Nav Pod Mod

Ross · Mar 3, 2009

First , What have you got to lose?
Second, If you screw up and ruin the piece are you any worse off than if you did nothing?
Third, Do you have a good heat gun? Might be a better choice.

Hermit Scott · Mar 3, 2009

I have vacuum formed alot of plastic parts. Is that kind of what you were thinking of doing?
If so what type of plastic, and how thick is the navpod back?

Hermit Scott · Mar 3, 2009

I was looking up navpods on ebay earlier, the back is like a bowl right?
LP's are vinyl and thin, so they melt pretty easily.
Depending on how thick the back is, I would find out where you need a little extra room in the back plastic piece, build a wood insert that fits in there as exact as you can, then use bondo to add a little hump on that wood piece where you need tha room.
I would use 2 hair dryers and heat it from both sides at the spot where you need the room and then press the wood form into the back piece.
I don't know what the navpods are made of or how thick they are so it's hard to tell if it's possible to do this.

Hermit Scott · Mar 3, 2009

I vacuum form 1/8" ABS in my kitchen oven. This is a jig that sits on the floor and has a vacuum hose hooked up to the bottom. I took the oven rack that came with the stove(my wife loved that) and cut out the middle and welded on angle iron so I could clamp a 12"X15" piece of 1/8" ABS in it. I slide that in the oven at 325 degrees F, for 10 minutes and then turn the vacuum on, pull out the rack and drop it on the jig in the picture. The hot plastic immediately sucks down to the shape of the wood jig head. I then let it cool and trim it with a router with another jig.
The finished product is similar to the platic piece covering that pulley with the cable coming out of the bottom.

Maine Sail · Mar 4, 2009

Be careful

Ron20324 said:
Yes, kind of like the vacuum thing, but I thought the plastic would just droop down of it's own weight when heated. It's not really all that much weight, I suppose. Years ago people would put 33 LP records into a mold, heat it in the oven and it would melt into the shape of the mold. Same idea. Maybe I could rig a vacuum thing.

If you've cut through these things you know they are not just a single piece of plastic but rather a cored/laminated plastic sandwich construction. I think any melting would need to be 100% spot on, with perfectly even heating or you'd risk trashing it. If it were me I'd make a shim out of Starboard & a router or laminate trimmer to move the instrument away from the inside of the pod by a 1/2" or 3/4" inch depending upon the thickness of the shim...

Can you post a photo of the pod & instruments??

William12213 · Mar 4, 2009

I bought a new nav system last year and was shocked by the cost of the navpods. I know they don't sell a million a years so the cost of them is going to be be high but yikes. Solution...i built my own. I probably don't have $30 in it and it is as good as the ones for $350. If you have ever worked with epoxy it is very easy to do. Mine is waterproof, durable, inexpensive and exactly what I want. I would build what you need and put the one you have on ebay and come out ahead.

If you want to build your own I will show you what I did and you can go from there.

Hermit Scott · Mar 4, 2009

Ron, I think maine sail has a better solution, especially considering the sandwich construction. It's too unpredictable.
William, I would love to see your ideas for what you built. I have recently been thiking about it and would like to see your take.

Nav Pod Mod

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