Another update.
The paper approach is not going to work, a victim of the closeness of the slots leaving such a small amount of paper that they are extremely fragile and tear very easily while trying to form them.
I thought I would try the .005 inch plastic again.I did better on cutting the slots and drilling the relief holes at the ends of the slots. But the styrene is pretty soft and we all know that when cuts are made in this stuff, that a ridge develops along the cut line.
So after cutting the slots, I sanded both sides of the sheet in the slots area and then went back in with the knife to clean out the excess. This was partially successful, but still left somewhat ragged edges and some small bits of plastic that could not be removed without further damaging the plastic.
I tried this several times, and each time tried using some different liquid cements to smooth it out. But in every case, the edges were still somewhat ragged and the plastic, being so thin, was adversely affected by the cement, leaving it with a rough texture.
I think what is really needed is someway to punch out these slots. Since they are about .3mm wide, you can imagine that it would be possible to punch through the plastic, if I had a tool to do so. Unfortunately, I do not. I believe the plastic is going to be rough no matter what method I use to cut these slots.
I am wondering if I can find some photoetch brass with closely spaced slots of the right length. This would have clean slots and the metal would stand up to the forming better. I could go through the expense of designing and having it produced, or I could try to do it myself, but it seems like a lot of work to get this done and again, the expense of acquiring the chemicals and other materials.
For the moment, I am going to have to ponder this and do some more research to see if an alternative approach presents itself.
