Re: Repairing '55 Clipper seat panels

Posted by HH56 On 2017/7/7 12:21:21

As thin as it is you are probably correct in the vacuum forming. Problem with trying to do that today is the cost of the steel mold. I doubt there would be enough demand to even consider it being done by one of the professional companies.

In my previous lifetime one of the local hospitals wanted to have a formed flexible sterilizable cover for a set of tableside controls used in a new xray room. We had a local company that did stuff like that at the time but after we took the control module over to let them evaluate what would be needed on the mold to get a proper fitting cover the mold turned out to be so expensive the hospital decided an ordinary flat plastic sterile drape would work after all.

That was in the days before casting materials were so readily available. Like making a fiberglass mold, possibly something could be made from an original side piece by using a high temp casting epoxy around it and then drilling the vacuum holes and otherwise modifying that casting for the vacuum process. I don't remember enough about how those covers are shaped to say for sure but being able to get the original cover out of a hard casting without damage might be the limiting factor.