WTB: Cover for Yoke (Star Wars or other)

[rdagger]

I need the metal cover that fits over a Star Wars yoke.  The cover should be about 4 1/8" wide by 12 5/8" long (wrapping around the yoke)

It doesn't have to be Star Wars.  It can a be any of the following games:  Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Turbo Sub, Tomcat, S.T.U.N. Runner, Firefox, Hydra, etc...

I already have a replacement decal so the art work/paint doesn't matter.  

[spidermonkey]

Break out the sheet metal and the jigsaw dude. Shouldn't be too hard to make. You're home free now since you already have the important parts of the yoke. Making a cover plate for it should be cake. I've never seen just the coverplate for any style of yoke for sale on Ebay. They're usually complete yokes which demand insane prices. If your waiting to find or buy just a coverplate then I'm afraid you'll be waiting for quite some time. If you're going to cover it with your overlay then just cut one out of sheetmetal, make a few bends and be done with it.
Hope you find (or build ) what you're looking for.
S.Monkey

[rdagger]

I figured that a lot people have bought damaged yokes for parts and have an extra cover.

My current yoke has a custom cover made out of sheet metal.  It looks terrible.  Sloppy welds and bends.

I tried to make a cover out of Lexan.  I used a heat gun and a vice to bend the Lexan.  However, it did not work because the Lexan would not bend smoothly.  One side would work and get a nice bend, but the other side would get distorted.  Also once the Lexan is heated and bent, it does not seem to respond well to further attempts to heat and bend.  The stuff is so expensive that I gave up after 2 failures.  I thought I might try some Plexi-glass tonight.  If it doesn't work, I probably will try metal.

[tmasman]

However, it did not work because the Lexan would not bend smoothly.  One side would work and get a nice bend, but the other side would get distorted.

It sounds like the lexan you're bending is bigger than the vice... Is that the case?

If you do try it with plexi (or lexan again)  try making a little jig of sorts with wood...
Get some scraps of wood that are wider than the lexan/plexi & sandwich it between the 2 scraps of wood & bend it over the straight edge of the wood... Use another piece of wood (or something else that can support the entire piece of lexan/plexi as you bend it down...)

When you are trying to build precision pieces ALWAYS make jigs...

By a "jig" I mean a frame of sorts to make sure that whatever you are doing will end up lining up exactly as it is supposed to... Use them when drilling holes, bending anything, or cutting.  It just makes life easier.

Good luck & let us know how it all works out for you!

[rdagger]

I sandwiched the Lexan between 2 pieces of wood that were wider than the Lexan on one side of the bend.  Then I pressed down on the other side with another board wider then the Lexan.  I think it did not work because it did not heat evenly.  The gun may have been too hot as well.  I had it set to 650 degrees.  When I tried to reheat it the Lexan actually started to get little bubbles in it and discolor.  I bought several pieces of Plexi-glass today for a few pennies at the hardware store.  I also got some hard wood to make a jig.

[mp2526]

Man, sheet metal is soooo much easier to bend!

[rdagger]

The plexi-glass bends much easier.  However, it will crack very easy.  I lowered the temp to 300 degrees which helps.  Leaving the protective coating on during heating also prevents cracking.  The only hard part is determining where the plastic will bend.  Even if you use a jig, the plastic tends to bend on an axis at different distances from the jig depending on how you heat it.