DIY - Basic Fabrication

[trikkonceptz]

I have very quickly learned on this site that you guys like me, love to make stuff for your cars. Well as an experienced fabricator, I have a couple of suggestions that should get you through some of your easy projects.

The easiest way to modify an existing part is;
-Cover it with painters tape (The blue one), that way you preserve the original surface.
-Once you have the shape you desire (IE, covered holes smoothed gaps with the tape), you are ready to work with cotton fleece.
-Fleece is relatively inexpensive, stretches well and bonds beautifully with Fiberglass and resin.
-Stretch the fleece over the area you want to mold and secure any way you can.
-Then add your fiberglass, either sheet or floss and mix with resin. The resin you can mix many ways, the hotter you mix it the quicker it dries but the reaction is literally warmer, so be aware of the surfaces you are working with.
-Once dry the painters tape will act as a mold release and you can pull your pieces apart.

This is a very oversimplified DIY, but working with fleece and fiberglass is not hard and will accomplish alot of the DIY projects I see on the site. If I had the time I would offer to help you manufacture stuff, but right now there is just no way. If you need specific advice please send me a tell, I have connections with manufacturers who have 5 axis machinery and can duplicate anything they can scan or get into a computer.

Happy modding ....

PS here are a couple of pieces I made with wooden frames and some fleece, these are part of my trailer queen BTW ...

[SVOboy]

Sweet post, ...I need to get better at fabrication.

[MetroMPG]

That was done with FLEECE?

[Daox]

Not just fleece. I'd imagine theres a bit of bodyfiller in there too.

[trikkonceptz]

Not as much as you might think. When stretched properly the fleece gave me the shape you see in the pics. Body filler was used to smooth the bumps that the fleece and fiberglass left behind. There is less than a 1/8" of filler on those parts. There is an insane amount of man hours in that interior though ...

SO I encourage you to experiment, it isn't that difficult and with a bit of patience you can accomplish anything.

Laterz ..

[COMP]

Hmmmmmmmmmm i have sheets of fleece around,,,,,,,,,,,,,think the other half will be pizzed

[RH77]

VERY nice work.

My problem: I'm stuck with some black ABS plastic to make a grille block.

Challenge #1: getting the correct arcs in the corners of the grille
Challenge #2: cutting the plastic without getting that rough "thready" edge. If I sand it, the edges become dull and the material is shiny. Prep and paint?

Maybe I need to move to a different material.

RH77

[COMP]

it should paint EZ

[trikkonceptz]

Originally Posted by RH77

VERY nice work.

My problem: I'm stuck with some black ABS plastic to make a grille block.

Challenge #1: getting the correct arcs in the corners of the grille
Challenge #2: cutting the plastic without getting that rough "thready" edge. If I sand it, the edges become dull and the material is shiny. Prep and paint?

Maybe I need to move to a different material.

RH77

Well your first problem is easy, just make templates first to make exact shapes, use cardboard, construction paper,anything thicker than paper and form the template. Then trace it on the ABS and cut away.

Then I would paint the whole thing flat black, since with the sun, the unprotected plastic will dull anyhow. I wouldnt stress the looks to much since its for $$ savings and not a show car ...

Then get a bumper sticker that says .... "Don't like the way it looks? Donate now and support the cause" With a paypal address under it ... LOL

[Daox]

Agreed, very nice work Trik.