Grill / radiator block great

[GasSavers_BEEF]

I don't know if that is what it is for but that is all I have ever seen it used for. be careful with the rasps and remeber

SAFETY GLASSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[theholycow]

Thanks for the reminder. My dad is old-school and I never picked up the safety glasses habit very well...

[dkjones96]

Watch the speed too, it doesn't take much at all to get plastics warm enough to just melt onto your tools. I continue to use cut-off wheels with my dremel and even at the lowest speed setting with almost no pressure at all I melt plastics. Usually it's not a big deal as it can just be sanded but something like the rasps might not be as disposable as a single 2 cent cut-off wheel.

[theholycow]

I use the diamond cut-off wheels, because I always break the normal cheap ones before I even begin to cut anything. I don't know if my cheap ones are extra-cheap or if it's just my usual unsteady hands (I'm terrible at doing things freehand).

Either way, I can get replacements cheap at Harbor Freight.
10 pc rotary rasp set, $5.29: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=35453
5 pc rotary rasp set, $4: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=4476
5 pc diamond cut-off wheel set, $3: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=31501

Even at that price I can't currently afford to waste them, so I'll have to be careful to go slow. I have cut plastic before and it definitely does melt, though it never seems to stick to the cutoff wheel.

Edit: I got an idea...abrasive blade on circular saw, with the circular saw mounted as a tablesaw. That ought to cut the stuff easy and those blades are incredibly cheap. Hospital, here I come!

[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by theholycow

The wires definitely look bad, but othe than that it looks great!

What's the best way to cut that material? I have some similar material I'm going to install in a day or two, and I've been trying to figure out how I'm going to cut it. A knife won't do the job (and I'll sever a finger in the process), and I fear that a jigsaw will butcher and crack the plastic. My material is probably plexiglas or lexan or whatever, it's salvaged from a roof window and it's somewhat thin.

I made mine out of Plexiglas and I used a Skil saw with a carbide tip blade to cut it. Just go into the material slowly or you'll crack it and set the blade where it's just barely deep enough to cut through the material. I didn't have any rounded corners to cut just straight cuts, but you could use a Dremel or maybe a router if you work slowly for the radius cuts. It wasn't too bad about melting either, just a minimal amount.

[Rayme]

I used a jigsaw with a general cutting blade or a wood blade if I remember..it works very well. The material I used is PETG and is stronger than acrylic (plexi) so I can't say if it's good for that purpose..

[theholycow]

Sorry for hijacking your thread.

[slurp812]

Originally Posted by Rayme

I made this outta PETG (stronger than plexiglass) and to my suprise, the engine's temperature probably only went up 2-3 degrees. It usuall hang in the 80-85 celcius, and with that block it went up to 88 degrees, having the heat on full blast lowers it...

Dude! I have a silver one (civic si) and I did a grille block like that also. But in the summer, the fans come on too much. So I chopped a piece out of the center. I have pics, posted on here somewhere. I also hoked an LED to my fan relay to tell me when the fans are on.

[slurp812]

here's my thread from last summer....

http://www.gassavers.org/showthread.php?t=8062