Lexan doors write-up...

I've been absorbing knowledge and inspiration around here for better than four years. Finally, I think I may have come up with something original enough to be worth sharing, something to give back...

That said, this is my first write up, so be gentle with me!



Like many here, I run my XJ doorless.




I go open-air from at least from easter to thanksgiving, and return to the steel doors for the winter months. But the doors (for my two door especially) are big and bulky, and kinda heavy. I hated having to pull em out every time it rained. Or looked like rain, or the news guy forecast rain, or my neighbor heard a rumor it might rain, whatever... And they were nearly impossible to throw in the back of the rig, in case I got caught in a surprise shower while I was out. They're too tall to stand up, and not flat enough to lay down. And did I mention they're friggin heavy?

So I made something better. Lexan. They're super lightweight, only five or ten pounds each, and they lay flat in the back (though they do take up some space, more on that later...)

I made em up over a year ago, and while I didn't get pictures of the original build, they're not complicated. Two pieces of 1" angle iron (one from each hinge to meet at the latch) make up the frame, and a big sheet of 1/8" lexan for the skin.

Driver side door, from the outside, and the inside.

The angle iron is mounted flatside down, to sit atop the hinges. Two 1/4" bolts serve as hingepins.




I cut up a piece of 2" angle to work as a catch. I'm not thrilled with this part of my design. I got it into my head that I wanted the top rail to be level, to follow the body line. But since the top doorhinge is roughly two inches higher than the latch, I had to make up that two inches with this bulky piece of shit.




It does work, but it's ugly, and frankly a sloppy design. It would have been better to slope the top rail down from the hinge right to the striker. Oh well. Hindsight.

The trailing end of the top rail had to be trimmed to fit around the doorjamb and help hold the door in place when closed:




So the door is now on the rig. This front gap looks bad in this pic, and the cut is kinda sloppy. But it works fine, and doesn't look too bad in person. The problem is that the lexan is flat and stands straight up, where the top half of the jeep angles inward:




But the lexan is quite flexible, and will conform almost perfectly to the shape of the doorjamb, with just a little push. So, to apply that pressure, I added a small eyebolt to the inside of each door, about an inch from the top. A bungee cord, stretched between the two, pulls them in toward each other...




...and gives me that perfectly curved profile...

Okay, quit laughing.

Yes, my fancy-ass doors are held on with a bungee cord. But it really does work well. The frames and latches hold the doors good and solid, and the doortops pulling against each other keep enough tension in the cord so nothing rattles or bounces.

The only problem was the bungee cord running across the interior, just above my sightline, six inches from my nose. I said quit laughing. At first I just hooked the cord behind the center sunvisor mount, which pulled it up and out of my face. That lasted about a week before it snapped the weak little plastic visor clip that wasn't really designed to hold the doors on.

So another angle iron scrap yielded this:




This worked great for closing yourself up inside the jeep, but it was a pain in the ass to get the bungee hooked up from outside, when the jeep was parked. I needed a way to hold the top of the driver's door closed from the outside. The only thing to work off of was the little lip on the underside of the driprail:




So I said "Hey, I'll use some angle iron! Again!"

I put two pins through a 12" piece, like so:




So that it wedges neatly between the top of the lexan sheet and the underside of the driprail. The pins sit on the top edge of the sheet, and hold the wedge up. The door pushes it outward, and the lip holds it in.

The only thing left to address was the gap at the bottom of the door. It was really narrow, only a quarter to half inch, so I though it'd be okay.

But a LOT of roadspray can come up through a half inch gap. My gut said "more angle iron." When that didn't work like I'd hoped, I bought some 1/2" pipe insulation, like a small black pool noodle, and ran it along the bottom edge of each door:




And that's it. I'm happy with the finished product. The doors do what they're supposed to and don't look too bad doing it.




They'd look a little out of place on a really pretty rig, but on my beater they look right at home. And you could take more time and more care, and make a better looking set for a better looking rig, if you wanted.

They do fit flat in the back, but they do fill it up. At first, I just laid em between two old blankets, to keep em from sliding around. That got old, so I made a rack out of 1x2 lumber wrapped in more pipe insulation, mounted to the cargo floor. That held em really well, until I finally got a spare. A 35x12.50 takes up a LOT of room in the back.

So now my door rack rides above the tire, on 14" tall, double-hinged stilts, that allow the whole rack to swing back and out, to load or unload the doors, then swing back up over the spare to travel. I think it's a pretty cool idea (as I blow my own, um, horn), but I need to redo it. I planned the wooden rack to use the floor and fenderwells for support. It's just not strong enough to be swinging in and out, bouncing around on stilts. It's not aging well. This winter, when I've got the factory doors back on and can tear out the rack, I'll redo it.

Probably use angle iron...


Robert

cool...how do you get them to roll down... j/k
Did you ever think of using small round tube with a slit down the side so the edge fits into it?That way you could form the tube to hold the curvature of the body...just a thought....or you could always use angle iron!!!

Now add some of those round aviation vents like the ones on small choppers......or better yet cut a square hole in the middle of the "window" and put a slider in there from a pick up truck....nevermind I'm getting carried away....(but you know you're thinking about it:shhh

outlander said:

Did you ever think of using small round tube with a slit down the side so the edge fits into it?That way you could form the tube to hold the curvature of the body...

Click to expand...

I thought of trying something like that, but they'd have to be really rigid to keep from flapping out on the road. Small tube wouldn't do it, it'd have to be much stronger/heavier... And then they'd never lay down in the back...

Robert

I think it would work if you glued a seal to the sealing surface to bridge some of the gap.....But yea then like you said they wouldn't lay down

outlander said:

cool...how do you get them to roll down... ....add some of those round aviation vents like the ones on small choppers......or better yet cut a square hole in the middle of the "window" and put a slider in there from a pick up truck....nevermind I'm getting carried away....(but you know you're thinking about it:shhh

Click to expand...

Yeah, considered that too, but I really only use em when it's raining. Wouldn't wanna open the window anyway...

Robert

nice, light too can throw them on the roof and get them when you need them.

Weasel said:

nice, light too can throw them on the roof and get them when you need them.

Click to expand...

The only reason I didn't do that was because I think the rig looks funny with a roofrack and no doors. From a packaging standpoint, that's definitely the best solution...

Robert

I like the idea, and may want to host a version of the writeup, if you don't mind.

As for fitting the doors to the body, try this:
Fit (bend) some tube stock to fit the body contour. Slit it down one side first - it will be easier before, than after. Get a small size, and get some pipe insulation that will fit over it.
Heat up the Lexan panel, and press the tubing over the edges. I don't recall the "plastic point" for Lexan - you could probably look it up, but I think it's up around 180-200*F. This will help form the panel. If you can get a long enough working time (perhaps by altering the mix?) you can fill the tube with epoxy or with polyester resin and allow it to set up.
Cover the tubing with the pipe insulation - hot glue will be sufficient here, since you'll probably want to replace it at intervals.

A sheet of Lexan that large will be difficult to heat all at once - I'd probably use three or four "sun lamps" to get the job done evenly. At least, that seems about right to me (but you'd probably have to experiment to get it right.)

5-90 said:

I like the idea, and may want to host a version of the writeup, if you don't mind.

As for fitting the doors to the body, try this...

Click to expand...

Mind? I'd be honored, you're one of my naxja heroes. I've got all the original hi-res pics if you (or anybody else) want em. I lost a fair amount of detail scaling em down...

I still think big curved door is gonna be a PAIN to carry around, though...

Robert

Cool idea! I really like the concept of a clear door that you can see though. A writeup would be really nice to help out the interested like me. I've never really worked to much with plastic and figuring out how to shape it and put it together would be a big help for all of us.

I played some with Lexan or a similar product (was actually one layer of an aircraft window) a long time ago. 5-90 is on the right track, relaxing them with heat may be helpful for durability, they may crack or stress wrinkle, if left stressed. Though like you said storage may be more of a problem.
I also figured out rubber washers under the washers,nuts and bolts helped avoid cracks, as did drilling the holes a little big.
Finding the right temperature is the key, too hot and it discolors.
I also figured out large flat areas, eventually bowed or flexed on there own and had a tendency to stay that way, though it took years.

Good idea.

Actually the easiest way to bend it, make a heat strip with wire on a 2x4 or 2x6, lay the door on a flat surface with the heat strip under where you want to bend it and plug the heat strip in, bend the door top and unplug the heat strip, let cool. It will retain the bend and you can lay if flat for storage.
For building the heat strip I did two kinds, one to 'cut' it and one to bend it, the cutting one used 12ga steel wire suspended from two posts and going to a 12 transformer with a rheostat, the bending one I used that flat braided steel cable, rheostat, transformer and stuck a thermometer on it to get the 250F temp that was just before it's melting point. Been a while since I worked with plastics, used to build consoles for custom vans way back.

Nice dude! A+ for creativity! How many times when you're wheeling do you just with that the door wasn't there?? for me, alot!

i concur with RichP on the heating to bend the lexan. At a place I used to work at we did some work with lexan. Some pieces with a nice curve to them we'd have sub-ed out, but simple bends we'd do ourselves. We had this homebrew contraption that consisted of a long flat ceramic piece mounted to a table. It had a groove say 1/4x1/4" cut into it, and there was a piece of wire spiraled up like a spring, or a light filament running through it. There was a voltage or amp or resistance (it varied the amount of electicity going throgh the wire) regulator, just a big dial that went from off to full on. Depending on how big the piece was, you'd adjust the heat, and ofcourse if you were doing a bunch of pieces, you'd kinda back off a bit after a while so you didn't burn up the stuff. But it was definitely a backyard setup, just nails to keep the wire held in place. Very simle design. Then it had something of a brake on it, if you could even call it that. Just a backyard clamp with a piece of cabinetry grade 3/4, with a 90 on it so that it wouldn't warp. Heat it up, once it started to get soft, start bending to the desired position. Bang, you're done.

Although, keeping in mind that the door is always in the way, maybe yo'd want to hinge the top?? That way, you could fold it down and have it out of the way for wheeling when yo don't need it. Just cut along the bend axis, and put one of those long continuous hinges in there.

Also, if you want to bond pieces of lexan to the lexan, there is this really nasty stuff that you can buy that cements it. I forget what it's called, but it's got Xylene and Tolulene, among other nasty VOCs in it. Very flamable, but once it's set, the piece isn't going anywhere.

Also, it looks like you already figured out how to cut it pretty well, but often times we'd make a jig out of plywood, then clamp the lexan to it and use a brand new router bit with the bearing on the bottom, and slowly follow the jig on the bottom for a nice smooth cut.

Well thanks for the comments, I really appreciate the feedback.

But I think you guys are giving my lexan too much credit. It's only 1/8", REALLY flimsy stuff. Even if your could get the curve bent into it (and it would have to be just the right curve to work, too) there's just no way it's going to be rigid enough to keep from flapping. And when that sheet starts flapping or bouncing around, it sounds like thunder inside the truck...

You'd have to rig up a full steel frame to to try n hold it stiff, and then it wouldn't relax to lay flat in back.

I certainly can't deny that my eyebolt/bungee combo is low-tech and ugly, but I think it's the right track. I think you need something to hold the top of the door in place. The 3/8 rubber rope and 1" hooks are overkill, something smaller could be used that didn't look nearly so bad.

I also considered some sort of clip or clasp on the top inside of the door, with the other half mounted to the inside roof of the jeep. That would be MUCH more professional looking. I was just reluctant to start drilling holes in my ceiling. I know it could be done, though.

Like I said, thanks for the feedback!

Robert

mjma said:

Although, keeping in mind that the door is always in the way, maybe yo'd want to hinge the top?? That way, you could fold it down and have it out of the way for wheeling when yo don't need it. Just cut along the bend axis, and put one of those long continuous hinges in there...

Click to expand...

I thought about hinging it, more to let it fold in half for storage, which would be really nice.

But I should have been clearer about the goal of the project. These are only to get me to or from work in the rain. 99% of the time, they're stored in the back.

Sorta like carrying an umbrella. That looks funny, too, but sure serves a purpose...

Thanks,
Robert

If you need to glue it, try Plumbers Goop or Taillight Goop or just plain Goop, pretty much all the same stuff, just different labels (marketing). Some hardware, auto parts and home repair places carry it. The RC car shops often have some around. I *think* it's call e-5000 in silicon gun cartridges.
About the consistency of silicon, dries into lexan. Though they may have modified the formula some, it started out as Lexan cement. Good stuff to have around anyway, when the job is too big for super glue, almost as strong as epoxy. We used some stuff called Tanget, as a glaze cutter to help the bond. Though acetone or fine sand paper would likely work just as well.

how do you get in when fully closed???