Anyone know a good source for assorted mesh and/or perforated metal suitable for a radiator grille?

Ideally I'd like to use either stainless steel or anodised aluminium. Demon Thieves sell 'boy racer' stuff for stupid prices (£50 upwards for a square foot or so!) and B&Q only sell mild steel or plain aluminium.

If anyone knows a source in or around Ipswich then that would be even better!

rgds,

David

whats wrong with uncle Rons barbeque idea! just scrape the pork chops from last years barbie and yer away!

what kinda grille you after? RS do lots of different patterns of perforated sheet.

If you are after a more 'roddy' grille - perhaps you could make one? A man of your resource should be able to get some rod strips or whatever and make one up.


also, you can buy 'chrome in a can' paint - dunno how effective it is - but its what im gonna try on my windscreen and morgan grille

real chroming is ballistically expensive!

another chrome but costly way, is that my local DIY shop sells chromed copper tubes 8mm in dia about 1 mtrs long for plumbing in gas fires. Not cheap, but one way of getting a chrome grille. The quote I got for a screen surround was 200 quid!!!!!!!!!

8 quid a can of paint seems worth a try....

atb

steve

[Edited on 21/1/04 by stephen_gusterson]

a mate of mine made a rack to be fixed to the top boxes on his goldwing from brake pipe then had it chromed, looks great and is surprisingly strong.

im sure You could use this method to make a grill, or use stainless brake pipe if there is such a beast.

Or just half inch a shopping trolley out of your local river / stream and use that.

quote:

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Originally posted by colmaccoll
or use stainless brake pipe if there is such a beast.

---

Metal supermarket had some good 'grill' material last time i was in my local one.

Ian

esp design have a really nice stainless mesh, the sort you get on the fiesta zetec-s.

is reasonable expensive though, think I paid £30 something for my bit, but it was quite big (sorry, have no dimensions)

Mark

Mark,

Do you have a web link for esp design? don't bother - just googled it!

And as for the other 'helpful' suggestions...

My problem is that I have a head full of ideas for the grille, but too many options!

Currently the favourites are:

1. mesh formed into a 3D shape - low ribs or something
2. Stainless rod built up into a 'barbeque rack'

The next job on the list (when I can get into the garage) is to finish the nose and fix it - it's just resting on the chassis at the moment. Can't start the bonnet until that's done!

rgds,

David

[Edited on 21/1/04 by David Jenkins]

yea sorry, should have put the website on, wasnt thinkin

The great thing about that mesh is it cuts great with small wire cutters, however it is quite fine.. It would allow you to mount a badge or something on the front tho.

Think I might piant something on mine, like sharks teeth

Mark

quote:

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Originally posted by 9904169

Think I might piant something on mine, like sharks teeth

---

well should look ok with the polkadots and the go faster stripes, not to mention the blue neon washer jets...

damn, I'm not gonna have a windscreen...

I had a look at that site - what I really fancy is that woven stainless mesh...
...but there's no way I'm going to pay £65+ for a square foot or so!

rgds,

David

I cut the back out of my parrot cage, then screwed the rest of the cage to a wall.
Trouble is, the bl**dy parrot keeps peeling off the wallpaper.




Paul G

Just seen the ideal stuff for you - unfortunately my boss won't let me cut a chunk out of the side casing to our new £3million pound server

What a mean boss!!

fantastic lateral thinking

the parrot cage and tesco trolley appeal to me

You could use the expanded mesh type stuff that comes with body repair kits. That's aluminium so it should be paintable.

yours, Pete.

Hi David

I'v got some 12mm square mesh, welded from 16swg wire and galvanized. Had some left over when I repaired the parrot cage.

ATB
Paul G

There's always one...

David

David,

Have you tried going directly to manufacturers? I just googled 'stainless mesh' and there were a bunch, like this one:

http://www.expandedmetalcompany.co.uk/expanded.htm#

A lot of companies get a bang out of dealing with hobbyists. If you have a local metal perforator, you could probably just walk in a get a free piece. That sounds oddly obscene for some reason

Take a handful of stainless TIG rods and weld 'em together.

http://www.whirl.demon.co.uk/locost/se7en_grille.jpg

Any similarities to other small sports car from Dartford is purely co-incidental!

Eddy

wow, really nice work there. that's lovely, did you do that by hand, as it were?

Have a look in your local yellow pages for Aalco they ave depots up n down the country, I suspect they stock stainless mesh, try a search for them, I know they have a website, should not be difficult to find, cant be arsed looking for u
Shug.

Dave

Wot nosecone are you using ??
mine is a cate**** one, and my son bought me a proper grill from them for xmas a few years ago
£18 delivered I think

do you need a grill for sva ??

if so graft in some louvres while your doing them mudguards

steve

My nosecone is from Triton - it's sort of Westfield shape, but with a bigger hole in the front. My objective is to let as much air through as possible, while stopping the SVA man's 'metal head' from testing the sharp edges inside (stopping the odd flying rock sounds favourite as well!).

I was also trying to make something a bit more '3D' than the standard sheet of mesh.

I'll try a few of the links suggested here - but I may well end up with something fabricated from stainless rod. Shouldn't be too hard... should it?

rgds,

David

blueshift - I downloaded this photo
http://www.stevecarter.com/R500/r500-1024-4.jpg
enlarged the grille on the PC and printed it out, then just bent the TIG rods with pliers and fingers until they fitted the outline and blobbed them together with the MIG.

Photo of grille in situ

Eddy

Hi David

Horizontal bars cut from sheet????
( window blind type of thing )

You'd need to know someone with a folder, a guillotine and a spot welder

Paul G

Don't use too fine a mesh as it'll restrict your airflow.

I'm using 7 or 8 horizontal tube (1/2" dia) finished in black p/coat. Should be enough to keep pets out!

ATB

Simon

David just been to do a job at a builders merchant and seen the ideal thing its an expanded ali mesh plasterers use, big sheet 6 ft by 3 ft about £4.
Cheers,
Bob

That wouldn't be stainless, though - would it?

DJ

No mate Alu what do you want for £4 blood
Bob

If I can get away with it...

DJ

You can buy black plastic mesh simlar (if not the same as) the stuff Ripspeed sell for as grill material for £££ at bigger garden centre type places. Used to stop beasties nibbling at your saplings apparently. Buy it by the metre.

[Edited on 24/1/04 by givemethebighammer]

I've used 8mm stainless high pressure water pipe - borrowed from work, but I've been advised that the gaps are too big so I'm putting black painted mesh behind that, should look ok

I ended up buying some expanded ali mesh from the local boy racer emporium - it looks ideal, as it has decent sized holes and won't restrict the airflow much at all.

DJ

No help to the UK guys, but if any US builders are interested mesh/grille materials you could try...

www.mcnichols.com

or the ubiquitous

www.mcmaster.com

[Edited on 25/2/04 by Alan B]

If you prefer the woven stainless wire that you see on Jaguar R-model grilles, do a Google for Wire Cloth instead of wire mesh. There are several US and UK companies that can supply you with that type of stuff.

Here in the US, Pegasus Racing has this:
http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pdfs/044.pdf

[Edited on 25/2/04 by MustangSix]