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Cutting a Sunroof?

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  • Member since
    November 2003
  • From: Tennessee
Cutting a Sunroof?
Posted by MartianGundamModeler on Friday, November 18, 2005 1:06 PM

I need to cut a simple square hole in the roof of a '65 mustang. I have a Dremel and cutting discs but this will my firstime using it for something like this. I'd like to get it right the first time. I'm normally an armor and sci-fi guy so ANY advice from you guys would be greatly appreciated!

[spelling correction]

"Some men look at things the way they are and ask ' Why?'. I dream of things that never were and ask "Why not?".--Robert Kennedy taken from George Bernard Shaw's "Back To Methuselah" (Thanks to TomZ2) http://martiangundammodels.50megs.com/index.html
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: Halfway back to where I started
Posted by ckfredrickson on Friday, November 18, 2005 2:26 PM
I would recommend a high speed cutter (i.e. #115 or #196) instead of the cutting discs for this particular application. See this link for available tips:

http://www.dremel.com/HTML/products/accessories/carving.html

I would also recommend using the dremel tool to cut an initial hole much smaller than your intended opening, and then doing the final sizing with a hobby knife or CAREFULLY with a Dremel... it's much easier to start small and then open it up rather than starting large, and then having to fill in with putty or sheet styrene.

Good luck.

  • Member since
    March 2003
Posted by rangerj on Friday, November 18, 2005 4:31 PM

Here is another way to approach your sunroof. Tape off the area you intend to be the hole for the sunroof. Make the tape about a 1/64 of an inch smaller than the finished hole will be.

Next scribe the lines of the perimeter of the sunroof with an exacto blade following the tape. Make the first pass light and just scratch the surface. Make several passes so as to cut a groove the knife will follow. If you try to cut too deep on any one pass you will very likely slip outside the line and scratch the body. You can continue cutting the groove until you cut through. Then you finish the opening with a file or a sanding stick. The Dremell may be faster but you run the risk of slipping and making a mess of the body.  

  • Member since
    November 2003
  • From: Tennessee
Posted by MartianGundamModeler on Monday, November 21, 2005 12:25 PM

THANKS GUYS! Strange I was thinking of taping it off and cutting with a dremel. Which ever way I choose I going to get some of those cutting discs i am sure I can find other uses for them aside from sunroofs!lol Youcan never have too many Dremel accessories...

"Some men look at things the way they are and ask ' Why?'. I dream of things that never were and ask "Why not?".--Robert Kennedy taken from George Bernard Shaw's "Back To Methuselah" (Thanks to TomZ2) http://martiangundammodels.50megs.com/index.html
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