glass runner

[JACK0]

ive seen plenty of people asking where to buy the glass runner from but I was wondering if anyone has any substitutes for it. because its pretty expensive when you consider that its just s strip of plastic so I thought if people could make their own or recycle something else it would make much more sense

 

[DisturbedDave]

I didn't think it was too exxy, but you could route a channel into timber?

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[Ramy]

The risk with routing into timber is softer timber, esp. pine, would wear faster than plastic, and need varnishing. Think about it, every time you try to slide the glass and the corners catch, you'd be digging into the varnish, which creates an uneven spot, which means you keep digging the glass into that spot.

Routing plastic wouldn't really save much money, cause you'd have to have the right size of plastic to begin with before you rout it (and not everyone has the tools for routing).

You might get lucky and get the right shape in aluminium... but I don't know that it would save you money.

 

[Virides]

ive seen plenty of people asking where to buy the glass runner from but I was wondering if anyone has any substitutes for it. because its pretty expensive when you consider that its just s strip of plastic so I thought if people could make their own or recycle something else it would make much more sense

There is a general misconception that when you see a plastic item you immediately associate it as "cheap". The tooling to create the plastic track is usually very expensive to make. We looked into getting molds made for our finger grips and the tooling alone was $200 000. We would have to make 500 000 items before it was worthwhile (and then sell those 500 000 items). We have only made about 500 items in 3 years and sold about 300 of them. There are a lot of costs to get that "cheap plastic item" on the shelf.

Also consider that the track is produced for A, sold for B to a retailer and sold for C to the consumer and C could be 10 times the cost of A to cover the manufacturing costs and the retailer's costs. If there was a cheaper way to achieve the item you are trying to make, they would have done it that way already.

Reductive manufacturing (routing the plastic) is an expensive and tedious alternative to the forced extrusion method used by the original manufacturer.

 

[Justdragons]

Viridis could you use a 3d printer to make plastic grips and stuff.?

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[Virides]

Viridis could you use a 3d printer to make plastic grips and stuff.?

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We are actually looking into this The injected plastic I was referring to was way back when we first started which prompted us to pursue laser cutting instead.

 

[lizardwhisperer]

Just visit your local aluminium seller, if you know the thickness of the glass you will be using ask for Aluminium Double U Channel bar with a channel width a little wider.

Will be very cheap !

 

[JACK0]

thanks lizardwhisperer that's the kind of alternative I have been looking for, its a pity because I used to be a boiler maker/ sheet metal worker, if I was into reptiles as much I am now back then I could have made a heap