Kydex panel making?

I was wandering around the internet this morning and came upon this thread in a Piper Cub formum. Making interior panels out of Kydex sheet. And now I'm intrigued. That's probably too soft of a word, I'm actually about ready to run out and buy a sheet of kydex this afternoon. It looks like there is a supplier in Houston that can sell me full 4x8 sheets of the stuff. 

Any insight into attempting to make interior parts from this? how about undertrays? 

Thin material that can be heat formed to shape an undertray will require some structure behind it to hold the final shape. That adds to weight and complexity but opens up huge 3d flow for underbody stuff. Bring your notebook to the challenge we can talk over some stuff while we watch everyone else do some work.

My buddy made Kydex door cards for his E36 M3 and they came out really nice.  I picked up 4x8 sheets for him at our local plastics wholesale.   

I have a friend who makes Kydex holsters. You can shape it into just about anything but be warned, cutting it makes a huge dusty mess.

In reply to stafford1500 :

I was thinking tha aluminum L can be easily riveted to the backside. Shrinker/stretcher to make it into S shapes if needed? Notebook packed. 

In reply to Tyler H :

Good to know that I'm not in crazy land with this. I bet I can roll a sheet enough to fit in the back of the Subaru. I need to figure out who has it in Houston. 

In reply to Woody :

I have a friend who makes holsters as well. Everyone I know who does it has always used small pieces that they mail order. It never occurred to me to find huge sheets and scale up to automotive size stuff until this morning. 

Kydex is pretty tough stuff which would make it good for panels that need to take a ton of abuse.  It is a little harder to work with, though.  Something that you might also consider is Sintra.  It's not quite as rigid but it's a great thermoplastic that takes forming well and doesn't fight you quite as much.  I could easily see making interior parts out of it since those parts would typically be bolted or clipped to some sort of rigid backing.  One thing that I don't know, though, is what each of those does in a fire compared to the plastics that are typically used in car construction.  That might be a concern, but for all I know each one is just as bad as the other.

Can it be cut by shears like FRP?  I’m now intrigued because i need to make lots of interior panels for Darth Nader and I’ve been scrounging the tops of those junk edenpure  ceramic heaters from the trash but i need some bigger bits

In reply to Patrick :

Watched a video this morning of a dude cutting it with big scissors cold. 

Do you care if its highly flammable?

wae said:

One thing that I don't know, though, is what each of those does in a fire compared to the plastics that are typically used in car construction.  That might be a concern, but for all I know each one is just as bad as the other.

I work in aerospace interiors.  Straight kydex is highly flammable and would never fly (ha!).  There are several fire-resistant grades of it, but they are much more expensive.

In reply to ProDarwin :

I was looking at Kydex T which has this showing low flamability and saying aircraft interiors was one of the places it was suitable. 

4x8 sheets of 0.060 Kydex T are $105 at a plastics supply place here in Houston if I trust their online pricing. 

In reply to ProDarwin :

that's interesting... I thought one of its biggest use was holsters?

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

If they are like the suppliers near me, the online prcie is higher than the walk in the door price...

4x8 sheets in what thicknesses and prices....?

sleepyhead said:

In reply to ProDarwin :

that's interesting... I thought one of its biggest use was holsters?

I don't know anything about that.

Also, I may have misspoke, I'm not sure what I meant by "straight kydex", but I do know there are several different flammability grades we are concerned with and the prices vary by a huge amount.  Kydex T, FST, 6565, etc.  

In reply to stroker :

0.060 was $105 online price at the place in Houston which is local to me. The airplane guy making stuff in the link above was using that thickness. 0.125 which seems really thick for panels is showing $235. 

In reply to ProDarwin :

This is why I post all of my "great ideas" before starting on them. More often than not one of you correctly points out why my brilliance is less brilliant than I initially thought. Keep checking over my shoulder, I appreciate it. 

If you want to keep the costs down see what Kydex 100, 110, 430, etc. would cost.  Or just call the shop and ask what they recommend.

I don't know how much flammability is a concern in a car interior.  Aircraft are a completely different monster for obvious reasons.  T, FST, 6565, etc. get very expensive.

For an undertray/engine bay component I would be a little more concerned as that is where most automotive fires start.

Anything is flammable in a crash when it gets splattered with liquid hydrocarbons.  Kydex doesn't appear to be naturally flammable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kydex

MSDS

That stuff looks like it's a lot nicer to work with than the HDPE I'm used to making paneling out of.