Yes, there is progress, no, it's not astounding enough to even warrant comments, even though there are quite a few hours of work there. I finished the fascia trim and cut the door parts. I decided to redesign the doors. Well, actually I had little choice based on the size of the piece of Plexiglas that I had. In order to use a single piece in each door, I would have had to use 2" wide pieces for the rails and stiles, covering up the top and bottom shelves when the doors are closed. I decided to add muntin bars (window dividers) and divide the doors into thirds. That way I could make the doors tall enough so they don't block any of the shelves. I also opted for a more plain look which made it easier for me not to have to route a fancy edge on all the pieces.

I added the fascia trim which gives me a total of 1.5" for the door frame to rest on:
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Here are the door parts ready to stain and assemble. I cut tenons in the ends to fit into the slots I cut for the Plexiglas:
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This is the first dry fit for the door parts to be sure all the spacing is correct:
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Looks like you are quite the woodworker!

Tyson Rayles Wrote:Looks like you are quite the woodworker!

Thanks Mike, two things about that. I've been doing woodworking and a bit of construction since I was a kid (a very long time ago) , and a lot longer than I've been into model railroading. Secondly, I have enough tools to make it easy. Now if I could only remember that old saying, was it, "measure once, cut twice", or the other way around??

Norm Abram, where are you when I need you?

ezdays Wrote:Now if I could only remember that old saying, was it, "measure once, cut twice", or the other way around??

Well, I'm in the home stretch and find I have hit an impasse. I've been working with only the materials that I have on hand, just to make my challenge a bit more.... uh, challenging. I had one piece of 1/8" clear Plexiglas to work with to use as windows on my doors, and so I had to make each door with three panes rather than one because of the size of the panel. Now this sheet of plastic is at least six years old, probably more like eight, hock: and after about a year, the paper is almost impossible to get off. With new stuff, the protection paper comes of in large pieces, but the older it is, the smaller the pieces, so I came up with a solution. I soaked the paper in "Goo-Gone", then used a razor-edged scraper to peel the paper away. It came off easy and looked fine... that is until I cleaned off the residue glue, then I realized that the edges of he scraper were digging into the plastic leaving some pretty deep scratches. I tried several ways to polish these scratches out, but all I've managed to do is to mess them up even more. Here is a shot of what they look like, some are worse than this one:
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And here's what I have left to work with. I can make four more windows, but I need six, and I'm not even sure I can get the paper off without damaging the plastic. I have a few options that I'm going to try tomorrow, so I'll let you know, but in the meantime, I'm kind of screwed for now.... :evil:
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If I were a bit closer...
I have a razor blade set that's plastic. There's a holder labelled "UL Gripper" while the blades are "Scrape Rite" and either "Made in EU" or "Made in USA". There are 2 varieties, but I forget which is which. In Canada, I get them at Lee Valley.

Finish your challenge with the scraped Plexi, then replace when no one's looking.

BR60103 Wrote:If I were a bit closer...
I have a razor blade set that's plastic. There's a holder labelled "UL Gripper" while the blades are "Scrape Rite" and either "Made in EU" or "Made in USA". There are 2 varieties, but I forget which is which. In Canada, I get them at Lee Valley.

Finish your challenge with the scraped Plexi, then replace when no one's looking.

Good idea, thanks. I think Harbor Freight has plastic razor blades, I remember seeing them a few years ago. I'll check with Home Depot too since they're a lot closer. Even without the holder, they should work. I was also going to look for a plastic headlight lens cleaning kit. That won't take out the really deep scratches, but it should polish out the surface ones. I could come away in fair condition this way with four good ones and two not so good.

Rather then messing up the project I would violate the rule of only using what I had on hand and get some new plexiglass. BTW wouldn't soaking the plexiglass in hot water for an hour or two get the paper to turn loose?

Tyson Rayles Wrote:Rather then messing up the project I would violate the rule of only using what I had on hand and get some new plexiglass. BTW wouldn't soaking the plexiglass in hot water for an hour or two get the paper to turn loose?

I've seen several suggested methods for removing the paper off of old Plexiglas, but I thought I had found a good one until disaster struck. Maybe if I just soaked it in Goo-Gone, it would have peeled off easy. One suggestion was to spray white vinegar over it and scrub the paper off. I'll try your suggestion of soaking it hot water on a sample piece I have and see what happens. Something needs to penetrate the slick under-surface. There is still hope for four new pieces though. And yes, even though it is not a challenger rule, but one that is self-imposed, I thought about putting it aside but I'd like to abide by it since I'm so close to keeping it. One thing I will do though, is to route out the slots that will hold the Plexiglas in place so that I can replace it without tearing apart the whole door, just in case I wind up using some of the scratched panels.

Progress, yup, got some work done, just nothing that would warrant any pics. I thought the best idea for removing the paper from the plexi was the plastic razor blades. I searched in the Net and found them on eBay and a few other sites, but nothing at Home Depot or Lowe's. Just happen to think of it while we were near an Ace Hardware, and figured they'd think I was hit by one too many pitches, but I asked, and I'll be..... they had them. $1.49 for five blades and a holder. So far things are working out, soaking the paper in Goo-Gone first helps a lot. I've got most of the paper off of four new panes using the plastic blades, and will deal with the stubborn areas tomorrow. Thanks for that suggestion David, it works without leaving sratches.

Meanwhile, I've finished the doors. They're stained and ready to accept the glass, so with some luck, I should have four good panes installed, and two with a few deep scratches in them. I can experiment a bit and may even try to flame polish them a bit. Hey, I can't do any more damage can I now????

I'm not sure what you mean by "flame polish" but somehow the word flame when used in reference to plastic doesn't sound to good?

Tyson Rayles Wrote:I'm not sure what you mean by "flame polish" but somehow the word flame when used in reference to plastic doesn't sound to good?

Flame polishing means just that, you use a torch to melt the surface of the plastic and when it sets it has a glossy finish. It's normally done on the edges where they will show. It gets out small chips and saw marks as well as any dulling due to sanding, but too much heat can do more damage. I'm not too sure how well it would work on the surface though, especially with deeper scratches, but I have a few now that I can experiment with since I have already picked out the six that I can use.

ezdays Wrote:Flame polishing means just that, you use a torch to melt the surface of the plastic and when it sets it has a glossy finish. It's normally done on the edges where they will show. It gets out small chips and saw marks as well as any dulling due to sanding, but too much heat can do more damage. I'm not too sure how well it would work on the surface though, especially with deeper scratches, but I have a few now that I can experiment with since I have already picked out the six that I can use.

another new learning curve :o :o

Well, I wound up with four "decent" and two "fair" plexi panels. The big problem is that in some spots, the paper practically bonded to the plastic over the years. The moral of this is, always buy new Plexiglas as you need it. I learned that when we had our business, but somehow, my need for sheets of plastic diminished appreciably after we retired.

I did try to flame polish the surface. It helped some but required too much heat to do any good for the most part. The panels are only 1/8" thick and they started to warp when heated, so I aborted that and just spent a lot of time polishing and cleaning them as best I could. They are all mounted and will take a bit more elbow grease to get them to look halfway decent.

Here are some shots of the completed case. It measures 36" wide by 40" high and it 3" deep. I had to keep it narrow since the only place I can mount it is partially behind a door. Anyway, it still needs to be cleaned up and mounted, which I hope to be able to do today.

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