National Taxi Cab Supply

Bell Plastics of Hayward, CA has acquired the assets of National Taxi Cab Supply. Founded in 1956 National Taxi Cab Supply has been providing Taxis and Limos with everything they need to run their business. Supplying everything but the vehicles and drivers. With strong internet competition NTCS product line has dwindled to only their top lights and meters were left. The only thing National Taxi Supply still made in house was their high quality top lights that they built the business on.

One great thing about National Taxi Cab Supply’s top lights is that each top light is still made to order. So if you want a red main light with a white vacancy light on top. We can supply it with your choice of lettering and different color tat-tail lights. And we do it 95% of the time in 24 hours.

Changes

The top lights will fit well with Bell Plastics’ other production lines. Bell Plastics has already added back, some top lights that have been discontinued due to aging machinery with more planned for early 2017. There are still 20 plus molds that have not been run in over 20 years.

Bell Plastics is also planning to keep a large supply of stock top lights for customers that can’t wait the 1-2 days it takes to make one from scratch.

National Taxi Cab Supply was still manufacturing the top lights the same way they did in 1956 when they opened. Bell Plastics drew on its 38 years of custom plastics knowledge to redesign most of National Taxi Cab Supply manufacturing methods and the lights.

We have temporarily stopped selling and installing meters. Several manufactures of meters have asked us to carry their lines. However we are waiting until we know a little more about what people want in a meter.

We see good things in National Taxi Cab Supply’s future and are looking forward to working with their suppliers and customers.

LINK to National Taxi Cab Supply

Pool cue holder

Bell Plastics has introduced a new 2 piece wall mounted pool cue holder or rack.  The pool cue tilts back into individual slots that holds them securely to the wall.

Made from black ABS.

LINK to ABS page

Vacuum former with no seams.

LINK to Vacuum Forming Page

The two pieces nest together to save on shipping.

Bell Plastics is a job shop that makes custom plastic and metal parts. Need some thing made? Give us a call. 510 – 784 – 1111

Our new pool cue holder

Bell Plastics designed and built this pool cue holder including the tooling in house. It is a great design made to get the most from a sheet of plastic with no waste. It is also easy to trim and ship. We can do the same for you.

Three pool sticks on you table.

Close up of bottom of pool stick rack.

Pool stick rack on wall.

Pool sticks holder on wall with sticks.

Fifty year old Jack in the Box as delivered to us.

The beginning

We take on a lot of unusual projects, but this one really stands out. When Jack first arrived, he was only half there, faded and broken.

The customer said the only other one left was at Jack in the Box’s Corp offices. Since then a few more turned up.

He wanted it restored to original.

He called several other plastic companies but none were interested in his project. A couple suggested calling Bell Plastics but because we were so far away he did not want to make the trip. Finally, he had business locally and decided to bring Jack with him. He was surprised when I said “no big deal”.

Jack In the Box finished

The end, happy customer!

Because almost all of the work was in house, we got it done in weeks, not months.

Finally, when done, it looked just like the original.

Since this one, we have help two others to repair their Jack in the Box heads.

We can fix that for you, too!

Here you can see that we’ve found the perfect color of green textured acrylic and bent it specifically to the existing drawer-front. Good as new!

Vintage Glass Dresser Drawer

Tank Flanges Before & After

Us!

Because we can custom-fit new flanges, repair leaky tanks, even replace old and leaky fittings so you don’t have to replace your entire tank.
*Yes, it’s NOT the same flange & tank. It’s just an example?

LINK to Custom Plastics Fab Page

Here, we used the original frosted glass bell to make a mold, then used it to form the plastic version. We fabricated the new parts with frosted acrylic and then buffed them to match the old parts. Side by side, the differences are obvious, but once hung, the new blended in beautifully with the old.

Bell Light Fixture Old & New

KAYAK REPAIR STEPS

Repairing plastic parts

The customer had a Kayak that someone cut a piece out of the bottom of the hull.  Luckily they still had the missing piece. We beveled both the hull and its missing piece. Then we tacked the missing piece back in place with a plastic welder. We didn’t have any welding rod that matched the boat so we used white to weld the piece back in place. The last thing we did was remove the extra welds and smoothed out the bottom of the hull.

Airstream Trailer Windows

We can fix that for you!

Here, you can see the old faded Airstream trailer window with a large break in it side by side with the new window that we created to replace it. It’s so shiny!

Airstream Window Replacement

Airstream trailers have been traveling along American highways since the 1920s. They managed to maintain production through the Great Depression by providing a living space for families displaced. Only during World War II, when aluminum was at a premium, did they cease operations completely. After the war they came back and have grown in popularity ever since.

Airstream Window Replacement

The window had three thick layers making an air tight, twin wall, window that insulated the trailer.  Like most windows we get, it came in kit form and had to be taped back together with some large pieces missing. Because of the missing pieces we had to make molds before making the new windows.

We make hundreds of replacement windows and windshields.

LINK to custom bending

Bringing fantasy costume dreams to reality are some of our favorite projects. But when the stars align, the design is right, and the time-frames work, we love to custom build costumes.

So when a customer came to us for help with his Tiger Mech suit for Fanime 2012, we wholeheartedly embraced the challenge!

We only made the molds, vacuum formed and lightly trimmed the pieces. Our customer did all the finish work. He also attached all pieces to the suit.

We worked from!

He gave us a 6 inch Tiger Mech figure and a few photos to work from.

The helmet crest piece, in translucent green acrylic, is stunning!

Our customer had a great time at Fanime 2012, everyone want to know where he got his costume. He put 150 plus hours into the little details. I would think their hearts skipped a beat when they heard the cost.

I believe there are 16 different molds 4 of the molds were used for 2 parts. Plus 6 parts that did require molds. Totaling 26 parts plus a few spares.

We still make him a few parts for his new costumes.

LINK to Vacuum Forming Page

Check out our slideshow below for details of some of our work on this costume!

Most of the parts are vacuum formed using acrylic and styrene.