They said it couldn't be done, so I did it...

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by buggman, Sep 7, 2012.

  1. OP
    buggman

    buggman Do not touch the trim!

    Did a quick little experiment tonight and made a set of letters out of lexan... came out pretty nice. I'd like for them to be a little more rigid so I'm going to try to bond 2 layers together.
     
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  3. OP
    buggman

    buggman Do not touch the trim!

    Also...
    I had to go out of town to run some errands & I got a lot of looks in the parking lots.... one woman just about tripped over her own feet as she kept looking back at my grille.
    I don't think her boyfriend/whoever the guy with her was all that thrilled with her interest though unsure:
     
  4. Scrambler82

    Scrambler82 Old Guy User

    A CHICK magnet, now the Grille will cost double… lol.
    Funny she was looking, not that chicks can’t know about trucks but to know about the Raptor and the… wait a minute, maybe she was thinking this was an indicator of something else… what size boot do you wear ??? LOL - the price goes up all the time.

    Back to reality !
    The layering thing, IMHO, will not work for the long haul.
    Heat/Cold, temp shifts will raise hell with almost any adhesive you use, unless it is a chemical that actually melts the plastic together that might work out.
    Just thinking out loud.

    What thickness Lexan did you use ?

    What about my stand-by metal Aluminum ?
    I can see these letters polished to a great aluminum luster and there is the option of milling out the center of each leter for a color match to the truck.

    I’m done !
     
  5. OP
    buggman

    buggman Do not touch the trim!

    LoL!
    The price did just double :)
    She wasn't even looking at my size 11 boots.

    I used 1/4" thick lexan. There's a little flex to them but once they're attached to the grille they will stiffen up. I'd still like to bond 2 layers together, I've got some lexan solvent on order to see how it works.

    I like the polished aluminum idea but I'll have to find a way to machine it or locate a shop where I can have them made.

    The lexan should be good for painting with a silver/chrome paint to give a similar effect.
     
  6. 03walkalot

    03walkalot New Member

    Grille

    Would like to see of pic of the whole truck with that grille!
     
  7. OP
    buggman

    buggman Do not touch the trim!

  8. Scrambler82

    Scrambler82 Old Guy User

    I’ll try to get the measurements on my 03 Honeycomb and the 04 STX today sometime, as usual busy day and I sort lag on projects.
     
  9. add some led's now Terry
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 2, 2012
  10. OP
    buggman

    buggman Do not touch the trim!

    A little something I experimented with...

    [​IMG]
     
  11. Hurley

    Hurley Superultramegalurker

    that grille is f****** awesome!!!!!!
     
  12. cvar

    cvar New Member

    Wow, that's a BEAUTIFUL grille!!! Well done!!! <drool>
     
  13. RoadRanger

    RoadRanger -Skylark65-

    that worked out amazing terry! hell, i like it better than the actual raptor grille, lol.
     
  14. Hurley

    Hurley Superultramegalurker

    How much to make one for me?
     
  15. OP
    buggman

    buggman Do not touch the trim!

    Honestly, I have no idea right now...
    I've got a couple guys working deals for some spare grilles, once I have at least one grille from each style I'll be able to mod one up & make a plan of attack on them :thumbsup:
    Also trying a few new ideas on building the letters to hopefully cut down on the time needed to make them.

    Once I have some measurements for each style grille, I'm going to scale letters to each style & possibly do a DIY kit for guys with honeycomb or billet grilles where they just need to mount the letters.
     
  16. OP
    buggman

    buggman Do not touch the trim!

    TEASER ALERT!

    Well, I managed to work up a prototype set of led's today.

    No pics as I was too tired to go back out when it got dark. :cry:

    I had to use yellow/amber led's since I've been trying to get orange led's for more than 6 months now without any luck.
    Good news is that they're a close match to my amber parking/turn signal bulbs (yes bulbs... I haven't got around to making myself any led's or modding my turn signals) So, I might just leave them as is for now.
     
  17. rango88

    rango88 Chuck Norris Drove a Ram

    Wow that looks amazing I'd even say it looks better then the raptor grill
     
  18. OP
    buggman

    buggman Do not touch the trim!

    The color is off in the pics, but in person they're almost identical to my turn signals


    [​IMG]
     
  19. Scrambler82

    Scrambler82 Old Guy User

    Will they match an ’03 Parkers and side lights… I will take a set… lol.

    What color are they, amber ?

    What lights did you get, size; if you want to share or will they be part of a lettering kit ?

    Great job as always.
     
  20. OP
    buggman

    buggman Do not touch the trim!

    Not sure on matching the 03 lights... my corners are clear with amber bulbs (yes bulbs, I haven't had time to make any cool led mods for my turns yet).
    The led color is a very close match to these bulbs :) They're a yellow/amber color.

    They can be added to the Rapt-anger grille mod or I can make up some for you guys who just want to add 'em to your grilles too.

    They're a modified strip led where each piece will need to be mounted separately with foam tape or cable ties. I attached mine to the overhanging mesh using some small black cable ties.
    I already had the wiring from my old led grille oval ring so I just made a few mods to it to work with the new marker leds.

    I have one extra set of the led's (actually 3 led's per light) made up now, but I need to make up some power supply/voltage regulator circuits for them.

    I'm still waiting on orange led's for another version I have in mind too.
     
  21. OP
    buggman

    buggman Do not touch the trim!

    MORe pICS!!

    Had a nice day today & moved my Hella's down onto the bumper. Not sure how I'm going to like them, but at least my grille is more visible.

    [​IMG]

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