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Sculped Door Panel questions...

7K views 13 replies 4 participants last post by  wrecker55 
#1 · (Edited)
OK, please forgive me, i'm a 100% newbie, I've read as much as I can on these forums and internet, it was suggested that symphony vinyl/faux leather was a pretty good material, i go that as well as 1/8 and 1/4 Volara sculpting foam.

From what i seem to have gathered is this(in a nut shell)... you draw out your pleats(assuming thats a look you're going for) cut "V" cuts(45 degree angle) apply the landau cement, both sides start pressing, etc.

My 1st question is this... on the V cuts, do you need to round/sand the edges? Will the hard edge show through? Or will it somewhat compress thw edge being that it's "foam?"

Second question... I know this is an advanced door panel(below), and not for a beginner, but... FORGET the arm rest assume it was flat... can you make the the light gray section, as well as the dark grey section, and "insert" the dark into the light and create the same effect? How would you attach it? I know "glue" is the easy answer, but i don't see it meeting flush with the other.

I've dreamed up ideas that will probably work, but my guess is there is a right way and wrong way, I tend to try to do things the right way, so any advice is appreciated.


 
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#2 · (Edited)
I'm doing my door panels right now. I was going to make a more detailed thread after I was finished, but here's a quick look.

Make a panel in a panel, nested with just enough room between the two to fit 2 layers of covering material. In my case I'm building up the edge and sculpting with filler to add a little interest. The material at the edges is 1/8" ABS cut about 3/8" wide and stapled to the edge of the plywood.

There are a lot of youtubes showing guys making speaker enclosures on existing factory parts.

If you have the room for something thicker, speaker grill fabric stretched and 'glassed over shapes can get you a spectacular look in a few evenings.

Yes, sand the edges, 120 works fine. Carefully, the closed cell foam will shred, but is easy to fix.
 

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#3 · (Edited)
You don't need to sand the edges of the grooves, it's very hard foam, but the fabric will soften the edges. You will need to scuff the flat areas so the glue holds on the closed cell foam, but you can do that with a Scotchbrite pad.

As far as the two colors goes, just think of the outer part as a picture frame with the pleated area underneath the lighter gray area. Yes, you would glue the pleated area on first and then add the "picture frame" over it. Make sure there's not a build-up of fabric and padding where the top part meets the pleated area. Look at this tutorial, it will show you one way to do different colored pleats on a flat surface: http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/door-panel-tutorial-145092.html
 

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#5 ·
Ok, so I do have a followup question.

Assume for argument sake, the orange portion in the image below is all one piece, if you looked at the door edge I'm assuming you would see a seam where the pink arrows are, correct? If that is the case how are the tow sections held together. Gluing the two sections to another panel seem to be the obvious answer, but that panel would be seen since it wouldn't have material on it.

I know I'm missing something, right?

 
#6 ·
Yes, the whole orange section would be a completely separate piece, and that would be butted up to the gray section. The gray section would be done first, and the orange section would be glued onto the panel over the raw edges of the gray section. Whenever you have many distinct different colored sections, the whole panel needs to be layered, one color at a time. There's no other way to do it.

Look at the tutorial. I could have done the dark blue sections on the top and bottom first and made a separate panel out of the white pleated section that would have been glued on last.
 
#7 ·
Ok, I think I understand now. I have the materials coming this week. I'm going to just practice on some before I jump into the real thing.

Last question(haha I doubt it)... is is necessary to spray the glue? Or is brushing OK? I can go to harbor freight and buy a cheap gun if needed, but if it's not necessary, a brush is easier.
 
#9 · (Edited)
If this is the only interior work you will ever do, you can brush it on, the glue will work fine either way. For 20 bucks you can get a #43760 HF spray gun Industrial Paint Spray Gun that will last you forever. Trust me, once you get the hang of spraying, brushing takes 5 times as long with far less coverage. This gun has a large nozzle and is external mix, which means the glue and air mix at the outside tip. That means you'll never have to clean the gun.

PS: Don't ever buy one of these guns to spray paint, you will hate it.
 
#10 ·
OK, don't laugh, but I made my first practice panel today. It's HORRIBLE(i'm not blind)... So now I have a bunch more questions. before i make attempt #2. I won't ask them all now but lets start with this...

On the pleated section, the glue didn't hold in all the areas. I covered both sides, allowed to dry 15-20 min, etc.

Now... on the pleats I found that slicing on a 45 angle it was difficult to get a nice even straight cut, even with a straight edge. So instead, i sliced on a 90, removed about 1/8" strip of the foam. (FYI: the foam is the 1/8" thick)

One of my thoughts is that the 1/8" gap wasn't wide enough for the materiel to be pushed into and adhere since the surface area is too small. Am i wrong? Does it have to be a 45 angle, or can I do a 90?

BTW... It's not a real panel, it's just something I did to practice before the real thing.

 
#11 · (Edited)
Don't put yourself down so much, it's not perfect but it's real close. Looks to me like you tried to stretch out the fabric too much. You need to force the vinyl into the grooves first and let that cure for a while before you try to stretch the vinyl around the back of the panel. It also looks like you had trouble getting the glue to hold in some spots. Don't think about how much time you wait before mating the surfaces, just make sure the glue is basically dry to the touch before you press the vinyl into the grooves. That can take quite a while depending on how hot and humid it is where you live. Too much glue all at one time is usually the problem there. It's better to put on three lighter coats of glue than one heavy coat all at once. You can re-activate the glue by spraying on another coat if it gets too dry. Yes, you could just make square grooves if you want to. The rest of it looks pretty good.

What are you using to push the vinyl down into the grooves? I use a really thick, stiff putty knife with the edges rounded off.
 

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#12 ·
On the glue... You say... " make sure the glue is basically dry to the touch" but then say... "You can re-activate the glue by spraying on another coat if it gets too dry."

So obviously there is a fine line between too wet and too dry. I was doing it in my kitchen, house is set to 72 degrees. I see you recommended 3 light coats... are you allowing each coat to dry fully before recoat? I'm getting real detailed here, because I've worked with the Landau adhesive on a headliner I did a few years ago and I never seemed to get it to work real well then either. I endued up using the 3M 90 spray adhesive, and worked AWESOME.

On the pleats... you say square grooves are OK. How wide of a groove would you recommend? Mine were only about 1/8(or less) wide. Reason I ask is because if i 45 the same groove, it would create a wider area and the material would have a larger surface are to stick. Am I over thinking this?

As for pressing down the material, I used the round end of a sharpie. I'll round off a putty knife next time.

Thanks again, i have more questions, but I'm going to just try another pleated piece by itself next, I'll see if I can perfect that before I move to the next steps.
 
#13 ·
Yes, there is a point where the glue gets too dry to work like it's supposed to. That's why I said "basically dry", it can't be totally dry. My whole point was that you can't go by time, you need to go by feel as to when to mate the surfaces. Each coat should be "basically dry" before re-coating. The idea of the three light coats is to get as full a coverage as you can get.

The pleats should be 1/4" wide, and when they have a layer of vinyl on each side they will look narrower. I basically angled mine in the tutorial because I knew I was going to sew them down.

Make sure the putty knife has a stiff thick blade, a really springy blade is good for other stuff, but not what you're doing. Also put the blade on a wire wheel to make it as smooth as possible before you use it.
 
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