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Glareshield warped, easy fix?


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My glareshield is warped but otherwise in good shape. I was thinking maybe a judicious use of a heat gun I could reshape it.

Anyone done this, I certainly don’t want make it worst? How hot do I need to make it so I can reform it without damaging it?

 

 

Tom

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Hector at Aero Comfort resurrected mine when I was doubtful it was possible. Covered in a new synthetic? leather that is less susceptible to sun shrinkage damage and it's beautiful again. Not cheap but still a bargain!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I've fixed minor warps. A lot depends on how warped it is and if the material has stretched. The glare shields are ABS which is a thermoplastic and forms easily with heat. You need to go slowly because as you apply heat, the material goes from hard to very soft quickly. You might consider buying a piece of ABS sheet from a plastic supplier and practicing before you attack the glare shield. 

My '78 J glare shield fit perfectly as was very easy to install and remove. My '94 J with the center hump. doesn't fit nearly as well (I've never seen one where the center part is level), is hard to get in and out and tends to crack where the material is thin from vacuum forming all the bends.

I bought one of Bruce Jaegar's "Easy out" covers for my '94 that is a metal plate to cover the seam around the center tube and makes it more like the earlier Js that had a metal plate and this makes it MUCH easier to get it in and out without damaging it.

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No warpage here...but a related question about glareshield shape.  Our '66 E has a panel with rounded corners, but the glareshield has sharp-angled/squared-off corners. Obviously the contours don't match, so it doesn't fit well.  Which shape was original to the E?  One of these has to get fixed...  :D

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On 5/2/2020 at 6:56 PM, ArtVandelay said:

As I said it’s in good shape, I don’t need to re-cover it. Just wanted to “unwarp” it.


Tom

Fair enough, but as @kortopates said, I also refurbished mine with Hector at Aero Comfort.  Somehow a cracked, sun-damaged glareshield has always been a personal turn-off in terms of aircraft appearance (mine or someone else's).  Hector knows how to handle these things and your plane will be the better for it.  

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The plastic in my original glare shield turned to crap. It looked horrible. I figured I would take ass the pieces and reinforce it with fiberglass. I took off the upholstery Abdul tried to disassemble the plastic parts. It was impossible! I had one part that I carefully removed, when I set it on the bench, the force of setting it on the bench caused it to break into three pieces. The plastic was fragile like egg shells. There was no way to even use it as a pattern. 

Your plastic may be deteriorated like mine was. Any attempt to do anything to it may cause it to crumble.   

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On 5/2/2020 at 3:56 PM, ArtVandelay said:

As I said it’s in good shape, I don’t need to re-cover it. Just wanted to “unwarp” it.


Tom

I am pretty confident it will be uncovered if when you are successful un-warping it. FWIW, here a pic of mine from Hector after a number of years and still looks like new.

IMG_6788.jpeg

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14 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

The plastic in my original glare shield turned to crap. It looked horrible. I figured I would take ass the pieces and reinforce it with fiberglass. I took off the upholstery Abdul tried to disassemble the plastic parts. It was impossible! I had one part that I carefully removed, when I set it on the bench, the force of setting it on the bench caused it to break into three pieces. The plastic was fragile like egg shells. There was no way to even use it as a pattern. 

Your plastic may be deteriorated like mine was. Any attempt to do anything to it may cause it to crumble.   

Given how I have to bend it to remove or install it, it seems pretty sturdy. No cracks on top, the light panel piece is cracked.  

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Tom, you probably can soften it with a heat gun and change the shape, but if it is covered, the covering will also need to be stretched. Probably be a two person job.

The question I have is if it is covered, is the covering showing wrinkles where it is warped? If not, the glare shield may be fine but the covering may have shrunk and is warping the glare shield. Just a thought.

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  • 10 months later...

I just did mine.  I didn’t have much luck with a heat gun so filled with a polyurethane filler, sanded, covered with a 1mm layer of closed cell foam and then wrapped with ultrasuede with a French seam stitch on the front.  It was a full weekend’s work, not including the 6 hours learning how to operate a vintage Singer sewing machine.

Edit: mine was also in 4 separate pieces held together with tape, but easily repaired with fiberglass and epoxy resin.

image.thumb.png.f4c62bed39e3fc32fa960eb7394923be.png

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On 3/29/2021 at 1:24 PM, spistora said:

@ArtVandelay Curious how your glareshield turned out.  I have a similar situation with good material but slight warps in the middle. I'm planning to try a heat gun to slowly work it back to flat.

Okay, I fix a couple of places where it was rubbing on the windshield. I didn’t try to flatten it out as I wasn’t sure how best to do it. I’m now thinking I need to support the glare shield and rest a book on the areas I need to flatten and heat it from underneath.  I was very careful to only heat it enough to get it to bend.

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Tom,

You are becoming skilled in the ancient arts of thermo-forming...

Just remember to use caution with the extra heat...  other things will start to soften as well...

A sign of how much heat gets through our windshields...

PP thoughts only... best regards,

-a-

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On 5/2/2020 at 4:37 PM, Ross Taylor said:

No warpage here...but a related question about glareshield shape.  Our '66 E has a panel with rounded corners, but the glareshield has sharp-angled/squared-off corners. Obviously the contours don't match, so it doesn't fit well.  Which shape was original to the E?  One of these has to get fixed...  :D

my 65 E has the rounded panel, the original glare shield wasn’t anything more than a pad that was held on by snaps. my guess is you have a 201 windshield mod and a J model glare shield?

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