By late 2010, we were tired of getting windshield channel that looked like it had been dragged behind a truck from the distributor's warehouse to our shop. The problem was, this material is normally a structural material, not a finish material, so it wasn't getting the handling we wanted before it got to the distributor. The solution was to order a "mill run" and specify (and pay for) special care and packaging. Unfortunately, the minimum from the extrusion mill was 500 pounds, which is a lot of windshields.

Once we found what it would cost (gulp) to Have It Our Way, we decided to explore another improvement as well: having a custom extrusion die made that would give us rounded edges instead of sharp edges. We surveyed current Locost builders and the response favored making the changes, improving the quality, and raising the price by $25 a frame to cover the cost.

So we bit the bullet, had a die made, and bought ourselves a ten year supply of new! Improved! windshield channel. We still have plenty of the old stock, so you can save yourself a few bucks by choosing the square edged style.