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Old 01-15-2012, 02:01 AM   #71 (permalink)
talonts
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ps2fixer View Post
Why not just glass in some rare earth magnets? I have played around with them, and slightly larger ones are amazingly strong. I have seen hooks with them that can hold over 60 pounds of weight!

So far it is looking great, I'm still brainstorming some gril blocks for my 92 camry and looking for a similar setup... removeable and looks fair to good.
I've played with attaching REMs to various things, and from experience, getting them stuck to something isn't that hard. Getting them to STAY stuck is a whole different level of difficult. If you don't completely cover them with a layer of glass cloth, they WILL pull out of resin either 1 - over a few removals or 2 - the very first time you try to break the magnets free from the steel plate or other REM.

If using REMs, you need ones strong enough to grip through 1 layer of glass if fastening to a steel plate, or 2 layers if using 2 REMs.

Velcro really will be the best overall fixture method. As I noted, you can embed the base cloth of the Velcro directly into resin (you want the resin nearly tacking to avoid soaking through and completely filling up the hooks or loops). And Velcro will allow slight movement. Glue some split clear vinyl or rubber tubing to the edge of the glass blockoff plate to avoid having it rub through the paint on the grille, and you'll have a plate that sticks like crazy, but is still relatively easy to remove.

If I had to make one (not likely living in FL), I'd just heat form some ABS sheet to the right shape and Velcro it down.

BTW, I've seen entire body panels on a car stuck on with Velcro - full *steel* panels. So this featherweight glass panel will work well with it.

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