Ame2cua

31 minutes ago, 1nolaguy said:

Thanks. I went to Lowes (and HD) website and it appears the gauge is 24 for these sheets. I am amazed that there is no flex but then the span side to side is only about 3-4" unsupported. That may not be thick enough to larger panels like the gauge cluster or radio area but for the side cluster it appears to work great.

Exactly, the panel doesn’t have to bear a lot of weight so it worked fine. Definitely would recommend something thicker for the gauge cluster. Probably something I could not source from Lowe’s. 

3 minutes ago, 1nolaguy said:

All my failures seem to be at the screw holes at terminal end. I just checked yesterday but a new sheet of Acrylic is quite expensive. Thanks for these options. perhaps some superglue and aluminum reinforcement is the way to go.

KLCDenver, what type of epoxy did you use to attach the aluminum to the plastic?

Ame2Cua, what gauge Aluminum sheet did you use? All I could find at the local HD/Lowes was 24 ga, which seems a bit thin. 

The attached photo is exactly what I bought. 24”x 36” 6063 aluminum. Bought enough to maybe remake future broken panels. Can’t remember the gauge off the top of my head but it was on the thinner side 20 or 22. I also used Krylon All in one black matte paint. 
I was worried that it would be too thin but worked out just fine once it was installed and doesn’t flex at all. It’s thin enough to cut out with some snips. 

Thank you. Didn’t do anything fancy but good old fashion elbow grease, some aviation snips, carbide burr, and some files. 

The interior driver side panel broke when disengaging the air brake in my Monaco. Figured I’d go down to Lowe’s and buy some aluminum sheet metal to remake the panel. Seen others use polycarbonate but I hear it’s not the easiest to paint and I didn’t want to run the risk of it cracking (plus aluminum is easier to bend). 
 

Wanted to know what others have done to successfully remake panels. 
 

I will be adding text using transfer tape and vinyl text via a Cricut machine for final touches, but for now what I have is functional.