The 1952 Chevy Deluxe that I bought had some previous owner's home made interior door panels. They appear to be some sort of vinyl and don't look very good at all. Since I'm good with fibreglass, mould-making, etc., I'm thinking of making some new custom panels that would start with a fibreglass shell and then various components could be added to it including leather, fixtures, chrome, maybe some engraved metal pieces, etc. Has anyone here built interior door panels out of fibreglass? If so, how did they turn out?
Go to the upholstery supply place and purchase some "plastic" upholstery board...it's blak and cuts easily...you can get it in a 4' x 8' sheet for about $35... WHY would you want to mess with itchy fiberglass when you can start with a clean canvas...??? If nothing else, you can add your fiberglass to it...!!! R-
That sounds like a good starting point. Thanks! To answer your question, there are two reasons that I'm thinking fiberglass: 1) I'm good at it and have enough (free) materials to build a large boat. 2) It would allow me to customize the shape of the panel as a base for fixtures, inlay, etc. I like your idea of starting with a plastic piece. If the material you're describing can be shaped the way I'm thinking it could save me a lot of headache and, yes, I could probably fiberglass over it as long as I don't go too hot on the mix and there's enough of a porous surface to get a good bond. I'll check into this. Thanks!
I built a set for my "53 chevyply" and used a plywood backing, and formed the custom top with fleece and resin. They turned out great ......... then the glass hardened and bent the panels from end to end ..... then the glass cracked.......... lots of hours invested and I had to trashed them.
If you don't use a poly or vinyl system, but use epoxy (west systems would be great for this project) you could make a killer interior using glass. I'm about to do new dashes and door panels for my Dodge trucks, all custom formed over blue foam and carved and sanded, then you can lay up glass and epoxy right over it with no problems. When done, turn it over and MEK the foam and you're done.
Hmm... Glass has a tendency to shrink as it hardens so I can see how that could happen. I think one consideration is the mix and another is the air temperatire during curing. So far, I've never had a piece of fiberglass crack that way but your experience presents a good cautionary example of what can go wrong. Sorry it happened to you.
That sounds like a plan that will work. Nice! I'm hoping to build some sort of mold once I've established the dimensions for each door panel. In theory, the front left and right should be the same size (mirror image) and the rear left and right as well. To avoid any cracking or splitting I think using foam is a good idea. Otherwise one could build a mold where the finished glass is attached to a mounting system that is bolted into the door frame(s). I'm definitely going to run some tests before completing molds. Another technique (from Ed Roth) would be to use plaster of paris and then fiberglass. Not sure exactly how he did that, nor how heavy the final product was but it sounds interesting. Foam is probably easier though.
You can lay up a few layers on a piece of glass or something real smooth, larger than your doors. You might want to wax it first. Don't make them to thick so that they can bend a little. Let it kick then peel it off. Measure and drill a hole for your handles and cranks. Then screw them to the door and mark around the edge to get your shape. You can mark all your clip holes then also. These panels will last forever. If you screw up something just reglass. We do it all the time.
The glass doesn't shrink, the crap poly resin system is what shrinks. Epoxy might shrink, but only by about .003-.006 over the area of a part. Which is to say, it doesn't shrink. Most folks use way, way too much resin. resin provides stability to the textile (glass, carbon, or Aramids), but the resin weight should only be about 40-50% of the weight of the textile you're using. What we do if we have to do a conventional wet lay up is to cut the cloth to the approximate size, lay out plastic drop cloth material on our work table, and pour the resin on the table, then spread with a squeegee, then lay the cloth in and cover the top with plastic drop cloth. Then either stipple it with a brush or squeege it through, and skreed off all the excess resin. Now you'll have a part without excess resin and brittleness. It'll be quite a bit lighter as well. I've got to get around to doing a tech article here soon!
Great advice. Someone should write up a How To on this. Maybe I'll do that on my new Blog once it's the right time. Thanks!
You're right. It's not the glass that shrinks at at. The issue some people face around shrinking/cracking comes from the media that the glass is adhering to (for the most part). I'd love to read your tech article. Thanks!
I have made a few in the past- and just added to some stock. When I first started out I used mdf to shape and then wool/ fleece(whichever I had laying around) to give the shape I was looking for. Finishing touches using kitty hair. Also more reinforced the back side with extra layers. Since I just cut my own 1" x 1" strips and soak them and then bend them for the curves- alot more flexibility than the mdf. I will look to see if I still have any pictures laying around... Those I made were either painted or covered in vinyl... but leather or carpeting would work all the same. Spaz
sorry if it's off topic, but this is how I created some pieces in my car. I haven't had any problems with it. I hope this might help, use the email on the site and i'll try to help you. http://losts86hatch.tripod.com/id15.html
One thing very useful I discovered, fiberglass won't stick to duct tape, thats how i did my molds,built everything up on a factory panel, then coated the entire thing with ducttape. peels right off
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