The expanded steel safety shield, (stump grinder)

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MOE

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After giving up on trying to keep the lexan shield on my 1665 clean, I gave up and made a new one of expanded steel. I've got about 12 hours on it an so far like it better. The biggest issue I had with the lexan sheilds was keeping them clean and scratch free. In sunlight, there was simply too much glare to see what I was doing. I found myself leaning over and looking around it all of the time. Small particals and dust can still pass through but I still felt it was safer than looking around the shield all of the time. I do wear a face shield,(trying to remember to flip it down all of the time).
 
I think you are on to a good idea, Moe.

Every plexaglass shield I've seen is to foggy to see through. I've been looking around the edge for 20 years! The shields as factory delivered just do not work.

I still catch myself leaning around out of habit.
 
bingo! I'm doing that to my 665a. Can't see through the foggy plexiglass and just stand to the side right now... good idea.

Curious - did you experiment with different sized openings in the expanded material; ie - did you try something with a smaller mesh vs what you ended up going with?
 
bingo! I'm doing that to my 665a. Can't see through the foggy plexiglass and just stand to the side right now... good idea.

Curious - did you experiment with different sized openings in the expanded material; ie - did you try something with a smaller mesh vs what you ended up going with?

That was some that I had laying around. I used 11 ga,(.125" thick) with a hole size of
.75" x 1.25"There are two types of expanded. One, it is stretched flat, the other has the edges exposed and is at an angle to the sheet if it were laying flat. That's the type I used. I made sure the edges were angleing downward so I'm looking at the edges of the mesh. It's hard to explain but if you use a piece of expanded that has been drawn so the edges are exposed, you will see what I'm talking about.
 
Regarding the lexan, has anyone ever tried covering a new piece of lexan with multiple layers of the plastic sheeting they use in Nascar? It is my understanding that they don't wash the windows during a pit stop, they just pull a sheet of the plastic off the windshield and take the dirt with it. Now in this case, I don't know if the plastic sheeting would hold up to chips being thrown at it, but that's why I'm asking.

Chris
 
I would think that Lexan would do better? Sure you sure you have lexan and not just common plastic? If it snaps it was just plastic, and that explains the fogging.
 

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