Fabricating Plexiglass Portable Air Conditioning Vent

[Neil4Speed]

Hey Guys,

Just wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction of someone who could help me with a project.

I live in an apartment which has Casement windows. I have a portable airconditioner with your standard round venting tubes. Unforutnately the venting kit only works for sliding windows. My idea was to take a plexiglass/acrylic sheet from home depot, and cut two holes for the exausts - and then install it instead of the "bug shield" that currently exists.

http://image.sportsmansguide.com/adimgs/l/2/294354_ts.jpg

https://s7d2.scene7.com/is/image/homedepotcanada/p_1000126492.jpg

This way, I have a good seal between the window and the vents, which should be a much more efficient way cooling my place than just sticking the tubes out the window.

The only problem is that I don't know how/have the tools to do this, and was wondering if anyone knows of a "fabrication place" that could help me drill two large holes in plexiglass

Any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks!

[Darell_n]

Future Plastics does all my acrylic pieces for work. Very good service from them.

[Mitsu3000gt]

I have your *exact* dilemma, with the exact same air conditioner hose type and all casement windows. What I ended up doing is cutting holes in the bottom 1/4 section of one of my doors on each patio using the oval exhaust hose as a template. It's a flawless fit, and air tight. Then I bought some furnace vent insulation (basically bubble wrap wrapped in shiny foil) and wrapped the hose in that, so zero heat escapes back into my condo. Works like a charm and the insulation isn't even warm to the touch, but I know the hose underneath is very warm. In the winter when it's time to put the AC units away, I simply put the plugs I cut out back in the doors, throw a strip of gorilla tape over them on each side, and install kicker plates on both sides of the door. Looks really nice and covers up the holes perfectly. My AC unit only has a single exhaust hose but you could easily do it for two.

I investigated replacing my screen with plexiglass like you are thinking off and it was too much hassle. In my case anyway it would have also been very difficult to secure such that wind wouldn't blow it out and it wouldn't rattle around.

[Waldi]

I have done this myself with router and lexan (1/4"). Pretty simple project if the sheet of lexan fits the window size. In my case, I had to glue to sheets (butt joint) and used paint stripper as a glue (work very well. Trick is to make fit into screen grooves in your window so you have to make it a bit smaller (1/8") than opening (sideways) and also figure how tall it must be so you do not have gaps on top. I actually fabricated sheet to fit inside of screen frame as I had one extra and worked like a charm. One thing to remember if you catting yourself, use protective glasses. You can buy lexan at Home Depot or Rona.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

If you do this, can you post up results? I have the same issue.

[Neil4Speed]

Thanks for all the help guys.

Mitsu, that's a good solution, wasn't cutting the door quite the job, though?

Unfortunately doesn't work for me, I can't cut into the side of my apartment... haha



Originally posted by Waldi
I have done this myself with router and lexan (1/4"). Pretty simple project if the sheet of lexan fits the window size. In my case, I had to glue to sheets (butt joint) and used paint stripper as a glue (work very well. Trick is to make fit into screen grooves in your window so you have to make it a bit smaller (1/8") than opening (sideways) and also figure how tall it must be so you do not have gaps on top. I actually fabricated sheet to fit inside of screen frame as I had one extra and worked like a charm. One thing to remember if you catting yourself, use protective glasses. You can buy lexan at Home Depot or Rona.


Thanks for the comment, I started with a Lexan panel and started scouring with a knife. I got it down to the right size but cutting the round holes was impossible for me.

Router would help for sure, I just don't know where I could access one.

Another way to do it would be using a Dremel.

http://www.hvtesla.com/img/tesla-coil-making-primary-4.jpg

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by Neil4Speed
Thanks for all the help guys.

Mitsu, that's a good solution, wasn't cutting the door quite the job, though?

Unfortunately doesn't work for me, I can't cut into the side of my apartment... haha



It wasn't that hard, I just popped the door off the hinges, traced my outlines, started with a hole using a drill bit the diameter of the jig saw blade, and then switched to a jig saw for the rest. It is a steel door with a foam core and it wasn't bad. Took maybe an hour or so and wasn't difficult. I spent so long trying to figure out other solutions similar to what you're looking at and this was by far the easiest (for me). If you just have a window though, the plexiglass might be the best bet. You might want to get an opaque sheet of white plexiglass (or similar) too so your A/C doesn't fight the sunlight as much.

In my case I have a patio door on the one side and the same patio door on the other side, but it's on a crank (like a casement window), but if you have JUST a casement window, then you may not have the same option.

[FishPoo]

I did the same thing for my casement window.

Lexan
Screen Frame

If I can remember correctly, I used saw/dremel/metal snips... it's not cut perfectly straight but it works.

Lexan cut to window size using a combination of a exacto knife/handsaw/dremel/snips. I can't remember what worked but it was a pain in the ass, but it got cut. Dremel made a mess, keep melting/burning the lexan cause I was impatient so I think I ended up using hand tools.

Cut the hole for the hose using metal snips i'm pretty sure.

Attached the lexan to a screen frame and popped it into the window frame and it was good to go. I'm just having trouble keeping it in the window frame. The hose puts a bit of weight on the frame and it falls out occasionally...

[Waldi]

Originally posted by FishPoo
I did the same thing for my casement window.

Lexan
Screen Frame

If I can remember correctly, I used saw/dremel/metal snips... it's not cut perfectly straight but it works.

Lexan cut to window size using a combination of a exacto knife/handsaw/dremel/snips. I can't remember what worked but it was a pain in the ass, but it got cut. Dremel made a mess, keep melting/burning the lexan cause I was impatient so I think I ended up using hand tools.

Cut the hole for the hose using metal snips i'm pretty sure.

Attached the lexan to a screen frame and popped it into the window frame and it was good to go. I'm just having trouble keeping it in the window frame. The hose puts a bit of weight on the frame and it falls out occasionally...

I Used silicone to attach lexan to screen frame, also forgot to mention, you need to adjust speed of cutting tool , as if too fast it will melsy lexan.