ski locker hatch trim

[lawyertob]

Kind of hard to explain what I am looking for, but I am going to give it a shot.<br /><br />I am completely redoing my floor. I would like to redo my ski locker hatch without buying a pre-made hatch. The old one had the metal trim that went around the hatch and it overlapped onto the old deck. It would be difficult if not impossible to reuse the old trim because the new plywood is much thicker.<br /><br />Does anyone know of a source for this material, or something else that would work?<br /><br />$0.01 for your thoughts,<br />Joe

 

[Mark42]

Re: ski locker hatch trim

How about some extruded aluminum in the T shape? If your new decks have 90* corners the aluminum can be cut to make a tight 90* bend. Other wise, if you have rounded corners, it will have to be bent around a round form. <br /><br />I remember that my highschool metal shop would do simple jobs for parents of students and ex-students, like bending metal stock and small welds. Especially if the teacher thought it was an oppertunity to demonstrate one of the pieces of equipment to the students. There was a large floor mounted manual metal bender that would be perfect for that sort of work. Maybe a call to the local HS shop teacher might help. <br /><br />Mark.

 

[petrolhead]

Re: ski locker hatch trim

I agree, extruded aluminium sounds like the thing to use, I used it for several bits of trim on my own boat. It's easily bent if you anneal it properly first, rub a bar of soap all over the metal and heat with a gas torch until the soap turns black (careful as the metal is quite close to melting at this point!), let it cool then it'll be ready for bending.<br />If you need to pre-form the parts just make a template from scrap ply, bend the metal round tapping it with a wood or hide mallet if you need to. If you have to work the metal a lot you'll need to re-anneal it as it work hardens quite quickly.<br />The only problem with ally is that it tarnishes quickly, but a good coat of wax immediately after it's polished can delay this. You don't say what the finish of the original trim is, bare ally, chrome, painted...?

 

[Realgun]

Re: ski locker hatch trim

Joe your not making sense. Even if the floor was a foot thick you can still drop the hatch cover into the hole. Are you saying you use a 1" thick piece of wood for the hatch? Then drop it down to 1/2" or 5/8" or 3/4". I am using 1/2 as the hatch is only 11 inches wide on mine. You can see my new/old hatch in my sig.