Make Your Own Acrylic Cover

Glad I found this post:yes:. I plan on building a nice cover for my Gyro. I am a furniture maker, so I pretty much have the tools needed, but never worked too much with plasics/acrylics.

Anyways. I would like to try one with rounded edges on the front and back. Has anyone attempted this? In other words, a continuous piece (front/top/back) with just the sides welded in. :scratch2:
 
Glad you like it. It's something I've been meaning to do for awhile. Reason I've never posted here before today is that I spend all my time fooling around over on the Klipsch Forum and I've only so much time for hanging out online.

I do believe, however, that audiophiles everywhere utilizing a little patience and care can save a few bucks, pick up an albeit minor skill, protect their gear while still getting to look at all those tubes, gizmos and gadgets we own.

My inspiration for making these things started with, of all things, an old Yammie audiophile grade cdp. I had taken the cover off, of course, just to see what I could see and I was amazed at all the cool stuff hidden inside. Made one for that, then a couple for myself, and a few for friends just to hone my skills.

One word of caution. If you end up making one of these for somebody and have to mail it, you are in for a world of grief. They have to be almost perfectly supported inside and outside to survive shipping.

Oh, and no I do not make these for sale. It's a sideline to a hobby, not a business, so be assured that I am not trying to drum up any business.

Wow this is amazing, i can't imagine how much efforts you put in for all of us to understand this and implement it ourselves.
 
Sorry guys, been out of pocket too much of late. Djangle that is one awesome power conditioner, but I'm afraid you are seriously bent.:)

Bliss that is first class work, better than I could do. Remember, soap and water, not Windex, and it will look good forever.

As far as the rounded edges, that's beyond my skill set cause I don't have a router. But with a router is should be easy and look great! Just take your time and be gentle when you go to flame the plastic.

Ya know, putting this together was fun for me and it's heartening to see others like it. After all , what's the point of knowledge if you don't share it.
 
Hi Thebes, I'm glad to see you're still around these parts. IMO this is one of the best threads on AK. I just put a Thorens TD125 into service and it needs a dust cover. Thanks to you I feel totally empowered and capable of building one myself. :thmbsp:
 
Has anyone tried to do this for a reel to reel yet? Would love to see a tutorial on making one for a 10.5" deck!

That shouldn't be too hard to do at all. Lots of RTR's came in a case with a front panel you could close. That means they have a lip all around the outside of the unit. Perfect for resting place for a cover. If the reels extend beyond the cab, and most do, you would just have to leave and opening on either side of the reel. After all total height on a dust cover would be probably two, two and a half inches max.

Now on a RTR that's standing up, it does get more complicated because you'd probably have to drill a hole or two for some hinges or a hook to keep the lid from falling off.
 
Glad I found this post:yes:. I plan on building a nice cover for my Gyro. I am a furniture maker, so I pretty much have the tools needed, but never worked too much with plasics/acrylics.

Anyways. I would like to try one with rounded edges on the front and back. Has anyone attempted this? In other words, a continuous piece (front/top/back) with just the sides welded in. :scratch2:

If you mean that the front, top, and back are one piece with the sides glued in, then yes you can do that. I've seen plastic benders for sale under $75. Basically, they're a rod that heats up. You bend the plastic over it when it gets up to temperature.

BTW, thanks for the thread! I'm waiting to flame my edges now :D

-Phil
 
This is great. I've been thinking of building a new base for my Dual 1228. If I did that I'd need a new cover too!
 
Great thread, thanks for all the information. Concerning bending acrylic, I've done this by making a smooth wood form, heating the acrylic evenly with a heat gun, and carefully bending it around the form. The acrylic is then clamped to the form using cauls until it cools.

I got the idea to do this from seeing a WWII video of acrylic sheets being formed into B-24 windows; the sheets would come out of the oven, and they looked as floppy as a thin sheet of paper. They would then be draped over the form to make the window. One aha moment there!

You can also cut acrylic using a bandsaw with a thin wood blade, but some acrylic cuts easier and cleaner than others. I've found the stuff from McMaster Carr is the easiest to work with, the plexiglass from Lowe's hardware was a disaster.

I'm going to have to try the crack repairs referenced here, my VPI HW19 turntable cover has a big crack in it. Thanks again!
 
I make all my cuts with a fine Bosch jig saw blade with a slow speed. This cuts the plastic rather than melts it. My band saw would leave a pile of melted plastic. For smooth flat edges I run the pieces through a planner with a very thin cut and a very slow feed rate. For curved pieces I use a bench mounted disk sander and then a orbital sander to get a finer consistent etched glass look on the edges. Some folks use a MAP torch but I have not tried that yet. See the thread here.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=316579
 
Thank you so much thebes for posting your tutorial and for the mods for making it a sticky.
 
Just for the heck of it, what was the dresser drawer for? The handle for the dust cover? For square when gluing, as I think about it now?

I'm not sure if this idea will work, but knowing me, I might try to cut the side pieces first, put them together to fit the TT base, tape them together for sizing, then measure and cut the top to match. I've never worked with the acrylic before. Can it be over cut and adhered, then trimmed to size??? Remember I'm a laymen at this stuff. Sometimes I "believe" I have good Ideas (on paper of course) that in reality don't work out.

Thanks!
 
Just for the heck of it, what was the dresser drawer for? The handle for the dust cover? For square when gluing, as I think about it now?

I'm not sure if this idea will work, but knowing me, I might try to cut the side pieces first, put them together to fit the TT base, tape them together for sizing, then measure and cut the top to match. I've never worked with the acrylic before. Can it be over cut and adhered, then trimmed to size??? Remember I'm a laymen at this stuff. Sometimes I "believe" I have good Ideas (on paper of course) that in reality don't work out.

Thanks!


Thanks again for all the kind folks who have found this thread useful. As for the last poster, the drawer is, as you surmised, an easy way to square up the parts prior to gluing. And no, don't put the four sides together and just try to cut and fit the top cause it won't work. Why? First you have to shave the edges once they are cut and then torch them to make the edges clear. If you do that after the fact you will just melt the other parts of the cover. Cut all the parts, dry fit them, if they don't line up, then cut and trim until they do, and only then glue. You really only get one chance at gluing cause once it's dry, the plastic will break unevenly if you try to pull it apart to redo it. Trust me, I've been down that particular road.

Like many things, working with acrylic is pretty simple, one you follow a few simple guidelines. It's more an exercise in patience than anything else.
 
Yeah, that cover on the amp has got to be one of the neatest looking diy things I've ever seen. It makes me rethink my entire attitude about walnut cabinets. Thebes, you are a diy rockstar.

+1

In reading it through, I didn't get lost once! So useful and well written. Thank you!
 
nice write up Thebes .
I would like to ad a few remarks , the glue (weldon ) is not waterbased but
waterthin meaning it is a pure solvent without filler. Please read safetyinstructions the solvents capable of melting acrylic ore not healthy.

More info regarding plexiglas can be found on:http://www.plexiglas-shop.com
Or look for evonik / rohm on the web.
Regards F.
 
A Plastic asp scraper (a drywall asp should also work) or a scraper bar (the

Could one use a joiner instead of the scraper to clean up the cut and make the measurement more accurate? I have a 3 blade joiner that turns at 10,000 RPMs. Could I use that with acrylic?

Thanks for your help. This thread has been very useful.

George
 
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