availability of sheet ABS or suitable substitute?

[Nate Nagel]

Hi all,

to tell you why I'm asking, I have a whole collection of used Thule roof rack parts laying around (I wanted to be able to carry bikes on my car, but didn't feel like paying the exorbitant prices to buy this stuff new, so I bought a couple racks on Craigslist, eBay, etc. to get all the parts I needed, and then sold the leftovers that I didn't need.) I've been going through them and cleaning/fixing everything. Whenever I've come across a part that's broken or missing, I've been able to get on Thule's web site and order it for cheap. UNTIL...

just picked up a used "fit kit" for my mom's car (mom and dad said they wanted one too when I offered them the leftovers.) Used off Craigslist of course, I'm not spending $70 if I don't have to. Anyway there's one little plastic clip that they're going to need that apparently got lost, and while Thule is good about replacement parts for racks and accessories, apparently if you lose a piece of a fit kit you're boned and have to buy a whole new one. I have another clip to copy and it looks pretty trivial to make one, if I were able to find some sheets of appropriately sized ABS (I believe that's what it is made of) glued together with some sort of appropriate adhesive (ABS pipe cement?) But I don't know where to find same (although I bet I could order it from McMaster-Carr.)

Would styrene be strong enough? I know I could get that at a hobby shop and it's easy enough to work with...

nate

[Ed Pawlowski]

Have you tried the Yellow Pages? Plenty of plastic suppliers around in big cities. . As for using styrene, how strong does it have to be? May work, may not.

[Steve Daniels]

On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:16:05 -0400, against all advice, something compelled Nate Nagel , to say:

Styrene is pretty brittle. It's usually mixed in with other plastics to give it a shiny appearance. You'd probably be happier with polypropylene. It has some flex to it, and is stronger.

Don't know where you'd get it, though.

[aemeijers]

We might be able to make some better suggestions, if we had a link to a picture of the part in question, both alone and as part of the end assembly.

-- aem sends...

[Bob F]

Cut an appropriate length of ABS pipe. Heat it, unroll it till it's flat, let it cool?

[Bob F]

I tried this, but my reply seems to have dissapeared. Excuse me if it repeats.

Cut an appropriate length of ABS pipe. Slice it lengthwise down one side. Heat it, unroll it till it's flat, and cool it.

[Nate Nagel]

I don't have a pic, but it's the little fiddly bit that goes on the rear tower for a 3-door installation in the following link...

basically the smallest piece shown in the parts list.

actual size is less than an inch wide and maybe an inch and a quarter long. there's about a 1/16" groove in it where it slides into the tower, hence my thought to make it by laminating together different thicknesses of sheet and then just shape it to match on sander.

nate

[aemeijers]

Still a little fuzzy- this is a shim that fits inside the tower, and adjusts the angle of the tower for the particular car? If the tower traps it all the way around, all you need is something dense that won't crumble. You could probably even whittle one out of oak trim stock, or look around at the borg and find some sort of cheap plastic thing that you could carve up. Having another one to copy makes it all a lot easier. Just off the top of my head, a shim kit for toilet bases would be a good place to start. How thick is the piece? Does it need to be soft at all? Would carving one out of aluminum bar stock work?

Stuff like this is why I keep a junk box of odd hardware bits- usually I can carve something to do what I need.

-- aem sends...