Charlie wrote:
We have had a number of 4 tube florescent light fixtures installed in the
basement since sometime in the late 1960's.
One of the "shades" recently decided to crack and break for whatever reason.
The replacement shades that I can find are all about 1/4 inch to wide to
allow it to sit flat within the frame for the light fixture.
Given the thickness, or lack thereof, I can't seem to trim it to fit.
Everything I've tried results in a shattered shade.
Help.
Charlie.
By shade do you mean one of those flimsy
translucent plastic panels? If so, you can cut
the oversized piece on a table saw (or a circular
saw). The trick is to use a saw blade with a lot
of teeth (a plywood blade is fine) and put it on
the arbor backwards. The saw will cut some but it
mostly just melts through so the finished cut may
have a rough curled piece of melted plastic, but
you can take if off easy with a swipe or two of
150 grit sand paper.