How would I go about making lexan grips?

J

Joe Demko

New member
Once, at a gunshow, I saw a Nambu pistol that some anonymous GI had customized. The grip panels were replaced with plexiglass, supposedly from the canopy on an aircraft, and had pictures clipped from magazines under them. The pictures were of flowers, IIRCC.
Now, I have a Springfield Armory 1911 I'd like to do something similar to. I want to replace the grip panels with something transparent with pictures under them. Right now, I'm thinking of Betty Grable or other popular pin-up from the WWII era.
I've never worked with lexan or any of the other transparent materials that have been used for handgun grips. Anybody able to get me pointed in the right direction?
Would it be possible to use the acrylic casting stuff you see at hobby stores to possibly accomplish this with the picture sealed inside?
 
The only tough part of making 1911 grips, is locating the holes for the grip screw bushings. These holes must be located within a very fine tolerance, or they will either not fit, or will crack.
You will need a proper sized drill, and a flat bottom countersink for the grip bushings and screws. These may be available from Brownell's.

The casting rezin probably won't work, but it couldn't hurt to give it a try. I just don't think it will be strong enough, and the finished product is usually full of bubbles.

Check your phone book for local plastic suppliers and buy a partial sheet of the thickness needed of one of the tougher clear plastics.
Lexan and poylcarbonate are good. Make sure it's not one of the cheaper plastics that will break easily.

Cut the grips out however you are set up, (hand saw, power saw, etc). You will have to experiment since some plastics crack, melt, or break when sawed with power tooling. The times I need to work with plastic, I've used my jewelers saw with coarser toothed blades. A hardware store coping saw can work also.

Drill and counter sink the holes for the grip bushings and the grip screws.

Using sandpaper on a sanding block, round off the grips to the profile you want, and sand smooth with progressively finer paper.

Use a power buff or something like Simichrome to polish to a high, crystal-clear gloss. The GI's used toothpaste to polish, but more modern methods work better.

I've seen two basic types of picture mounting methods: One type has the picture glued to the back side of the grip. The second is made up of a two piece grip, a front and a thinner back, with the picture sandwiched between the two pieces.
 
I think the casting would be the easiest way to go about it. Use a pair of 1911 grips as the form for the mold, then you could crank out a number of different grips with the liquid acrylic. :) I did a toilet seat with broken glass and razor blades in it once, saw it in a store, but couldn't see paying them $200 for it! Lexan would be a lot more difficult to work with I would imagine...
 
I work with Lexan quite a bit. I think that buying a 1/2" sheet and cutting it rough with a bandsaw would be the way to go.

If all you have is a hacksaw, trace the original grip panel and then cut it out. Transefer the screwholes to the Lexan with the original grip, that way you'll be sure of the location.

You'll need some files and some emerey cloth to smooth the edges. You'll also need some plastic polish to get the edges "clear" like the rest of the Lexan.

Its time consuming but not too hard to do. It sounds like an interesting idea, I might try it myslef sometime.

BTW, make sure that you use Lexan. It's 40 times more impact resistant than "Plexiglass" , which is what alot of stores sell. Plexiglass is much more brittle and the edges tend to chip easily.Lexan is what is used to make bullet proof glass. It may be a bit more expensive but it is definatley worth it.
 
Worth checking out?

Ancient memory begs for attention. As I recall, the reason Lexan and other polycarbonate shell motorcycle helmets are/were not rated by the Snell Institute is/was that there are common solvents which depolymerize polycarbonates and render the otherwise superior shell junk. At the time I was interested in such things the solvent in paints some riders used to customize their helmets destroyed the protective value and, IIRC, even accounted for some fatalities. Not such a risk with grip scales, but it would be a shame to invest the kind of time and effort needed to make them, only to see them fall apart. Will common guncleaning solvents do it? I don't know, but I think I'd check first.
 
Thats a good point.

We use acetone to glue pieces together when we run out of the stuff made to bond it.

From expeirience, I know that some chemicals will cloud it and eventually cause stress cracking due to chemical interaction.

Some oils will do this. Itd be a fair bet to think that some gun gleaning solvents would do the same.

You oughta try it first.
 
Polycarbonate is pretty easy to work with, I've taught machine shop classes where we used it quite a bit with students to save wear and tear on machine tools. If you are going to use power tools make sure you machine at an appropriate speed, too fast and you'll melt the plastic which isn't good. I've also found when drilling holes it helps to use a light oil as a lubricant, aluma tap is one I've used successfully and it tends to leave a better finish in the hole which will be seen clearly when you polish the rest of the grips. As for polishing, work your way through grits of sandpaper starting at about 220 and ending somewhere in the vicinity of 2000, use water as a lubricant and you can finish by using a machine buffing wheel. Should be an interesting set of grips when you finish.
 
Thanks to all for your generous help. If I manage to fabricate a set that are the least bit presentable, I'll post pics.
 
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