The plastic cover for my ignition switch and gauges has become cloudy and I cannot read through it. My boat is a Hunter 28.5, 1991. Can this piece be replaced? If you know of a source, please send me an email.
Need new plastic
- Thread starter rscottweiser@gmail.com
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Seems to me that the simple--and inexpensive!--solution to your problem is...
Go the local hardware store and pick up a sheet of Plexiglass, Acrylic or Lexan. Lowes will even even cut it to any rectangular shape you need...not sure who else will, but anyone who has a little talent with the right power tools can cut it into any shape for you. If you don't, you must have friends who do.
Go the local hardware store and pick up a sheet of Plexiglass, Acrylic or Lexan. Lowes will even even cut it to any rectangular shape you need...not sure who else will, but anyone who has a little talent with the right power tools can cut it into any shape for you. If you don't, you must have friends who do.
When drill acrylic you should use special drills to prevent cracking near any corner. Other than that plastic is plastic.
I just made a cover for my 30T. You will need a heat gun to bend the plastic to match the old cover. It is relatively easy, just clamp the plastic on a board and slowly heat it and it bends. If yours is like mine, I had to cut a 4" hole like in the old one and I did that with a 4" hole saw.
The problem with standard drill bits is that they have (should have) a very sharp cutting edge that grabs and pulls out a long, spiral chip of the material being cut. The problem occurs when the bit breaks through. It grabs and tends to splinter the plastic.
I checked the MSC Industrial Supply catalog which has 199 pages of drill bits. All I found even closely referring to plastic was spade bits for circuit boards, starting at $14.00 each.
An old machinist taught me a trick for this a long time ago. Get a small sharpening stone and a new drill bit. Hold the stone against the sharp edge of the bit with the stone parallel with the bit. Rub the stone against the sharp edge of the bit. You will end up with an "L" shaped cutting edge rather than a "V" shaped edge. This modified edge will throw small chips rather than long spirals and will break through clean without shattering th hole.
I checked the MSC Industrial Supply catalog which has 199 pages of drill bits. All I found even closely referring to plastic was spade bits for circuit boards, starting at $14.00 each.
An old machinist taught me a trick for this a long time ago. Get a small sharpening stone and a new drill bit. Hold the stone against the sharp edge of the bit with the stone parallel with the bit. Rub the stone against the sharp edge of the bit. You will end up with an "L" shaped cutting edge rather than a "V" shaped edge. This modified edge will throw small chips rather than long spirals and will break through clean without shattering th hole.
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