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gild0019

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About gild0019

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  • My Toyota Motorhome
    1984 Mirage
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    Saint Paul Mn

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  1. That's right, 75 a piece. That includes shipping
  2. Ok... here goes nothing. I'll sell them for $75 a piece or you can follow these instructions and modify them how you like. If you're interested in skipping the process email me at gild0019@gmail.com. First you take your cracked bubbled windows out. You can do this by removing the spline that holds the acrylic windows in, thats the plastic rope-like stuff in the middle of the rubber weatherstripping around the circumference of window imbedded in the rubber itself. Pull it out gently, and be careful not to tear it. Then you can pry the acrylic bubble portion out using a putty knife - again be very careful as you need the old window to cast the mold. Once you have done this it's a good idea to seal the rather large hole. I did with heavy poly and duct tape but cleaning the duct tape residue off before reinstallation is a huge pain! (I did this all outside in the rainy season) Once the bubble (and/or center) windows are out, you can now cast the molds. On the smaller side bubble windows I mixed up mortar mix (found at any hardware store) and poured this into the inner side of the window with shrink wrap as a buffer between the acrylic window and the mortar mix. (mortar mix is essentially concrete without the aggregate - i.e. a very fine concrete) With the center window I had to build a wooden jig to prevent the mold from bowing outward. (the center window takes much more mortar to create and becomes heavy enough to distend the center window out of the intended geometry - hence the wooden framework) Let the molds at least dry overnight - mortar mix is intended for use between bricks and becomes very brittle when you set a large portion of it. The maximum thickness of these molds are about and inch for the side window molds and about three inches on the center window mold. If the mold tapers too thin on the edges it will crumble away with little force. As you are letting the molds cure, you need to source the acrylic. I found a 30" by 60" sheet of bronzed (tinted) .125" (1/8") acrylic at Menards. An easy way to rough out the dimensions of each window is to create a template by cutting and forming paper to the old windows. (Make sure to label them inner/outer and passenger/driver because they are not reversible!) Now use this flat piece of paper to trace out the new windows on your new acrylic sheet - leave the protective backing on the new acrylic. (it's ok if the templates are an 1/8 inch or so too large because you'll have to trim the final product anyway - make sure to label those too!) Cut out the traced portions of acrylic with a fine toothed blade using a jigsaw or scroll saw. (careful here too - these types of saws love to scratch or crack the new acrylic) Now you should have three molds and three flat pieces of acrylic. Place bubbled side up one mold at a time in your oven (yes the oven in your kitchen) with a small block of wood under it to prevent damaging the mold. 275 degrees seemed to be the sweet spot. (any higher temperature will distort or melt the acrylic any lower takes longer) Heat the mold for 20 to 30 minutes (or longer) to equilibrate the mold temp to the oven temp. (concrete is a massive heat sink - my molds were still warm the next day!) Once the mold has reached the operating temperature remove the protective backing (its on both sides of the acrylic!) and center your cut-out acrylic on the mold and shut the oven door. This isn't like baking a cake so feel free to open the oven to check the progress - it should take roughly twenty minutes for the new acrylic to heat up and form to the mold. Don't leave it in there too long as distortions can and will occur. Two options at this point, open the oven door and turn the oven off letting the acrylic cool with the mold (susceptible to springback -you'll find out what I mean if you go this route) or pull the acrylic off the mold (it's going to be soft and pliable) and place it in the old acrylic window to verify the geometry. Once you pull it out of the oven it sets in about ten seconds so be quick (and careful) about it. You can heat it multiple times but the more you do increases potential for distortions and imperfections. After you're satisfied with the results you'll need to trim the edges of the newly minted windows with some sort of sander - I used a little bench mounted belt sander. Clean up the rubber weatherstripping and put them in the same way you took them out. I used black RTV silicone for insurance against leaks. Use polycarbonate if you like but most polycarbonate it clear so not only will you have to tint it manually, it may not respond to heat like the acrylic does. I'm sure there will be questions - I'll try to answer them the best I can. Sounds easy right? Good luck! Matt
  3. Response to Olive: Yes I do have a mirage with the bubble windows, to make them is quite the involved process. I'm not sure if the moderator would like it if I gave out my contact info, as I am more than willing to work something out with anyone interested.
  4. Greetings all! I've recently acquired a mini in decent shape, sans bubble windows of course. This prompted me to create my own through much trial and error, and I still have the molds. Assuming their aren't major differences between yours and mine and you still have the weatherstripping, I might be able to make these for others. Drop a line if interested!
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