Email Lists
Web Forum Interface to the Matronics Email Lists

Get Email Distribution Too! FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register

Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in

Another Windshield Install Question

Matronics Email Lists Forum Index -> Kolb-List

View previous topic :: View next topic

Author Message

Rick Lewis

Joined: 03 Jul 2007
Posts: 122
Location: Kingston, Tn.

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 6:54 pm Post subject: Another Windshield Install Question

I didn't want my question to get lost in the other windshield install post so I'm making another one.   



     I will be installing my windows soon and am wondering if once the windshield is clamped into place can you apply heat with heat lamps at a distance so the lexan would take the shape of the bend.  It seams like a mild heat would make the lexan take the new shape and therefore would not have continuous strain on the rivets.  Maybe this happens naturally over time, out in the sun.  Whats ya think? 



Rick Lewis

- The Matronics Kolb-List Email Forum -

Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List

John Hauck

Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 4639
Location: Titus, Alabama (hauck's holler)

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 7:16 pm Post subject: Another Windshield Install Question

 	  Quote: 	
		       I will be installing my windows soon and am wondering if once the 

 windshield is clamped into place can you apply heat with heat lamps at a 

 distance so the lexan would take the shape of the bend.  It seams like a 

 mild heat would make the lexan take the new shape and therefore would not 

 have continuous strain on the rivets.  Maybe this happens naturally over 

 time, out in the sun.  Whats ya think?



 Rick Lewis


	




Hi Rick L:



The way I see it, a rivet, if pulled properly, will always be under strain, 

no matter what the application.   My experience, after installing and 

removing many of my own Kolb windshields, is the Lexan will not necessarily 

take on the shape it has been in after many years.   I would not use heat on 

Lexan to stress relieve it.



john h

mkIII

- The Matronics Kolb-List Email Forum -

Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List

_________________
John Hauck
MKIII/912ULS
hauck's holler
Titus, Alabama

mdnanwelch7(at)hotmail.co
Guest

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 7:47 pm Post subject: Another Windshield Install Question

 	  Quote: 	
		   I will be installing my windows soon and am wondering if once the windshield is clamped into place can you apply heat with heat lamps at a distance so the lexan would take the shape of the bend. It seams like a mild heat would make the lexan take the new shape and therefore would not have continuous strain on the rivets. Maybe this happens naturally over time, out in the sun. Whats ya think? 

 

 Rick Lewis

 
	


Rick,

 

  My MkIII spent this last summer on my large flatbed trailer, outside, in the sun, with a 10 mil black visqueen cover.  I was building my shop at the time.

  My windshield was installed with clecos only.  I checked underneath the visqueen a couple of times, and the heat was phenominal!  My guess would be it was 160 degrees in there. Maybe more!!  I had spiders and bugs that crawled in the fuselage, and immediately died from heat exhaustion.

The main point I'm making is that the windshield was so hot you could literally fry an egg on it.  

  A few days ago I unclecoed it, and took it off, to get ready for some fuselage paint.  It has a slight curve to it.  After a few months of unmercifully hot, scorching, black visqueen covered heat, it barely has a curve in it.

 

  What this tells me is , is that for you to obtain any "real" curve to it, like enough to relieve the stress on the rivets, this would take an enourmous EVEN heat.  I can not imagine you could do it without ruining the clarity.

 

  My advice would be to not try it.  Can it be done under very precise controlled conditions, yes.  But, can you that at your shop?  Probably not, and darn sure not for the trouble, the risk, or the gain.  

 

  Shaping and forming Lexan, Plexiglass, and other polycarbinates can be done, but it is usually by large commercial operations.  You have to have an exact shape you are after, heat the Lexan laying over your shape, to a precise temperature for a few hours, and let it slowly mold itself onto the final shape you want.  Rather involved.  Not impossible, just a lot of work.

 

Just my opinion,

Mike Welch

MkIII  

_________________________________________________________________

Windows Live™ Hotmail®: Chat. Store. Share. Do more with mail. 

http://windowslive.com/howitworks?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t1_hm_justgotbetter_howitworks_012009

- The Matronics Kolb-List Email Forum -

Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List

mdnanwelch7(at)hotmail.co
Guest

Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 8:00 pm Post subject: Another Windshield Install Question

 	  Quote: 	
		   I will be installing my windows soon and am wondering if once the windshield is clamped into place can you apply heat with heat lamps at a distance so the lexan would take the shape of the bend. It seams like a mild heat would make the lexan take the new shape and therefore would not have continuous strain on the rivets. Maybe this happens naturally over time, out in the sun. Whats ya think?



 Rick Lewis

 
	


Rick, 

 

  Oh yeah, one more thing.  I noticed that when my windshield was clecoed in place, it has a slight

ability to "indent" (flex in), if you push down hard enough in the middle.  The slight curve of the mounting may give the windshield an extra resistance to denting due to the airstream pushing down on it.

  If you took away some of the induced strength of this curved mounting method, by preshaping it, I think it might be more likely to indent.

 

Just my thoughts on the matter,

Mike Welch

 



 

_________________________________________________________________

Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. 

http://windowslive.com/howitworks?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t1_allup_howitworks_012009

- The Matronics Kolb-List Email Forum -

Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List

jbhart(at)onlyinternet.ne
Guest

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 7:59 am Post subject: Another Windshield Install Question

At 06:54 PM 1/17/09 -0800, you wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		  



     I will be installing my windows soon and am wondering if once the 

windshield is clamped into place can you apply heat with heat lamps at a 
	


distance so the lexan would take the shape of the bend.  It seams like a 

mild heat would make the lexan take the new shape and therefore would not 

have continuous strain on the rivets.  Maybe this happens naturally over 

time, out in the sun.  Whats ya think? 

 	  Quote: 	
		  


	


Rick,



A few years back I was involved with the design and construction of TV 

component manufacturing equipment.  We hid numerical controls in out of the 

way places and to protect them from dust and moisture we used thin lexan 

covers.  These covers were mechanically formed up using sheet metal forming 

equipment.  Thin lexan will form a permanent right angle bend with out 

cracking.



I believe that if you used some blankets for surface protection and a few 

two by fours on a smooth garage floor, plus the front wheel of a car, you 

could bend your windshield to the desired curvature.



Before trying heat, I would check out what it does to a piece of scrap.



Jack B. Hart FF004

Winchester, IN

- The Matronics Kolb-List Email Forum -

Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List

Display posts from previous:

	Matronics Email Lists Forum Index -> Kolb-List	All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1

Jump to:

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum