Plastic Fabricating/Molding DIY
I wanted to show how i make interior pieces to make just about any piece you want in the interior. Below is something i did for a good friend of mine [MENTION=40]monjarassi[/MENTION] and his gauge cluster.
This is a brief DIY and i will try to make it generic since everyone's car will be different.
Parts needed:
1 tube of Norton Speed Grip (i use 5 min Grip however they make faster and slower drying ones)
Norton SpeedGrip Gun
Sheet of 1/4 ABS Plastic (sizes will vary depending on what you are building)
Disposable gloves (DO NOT let this stuff get on your skin)
Lots of blades
Sand paper, 80-400 grit
a dremel with various bits
and the Item you're working on
First here's the item we are working with. Monjarassi needed a good place to mount his gauges and since he didnt have AC we had a perfect place to mount them.
http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...psb6523094.jpg
so using a dremel I cut out the area of the vents, be careful because if you cut too much then you're adding more work to fix it
http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps666990ab.jpg
Since the cluster on the ep3 angles upward i had to angle the gauges down so it would sit eye level. My solution was building a boxed in cavity. Follow the directions of the speed grip to know how to apply it
http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...psb64129b4.jpg
Yes it will look like crap at first but we will work with it
fill in all gaps with abs plastic and apply the speed grip generously to use as filler
http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...psa46372a2.jpg
Now start the sanding with 80-100 grit to break down the big spots
http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...psbd7939ed.jpg
Then add more filler
http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...psb302b45f.jpg
sand and repeat. Work your way up to 250 grit when youre getting closer to the finished product
NOTE: This make take 4-5 filling sanding tries before getting what you want. Take your time
Next i drilled the holes for the gauges by measuring and cutting with a dremel by using the gauges as a template.
http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...pse4bbb465.jpg
and this is the finished product of sanding with 250 grit
http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps2088d4b4.jpg
Now on to primer. i used 400 grit to make it even smoother before applying the primer
http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...psda105a67.jpg
There are a couple dimples that wet-sanding with 400-800 will help get rid of and this is the finished product.
http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps8e78bd49.jpg
and assembled
http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps1291c99e.jpg
There is always room for improvement but i feel this came out pretty well and the gauges sit very visible in Monjarassi's car. I left the cluster primer because im not a painter and didnt want to paint it and take the chance of it not matching the other pieces. SOOOO ill just let the customer handle that part lol I dont have a pic of the cluster in the car but maybe Monjarassi will chime in.
Any questions please let me know since i kind of rushed this DIY a little as i didn't really take too many pics of the process. These pics were taken because Monjarassi kept bugging me for progess pics :biggrin:
