Restoring door panel board NE1 tried plexiglass?

[Brandon73fjord]

I'm talking about the backing board for the vinyl. I know aardvark sells these, but I'm curious as to what others have tried.

[mossyboy6]

wood is easier and cheaper.

[3nSahalee]

Plex is not the best for this. It's a difficult plastic to work with.

I made some panels for my Sunbeam from a 2 or 3mm ABS. I'm very satisfied with them. It's alot easier to work with and is a very dimensionally stable plastic, heat/moisture resistant (no warpage) and highly impact resistant. Easily shaped/trimmed/drilled/sanded, and can be cut very precisely with a utility knife and straight edge (make several passes). Most large cities have a plastics supplier and they should have it, or be able to get it.

I've been out of tradeshow displays for several years, so there may even be better plastics out there now.

When I redo my '02 panels, (winter project), I will definitely go with plastic over wood.

HTH

[nbcbird]

ABS wouldn't be a bad choice, but I would use PVC foam board, also known as Sintra. It is lighter and easier to cut than ABS. Don't let the "foam" word confuse you, it will not dent or compress like most foam or gator board. Of all the choices I think marine plywood would have the best structural rigidity and be the easiest to cut.

On a similar note, I treated my original pressboard panels with Thompsons wood protector (on the back, the solvents will eventually evaporate) and they are holding up quite well.--Jim

[robsanab]

I went with Aardvarks... I also used a good wood protector... but what i also did was to glue 1/8" closed cell foam to the back. It is sold by auto sound dampening companies... can't remember who i got it from... to dampen high frequencies and it won't soak in water. Haven't installed yet but I'm hoping it will contribute to a solid and silent door, along with all the other stuff i did.

[dpecsok]

i bought a fiberboard from homedepot, used the old panel as a template and a rotary cutout tool. coated the back with poly urethane . cost me 20 - 30 bucks and a little time. turned out well.

[3nSahalee]

the problem with sintra and trovicel is the fact that they will distort a bit in the high heat inside the car on a hot summer day. it'll end up wavy. I have used a ton of sintra, and I like trovicel better in some regards as it is both denser and harder. they both have micro air pockets created in the extruding of the material. as an example, a hair dryer can really soften sintra & trovicel to a 'buttery' state. i could create a vase from sintra with a blow dryer. it will also crack/shatter if cold on hard impact, which will not happen to the sheet of abs.

the abs is solid with no air pockets, you need a heat gun to get it to soften.

another great plastic is PETG. it's the stuff plastic soda bottles are made of. you can get sheets of it in various thicknesses. It's an UBER-tough plastic.

I'll go to my file cabinet of resource literature and investigate further as I know of a few other plastics that would be ideal for panels.

[ahlem]

I've been pondering this for a while now. With a digitizer, Autocad and a couple CNC routers at my disposal would there be a market for replacement panels? We could also do trunk panels. Maybe I could get Blunt to sell them for me. You would have to upholster them.

[Biemenstien]

I notice you have referenced a "Sunbeam" if you have pics of the panels you fabed perhaps you could post them. My pop is restoring,"for the second time" his Sunbeam Tiger, it might be nice to incorporate some of your handiwork.

Thanks.