Wednesday 29 June 2022

Heath-Robinson II

I cut the hole in the Plexiglass, but with problems. 

I initially began with the file drill bit, but I ended up putting a small split in the edge of the hole, which was indubitably due to it being only 3mm thick. I immediately switched to my electric scroll saw, now that there at least was a small hole in the Plexiglass that I could thread the blade though. Another problem then became apparent - the blade heated up the Plexiglass so much that the line I was cutting fused closed as soon as the blade moved on. Had to give it a couple of passes and then snap the circle out.

Fitted the flange, which was a tight fit, and then superglued the split (bottom photo) closed.






The secondary double glazing clips are the most curious shape - they're flush on one side and have a protrusion on the other, which I assume is either to go over the glazing unit, or is used to turn the clip if put the other way round. The fact there's a countersink on one side suggests that's the outward facing side.



I fitted them with the protrusion facing inward so as to nip the unit to the wall, but there's no suitable gap between the wall and the clip. I may turn them the other way round. I'm used to ones with a reasonably long shank that allows enough room for the business end of the clip to stand slightly proud of the wall so the glazing unit fits under it comfortably.

On reconsideration, 6mm Plexiglass would have been stronger and resisted splitting better, although the complete pane would have been twice the weight.


1 comment:

Roger said...

The protrusion goes toward the glass (or plastic) and you need a spacer under the clip. You could make the spacer from an off cut of the Perspex. It’s difficult to cut easily as you have discovered.