Foldable Sun Screen for Cars (custom Fit)

How to make a sun screen to make your car cooler on hot days.

Step 1: Materials

you will need...

1. galvanized wire (i found this at my local Walmart)

2. grosgrain ribbon or black duct tape, keep in mind that if you use duct tape it will not last as long(can also find at Walmart)

3. two pairs of pliers(one of then needs to be big enough to fit around the wire you are buying)

4. wire crimpers (to crimp the wire together)

5. splice connects (for this project you will only need 4 and they can also can be found at Walmart)

6. one cutting bored of your choice (this is not needed but is highly advised)

7. an exact-o knife

8. your choice of mesh (we used 16 yards and it can also be found at Walmart)

9. tape measure

10. black thread and a needle or sowing machine (not needed)

Step 2: Measure Your Windshield.

Go to your car of choice with your tape measure and measure from bottom to top and side to side.

Next take your side to side measure and divide by 4 two create 4 equal sections. For example my wind shield was 48in. wide so each section I create will be 12in. across.

Now you have the width of all of the pieces you will be creating. Next take the measurement you got for the top to bottom of your windshield now this will be the height of two of your pieces (the ones that will go on the left and rights sides of your finished product). For the pieces in the middle at 1-2 inches onto your height.

Step 3: One Last Step Before You Create Your Pieces

okay now what you need to do is grab your splice connects and take 4 from the container(this is all you will need). your splice connects will need to be the right size according to your wire the wire i used was 14 gauge wire, that means that i need splice connects that have 14 somewhere in the range of wires that they fit. once i have the right splice connects i need to take the insulation off of my connects. to do this you will need the two pliers you grabbed earlier, your cutting board, and your exact o knife. next grab one of your connects and use one of the pliers to hold your connect firmly in place. next use your exact o knife to cut a line down the center of you connect(cut over the line until you feel that you have made a cut all the way through). next grab your other pliers and hold the other end of the connect and twist both pliers in order to peal way the insulation around your connector until no insulation is visible. now repeat the process 3 more times to get all 4 connects to be bare.

Step 4: Creating Your Pieces

Okay now that you have all of your necessary measurements and materials you will need to measure out the amount of wire you need for one piece. my piece is 12 by 30 so i need a total of 84in. of wire for one piece. next measure out one side in the wire but make sure you add 1-2in. of space to the first side you measure so you don`t have to attach the wire at a corner. now continue this process until you have 4 sides according to your measurement so for me I had two sides that measure approximately 12in. and two that measured approximately 30 in. now that you have all your side you will need to attach the wire at both ends with a splice connector. to do that you need to put one end of the wire in one end of the connector and one end in the other end. next grab your wire crimpers and place them over the connectors at the spot that states the size of your connectors now squeeze. make sure that you can not pull apart the wire. once this has been done to all of your pieces place them on top of your mesh material and cut so that there is around 1-2 inches of extra cloth beyond the wire next role the cloth up into small strips around the wire and place duct tape over duct tape the other side and stick the pieces together. if you are using the ribbon do the same thing but you will have to sow through the cloth on both sides. using a sowing machine will help alot.

Step 5: Puting Your Pieces Together

now that you have your 4 pieces you need too put them together in a way so that they can fold and stay together. take one of the smaller pieces and one of larger pieces and put them next to each other. grab a piece of duct tape and tape one side of each together that way they are stuck together but you can still fold them for easy storage.