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Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:51 am

I'm looking to make a windshield for my rail and curious to know if anyone in the St. Louis area knows where to go, other than Archway. Lowes cuts plexi but the stuff they have is too thin in my opinion.

Ideally, I would like to weld 4 studs onto my frame and be able to place and remove the windshield with wingnuts. Any suggestions on where to go?

Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:52 am

Check with a commercial glass company - The should have all kinds of sizes and thicknesses

Wed Oct 14, 2009 12:12 pm

I'd go with Lexan before plexiglass. Its much stronger.

Also what kind of seats are those?

Wed Oct 14, 2009 12:40 pm

Hooray...instead of being information "needy", now I can pay some back !

I am a race car fabricator. Use 3/16 or 1/4 Lexan Mr10. It is very scratch resistant and super impact tough. DO NOT USE PLEXIGLASS. It breaks into glass-like shards on impact.

If you decide to drill attachment holes, here's a "hot" tip. Get a cheap new drill bit. Heat it up with a torch to a dull red. SLOWLY drill/melt the holes. The heat will form a "ferrule" around the hole that will deter cracks from propagating. The feeling you are looking for is like you are "half" drilling and "half" poking a hole thru with the hot bit.

Make sure the bore of the resulting holes is a bigger diameter that your attachment hardware (especially big headed pop rivits...if you put a 3/16 rivit body in a tight 3/16 hole, when the rivit expands, cracks will eventually form.

Jay

Wed Oct 14, 2009 1:34 pm

Why not buy the proper glazing rubber and install some safety glass into the cage? If I were sailing through or smacking my cranium into the windshield I'd sure want it to remain in 1 piece as opposed to splintering into shards. Besides, if you intend to have it inspected for street use safety glass is required if you intend to be legal. :wink:

Wed Oct 14, 2009 1:44 pm

ataim wrote: I'd go with Lexan before plexiglass. Its much stronger.

lexan is like a safety glass. will lexan pass inspection if he plans on making it street legal or is that a state by state ruling?

Thu Oct 15, 2009 10:57 am

pafree wrote: ataim wrote: I'd go with Lexan before plexiglass. Its much stronger.

lexan is like a safety glass. will lexan pass inspection if he plans on making it street legal or is that a state by state ruling?

Most of the time, No. Only DOT safety glass is "street legal"

Definiatly use the MR-10 lexan if you can find it. Standard lexan is softer than acrylic and can scratch much easier. Good luck. www.mgmplastics.com

Thu Oct 15, 2009 11:07 am

like everyone else said, DO NOT USE PLEXIGLASS. a buddy of mine who has a rail, made one out of plexiglass. but the first time he took it to the highway, only going 65, the windshield started cracking slowly. all you could see was cracks slowly going across the windshield. scary as shit. he had to slow down to 35 for it to stop cracking. we eventually stopped on the highway, and he had to remove it, before it shattered in our faces, lol.

Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:22 pm

Thanks everyone for their input. I actually was getting ready to get it cut tomorrow but, I will cancel the apt. and look for a place that has Lexan.

I want to make sure that the shield is removable quickly and easily for: the summer months, and inspections, since you would need a wiper, or else I would make it permanent.

Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:35 pm

ataim wrote: I'd go with Lexan before plexiglass. Its much stronger.

Also what kind of seats are those?

They are out of a Mazda truck, I think. They were sitting in a storage barn of my dads and I just grinded off all their hardware and welded on some new stuff that would work on my rail..