2020 Toyota Corolla Hatchback SE Trunk Cover

I have received a 2020 Toyota Corolla Hatchback SE and it was missing a trunk cover. I wanted something that at least covered part of my trunk and the connections for the old trunk cover were still on the car.

-3 5 ft aluminum L bars

-4 flat L connectors

-Fabric of any kind I used a waterproof cloth

-connections

When trying to think of how to make my project I wanted it to be stable but light so my connection to the car wouldn't need to be made out of metal and I could just 3d print them so I settled on using aluminum rods and stretching a fabric over the frame to form a rectangle. I then though of connections and decided the I needed some type of joint that would sit on the nipple in the car and rotate on it, and then for the other side I would just need something to stick out and sit on the ledge. For the prototype I used popsicle sticks to make the frame of the trunk cover and a cut piece of a plastic bag to cover it and act as the fabric that would actually cover my project

I started by cutting down my parts and shaping the ends so that they would fit together in hopes of tig welding it together. I shaped the edges to fit together and make a perfect 90 degree joint. I then cut the fabric 1-2in longer than the frame all around so I'd have extra to work with. For the connections I used part of the frame and cut it to about 0.75in long and made two of them. For the connections to the joint that it will rotate on I 3d printed the two blue things above in the image.

When I went to weld the frame together the aluminum rods were not high quality enough and the aluminum melted and didn't stick to each other. I tried using aluminum filler to melt it and connect it to the material and even tried cleaning the parts but nothing worked and the welding was too difficult. I then decided on connecting the aluminum with a flat L bracket and that worked. I then stretched the cloth over the frame formed by the aluminum and flat L brackets and hot glued it to the frame but a better adhesive would be more stable because of the weaknesses of the hot glue. For the connections I used screws and screwed it into the frame to hold it in place.

I am very happy with my product but I think some things could have been improved. The hot glue is really weak and with enough force come off but for me that not an issue. Another issue I realized it the screws were really hard to put in because I did not use the right materials so often they hole I drilled for the screws were too big or small so they either fell out or were really hard to screw in. But other than those issues this project is pretty much done and I've tested it in my trunk and it works perfectly.