Side covers

I know that there are some of you who have made your own side covers....Can someone tell me how you did it...or what you used to design your side covers.

 

one gent made his from a stainless steel microwave case, I've also seen diamond plate aluminum

 

you might try pieces of cardboard cut out to make a design and see what will fit the look you're going for and the space you have to work with

 

I am using fiberglass to make mine.

 

After watching the show "How it's Made" on Discovery Channel ... I think the best way to fabricate a piece it to use a block of Styrofoam ... carefully sculpt it out and sand it to the form you need to make ... then, lay-on the fiberglass and let it cure.

Once the glass cures on the Styrofoam pattern ... cut-off the slopped edges and TRY to lift it off the Styrofoam. (Gonna be tough with a release agent)

Dig-out the Styrofoam. Do an exact trimming of the edges using a Dremel and cut-off wafers.

Presto. A new something happened!

 

A releasing agent shouldn't be hard to make..... when we used to clone ceramic molds we used a mixture of Kerosene and Ivory snow powdered detergent...... makes a slippery paste (smelly, but effective) prevented the plaster from bonding to it's opposite...

Looking some fab work here as well.....

 

That sounds like a good Idea guys....I guess I'll get working on that.

 

Ya, that was me...... Just looked around the house, and came up with the idea. I did use cardboard as you said as well to mock it up. Took a ruff tracing, and trimmed to fit. Then layed it out on my microwave once I had the pattern, and just flipped it over to get the other side panel. I used a 4" grinder with cutting wheel to cut them out, and shaped with a soft disc. Any thin gauge metal would work. (Measure Twice...Cut Once!) As for attaching them....They are attached to three pieces of flat bar welded in each corner. The flatbar was drilled, and a nut welded on the back side, then they are simply bolted on. I was asked to post some pictures once before, as to how I did mine. I did snap the pictures, but forgot to upload them, and post it. I will try and remember to do that this week/weekend. I will then post it in my build thread, so it's there for future reference. Hope this helps a little.

Cheesy!