

| Subject: | Restoring Westy cabinet edge pieces |
| From: | Stuart MacMillan |
| Date: | Sat, 14 Jul 2012 17:00:43 -0700 |
I spent some time today "restoring" the hardened and shrunk plastic cabinet edge trim on my '85 project. This van had lived a long time in the sun and heat of eastern Oregon, and all of the plastic trim was hard and had pulled back from the ends as well as from the round inside corners of the cabinet frames. I used a heat gun to soften and stretch all of these pieces, and I did not have to remove any. For the thick (no longer available) edge trim I peeled back a foot or two and used the heat gun to soften and stretch it back to length while one end was still attached. For the cabinet corners I first softened them with the heat gun, then pulled a bit more out past the corner and softened and stretched it enough to form them back to the original curve. You could certainly remove the trim and soak it in boiling water briefly for the same result, but to remove the cabinet opening trim you have to unscrew the hinges and latches, which makes the job a PITA. A couple of these corners had shrunk so badly the doors couldn't be shut. It worked really well and was easy to do! These trim pieces are a thermoplastic after all! Stuart '85 Westy
Have something to add on this topic today? Revive this thread in the forum »