Looking for tips on cutting out door windows

[beeryboats]

Hi Guys!
Due to a fuel leak the right door window is yellow and cracked around the rivets. So I'm replacing both sides. The nice folks at Kitfox sold me new plastic but it's oversize. What is the best method and tool to use to cut to size? I'm lucky to have the old "glass" to use as a pattern which will make it easy. I hope! The bad news is I have all those rivet butts rattling around in the door tubes.
Thanks for any help.
Jay

P.S. does anyone recall the rivet size? Looks like 1/8"x1/4".

[efwd]

Dont use a jigsaw! ;-). Thats for our friend.
Band saw or a plastic cutting disk on a dremel. Dremel worked great for me. Just took a file to the edges afterwards and they look great.
Eddie

[beeryboats]

Dont use a jigsaw! ;-). Thats for our friend.
Band saw or a plastic cutting disk on a dremel. Dremel worked great for me. Just took a file to the edges afterwards and they look great.
Eddie

I have a band saw. What type of blade? Wood or metal?

[avidflyer]

Not sure what you're using, but you can cut the .060" lexan with a pair of tin snips. Lots of other ways as well. JImChuk

[efwd]

Beeryboat, If you haven't got yourself a dremel yet I highly recommend it. I didn't put a lot of weight into the suggestion my friend gave me but once I did I am never going to be without one. I use it for so many things. It makes such easy work of grinding and sanding things to a very close tolerance. Since I didn't use the bandsaw myself on the doors I might defer the tooth count to someone who did. I can't imagine using a wood blade. I have used the high tooth count blade (metal) to cut my fiberglass as well as some scrap plexiglass and it works great. I have not used a low tooth count blade on such material so I don't know what will happen. When I cut plexiglass and fiberglass with the metal blade, the blade goes through like butter so you don't apply any pressure at all. Just enough to advance the piece along as the blade does all the work. I have not dinged anything thus far.
Eddie

[Grant4ever]

I literally just got done making new side windows for my Series 7.

Used a fine tooth bandsaw blade to cut them slightly oversize and then took down to the final size with a block and sandpaper.

Per the manual, the rivets are 1/8" by 1/4". Be sure to step up your holes to 5/32" (before pulling rivets) to reduce the possibility of cracks.

Leave the protective film on as long as possible to reduce the likelihood of scratches while doing all this.

[efwd]

Oh, in fact, I also cut those triangle windows with my fine tooth bandsaw. No problem.

[beeryboats]

Thanks all! Grant, I hope all is dry down there. And thanks for the tip on hole size. I would have screwed that up for sure.
As the new plastic has a protective cover on it I thought I would just take the old window and put it over the new one and hit the edges and holes with a can of spray paint. That will give me the perfect edge and hole pattern.
Good idea or bad???

[avidflyer]

When I had the old window, I clamped it to the new piece, and drilled the holes using the old holes as a guide. Holes always fit good then. Marked the edge with a magic marker. JImChuk

[Grant4ever]

I took the new windows and carefully peeled back the protective covering all the way around the edges, so that I could see exactly what I was doing.

I then placed the windows in position and carefully drilled straight thru the window into the existing holes in the door frame.

As each hole was drilled, I secured the window with a cleco and moved on to the next. I started in the middle and worked my way out in each direction.

With all holes drilled, I then removed the clecos and stepped up the holes in the window to 5/32".

With everything cleaned up and pretty, I resecured the windows in position and started pulling rivets.

They turned out great.

[Grant4ever]

I'd be concerned about the spraypaint giving you a false hole center if not applied perfectly straight into the hole.

I'd also be concerned about any getting under the film edge and becoming an issue.

If the original windows were done correctly, the holes should be 5/32" final size. Using those holes as a guide will require the same size bit to stay as accurate as possible.

[Grant4ever]

Remember, the holes in the door frame should be 1/8". The final sized holes in the Lexan should be 5/32".

[GMKman]

Just re done my doors 2weeks ago and used Wiss tin snips to cut all edges and then used a block sander to finish edges. I had the old ones for templates but left all edges long until they were fully riveted on the frames concerned that all of the curves and bends could distort the straight lines if not mounted perfect.
After mounting doors back on my plane, I peeled back film and used the door opening to mark and trim to fit perfect.

[jtpitkin06]

Bandsaw - fine tooth metal cutting blade. With 32 tpi or more. Stay 1/8 to 1/4 inch outside line.
Finish edge with electric sander. I used a belt sander with 180 grit.

[Floog]

Harbor Freight pneumatic 'body saw' with fine tooth metal cutting blade.
Blue taped the glass, drew the line and cut to the outside edge of it.
Finished with block sander. Violla!

[beeryboats]

Thanks for all the info. I guess there's more than one way to skin a cat as they say. One thing that still has me scratching my head is there are small cut-outs about an inch in diameter where the door hing bolts are located. It's too tight a radius to cut with a band saw. What about a router? Too high speed? Or a router bit in a Dremel?

[efwd]

If your talking about notching out the acrylic I will say you could make short work of it by using a course grit sanding discs on a Dremel. Mark your line and go to work. It will cut through quickly.
Eddie

[t j]

For door hinge cut-outs in Lexan, a Dremel sanding drum would work well. To make the holes to insert and remove the front spar pins a unibit works well to.

[Slyfox]

call me a guy that goes against the grain. ha, I use a jig saw all the time on these lexan windows. I just did my front screen. But, you need to get the finest blade you can, for metal. OR your screwed. That is all. for now. :rolleyes:

oh , keep your protective covers on until the end. when cutting, make your cuts as close to the bench as possible, prevents the window from getting too much slack, that can be bad.

[t j]

I cut out my last windshield skylight with a hacksaw. Then finished the edges with a file first, then 60 grit sand paper, then 120, then 300 then 400.

[beeryboats]

First window was easy. Band saw had a coarser blade than what I would have like, but run what ya brung. It worked fine. And the spray paint trick was a treat. Worked perfect. Still need to drill the holes. I think I'm going to start top and bottom in the middle and cleco, then work my way out drilling into existing holes in the door frame.

[t j]

You can lay the old window over the new lexan on a sheet of wafer board or such and back drill through the old holes through the new lexan and into the board underneath and cleco the holes as you go.

[rv9ralph]

One method not mentioned for cutting. When I cut Lexan (polycarbonate) for my new windscreen on my Model 3, I used an occilating cutter. It worked great on the straight cuts and outside corners. For inside corners, unibit and a 1" drum sander in a drill motor.

Ralph

[kitfox2009]

Not sure if this is on topic or even of interest but occasionally there are discussions regarding draft sealing.
I was cleaning Foxk today after a week on a dusty farm and took a couple of pics of my way of sealing around the flappenon bell cranks. VERY simple and effective .
Hope it shows plainly