Holiday House! PLEASE Looking help, suggestions, etc Thanks!

Have you considered contacting your local vocational school to see if they have a class that learns to form plexi and if so would they be interested in forming your curved windows if you supplied the material? Some schools around here does this type of thing for the experience. Just a thought. Or you can get some scrapes and try it your self, the hardest part is maintaining the correct temp while bending, if you get the plexi to hot it will form bubbles. What is the radius of the curved window you would like to have?

Portajohn
I personally wouldnt use plexiglass. I think Id go with Lexan since it is a tougher and more durable material. Love your ideas otherwise...I'd sure love a Holiday House as well!!! Make 2, please. LOL

Too cool. Several people have shown desire to use a ham frame to build their own version, and you sure picked a good one to emulate. Lots of eyes will be watching.
Please don't get stuck with a hard fast time frame though unless you include sufficient "chair time", those moments or hours when you are sitting inside letting your mind wander around the corners, listening to the creative juices bubble... real important, and I'd say, for me, an added 10%. A morning cuppa jo before starting and a glass of merlot at the end of the day, looking for a line that needs adjusting or what you can store in *** cabinet if it's just an inch or so longer, taller, etc.
Good luck and take those pictures.

Well the main reason is that they don't want the shipment refused due to damage. That ends up costing them a lot of money so if they are going to ship, they make dang sure that it's gonna all get there in the original shape it left in. Then add the shipping itself and it can cost almost as much for shipping as the cost of the metal itself. Sure is good metal though. And he get's it right as long as you give him the right information.

Anyone with a 12 foot or larger hand break can do 3 inch breaks for you. It takes two people.

FYI Porta John is persimmon pal from the old forum.... one of the regulars over there. Don't doubt at all his capacity to do this build.... gonna be real fun to watch!

I bent lexan with a torch once, to make a replacement windshield for my motorcycle. It was pretty easy, just wave the torch flame back and forth to heat the whole bend evenly, and like Bill said, it will form bubbles if you hold the flame too close or in one place for too long. It can also sag and burn if it gets too hot. I'd build a very smooth wooden form for it to drape over as it bends, as a rough texture might imprint itself on the surface. A heat gun would be safer than a torch.

I've read that 257 degrees is the forming temp for Lexan. If you're not building it in one piece, you could do sections of it in the oven. If you are building it in one piece, and feel like taking the trouble, you could build a simple oven large enough to put the whole piece in...

I've also read that Lexan absorbs moisture, and that if you don't want bubbles, you must dry it at a lower temp before bending. Can't confirm or deny that the bubbles come from absorbed moisture, though.


Every time I hear someone say "don't buy Home Depot birch", I'm puzzled. I know they don't have 1/8", so if you need precise 1/8" I understand. But the 5mm stuff they sell is bookmatched veneer, made in the USA without formaldehyde, and I haven't found any voids or anything else wrong with it. www.homedepot.com/p/1-4-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-Birch-Domestic-Plywood-165891/100092485?keyword=1%2F4+x+4+x+8+birch+plywood#specifications