Trailer floor bent

[ArtOfRuin]

I just bought a Walthers 48' trailer kit to place on an intermodal car I have. The problem is the plastic floor has bowed quite severely. I currently have it on my desk underneath a set of heavy books. Any other ways you guys can think of to flatten it back out without breaking it?

[Guilford Guy]

Heat gun? Don't try that without anyone else's input!

[alfadawg01]

Get a replacement from Walthers.

[lvanhen]

Try heating with a hair dryer or very hot tap water and gently bending it.  It could probably sit under the books for ten years & not get streight!  My

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Try heating with a hair dryer or very hot tap water and gently bending it.  It could probably sit under the books for ten years & not get streight!  My

The hot water treatment is the one I use. I had a similar problem with some structure walls.

[jsoderq]

Best is to get a length of square brass tubing and epoxy it to the inside of the floor. Heat is not really a good way as there is as much chance of more damage as fixing it.

[dknelson]

Assuming the floor will not be seen as a rule, I would score the floor at the point of the bend to create a bendable point (or perhaps even cut all the way through it) and then use the idea posted earlier about the square tubing securely clamped and glued to make it straight. 

Dave Nelson

[TomDiehl]

I just bought a Walthers 48' trailer kit to place on an intermodal car I have. The problem is the plastic floor has bowed quite severely. I currently have it on my desk underneath a set of heavy books. Any other ways you guys can think of to flatten it back out without breaking it?

If you want a really OLD trick for doing this, get two sheets of glass larger than the item to be straightened. Put the part to be straightened between them and set this on a windowsill where it will be in the sun for several hours. Remove this from the sunny spot and place it in the shade to allow it to cool off. This lower level heat will safely flatten the part safely.

[R. T. POTEET]

I just bought a Walthers 48' trailer kit to place on an intermodal car I have. The problem is the plastic floor has bowed quite severely. I currently have it on my desk underneath a set of heavy books. Any other ways you guys can think of to flatten it back out without breaking it?

I have had some luck with a hair dryer but in my one attempt at using hot water I got it a little too hot and what I was trying to straighten back into shape very quickly went to hell-in-a-handbasket followed by a resounding "klunk" as it hit the bottom of File 13!

[bogp40]

Many times, especially on a part without fragile details, you can flex to an overbend to straighten. Then epoxy rigid flatstock as a reinforcment. Do this before the plastic can start to flex back. Heat can be touch and go, depending on the plastic and it's thickness.