Clear Tcase Cover Got tired of waiting.

[TOFIC]

Well, apologies to WestTexas for this but I got tired of waiting for my clear cover for the transfer case plate so I made one.
Went over to the Maintenance department of the Base and after some discussion we settled on a material for the cover. What this is made of is 1/2 inch thick polycarbonate glass made for the view slits of a armoured vehicle. (read bullet proof glass) I could not get any given to me so I bought some from the supplier of the glass to the base. Some work with the wood working machines and I had my cover. Very unique I will say that much. Sure is nice to see what is in there instead of the one finger grope.
attached some pictures
TOFIC
Payment information: ( $33.00 each INCLUDES shipping!!) Money Order please
Don R Walker
828 1st Street South East
Redcliff Alberta Canada.
T0J-2P0

 

[meathead333]

thats pretty cool! looks like you found another deal

 

[720Racer]

Walker,

That's pretty slick. Was the material very expensive (if you don't mind me being nosey)? Sure makes it easy to see what's going. The only down side I can see is that the gears look so clean, and the outside of the t-case looks pretty caked up (although it's much cleaner than mine).

You done good,

Galen

 

[GaBronco]

Dude, that is sweet! Good Job Old Man!( may i call you that sir?) I think the ford blue bolts add to it too.
Any extras made?
Nathan

 

[72moore]

Hi

I have a problem/ Transfer case won't go into 4 low suggestions? thanks

 

[TOFIC]

Dude, that is sweet! Good Job Old Man!( may i call you that sir?) I think the ford blue bolts add to it too.
Any extras made?
Nathan

Sure go ahead, with age comes experience they say.

No did not make any extras but in the one picture you will see the layout of the second plate. What I was thinking of doing was making the second one and donating it to the classicbroncos.com website as a giveaway like the one Jon is running with Chuck at BCBroncos right now. Just my way of saying thanks to all the guys on this site that have answered my questions and helped me out. What you think of that idea??

720Racer.
NOt expensive but the material was a proper pain to get. Had to order it had to come in blah blah blah. Hassle city but got done.

Meathead333
Not another deal, just my pigheadedness showing up. Material was not expensive but a lot of work to make the plate. I like the result. If the guys like it I am going to give one away. see above.

TOFIC

 

[ken75ranger]

Good job old fart!

 

[Jeff B]

SWEET! What a great idea. I think donating the second one is another great idea. Keep up the good work!

 

[TJK74]

Good job there! With the 1/2 PC you should have no problems.. thats for sure. Now your making me want to go head down to the local plastic shop. That turned out great. Good Job!

 

[Skiddy]

Now that is cool, very good job and I wouldn't mind having one either. Patent it and sell it to chuck/or someone ;D

 

[supermottl]

That is the Bee's Knee's!!! Totally cool. How did you work the material? You said something about wood? Did you treat it like wood?

 

[Brewbro21]

That is very nice. You sure you don't want to fab some more up? It looks like you could sell a few on here.

Could you get that poly from a plastics shop or where should I go looking at?

 

[YelloTx73]

That thing looks great! Sorry things have been taking so long here, working 50 hours a week and going to school full time doesnt leave time for much else right now. Should I even keep working on this with the machine shop? Looks like it might be easier to just make one yourself

 

[Mark]

Way Cool.
I'm reaching for my Mcmaster Carr supply catalog to see if they sell polycarbonate glass.

 

[TOFIC]

That thing looks great! Sorry things have been taking so long here, working 50 hours a week and going to school full time doesnt leave time for much else right now. Should I even keep working on this with the machine shop? Looks like it might be easier to just make one yourself

Like I said in the first post, I knew you were doing this for the guys I was just impatient. You noticed I ducked the cost issue, for a couple of reasons.

1. You started this and have some on the go, I wont do anything until you tell me I can go ahead with it. I won't stab a fellow Bronco owner in the back over an issue like this.

2. The cost I got was minimum as I got special rates from the Glass Shop for the polycarbonate. This in not common glass guys, it is armoured glass. It has a strength in itself that is unbelievable. The reason for the cost is because of where I work.

3. Yes, I can make them (obviously) I did do it on some very expensive wood sorking machinery that I have access to. It took several plywood prototypes to get to what you see now.

4. If Jon (ADMIN) contacts me with the details of how to go about donating the second cover I will go ahead with the next plate. What you think guys? call it the TOFIC TCASE COVER??

TOFIC

 

[66horse]

That thing is sweet! I want one!

 

[72_EB]

Nice job, Walker. You totally beat me to it. Had this idea a while ago when I saw the clear poly 44 covers...then heard the chatter about it a little while ago on here and knew I was the only one who thought of this relatively simple piece.
Then, last week I picked up some glass cut awards that our local site sponsor made for our event last weekend and talked to the guy over there about making these. I was just trying to avoid pulling my inspection cover so I could still drive. Was going to pull one off my buddy's spare 20 this week.
I was planning on making 6 or so (maybe 10-12???) when I made mine if it wasn't super expensive. Could go from there I guess, but I wanted to run around with it for awhile and work out the bugs and flaws if I found any. Don't want to step on any toes either, but I think these would be great and I'd love to see them out there. I'm glad someone like you up north is the first to get one on. One of my concerns is the leakage in the cold. I've heard some chatter on this with the clear 44 covers. Nice work!

 

[welndmn]

Does anyone know the strength rateing of the polycab?
The stock cover was 1/8 plate and some times those would strech and bend under hard use.
I made a guesset for mine out of 6061, but I would love to be able to see into my case, but don't want to lose any strength.

 

[elemetal]

Nice job Walker, always good to see innovation. One thing I'm curious about is the longevity of that material. It's probably bomb proof (literally I guess) but I would watch for deterioration do to heat and/ petroleum products. Certain plastics get really brittle in that kind of an environment and start to craze from the holes. If not, that's a damn good way to keep an eye on your t-case.

 

[72_EB]

One of the 4x4 rags had a shootout of different 44 covers a while back. They were amazed at the poly. I believe it held up the best.

Does anyone know the strength rateing of the polycab?
The stock cover was 1/8 plate and some times those would strech and bend under hard use.
I made a guesset for mine out of 6061, but I would love to be able to see into my case, but don't want to lose any strength.