Technical Carpet install trick

Installed new carpet in the 63 caddy over the weekend. I always hate the part of cutting the holes for the seat bolts and seat belts. I'm sure this has been done before but I just figured it out.
After I laid the carpet down and finished all the t******* around the edges and got it laying down and fitting the way I wanted, I started all the bolts under the carpet so I could feel the heads through the carpet. Then I found a piece of 1/2" steel tubing left over from a spacer fabrication project in the past. That size worked out pretty good for the size bolts I was working with. Then I heated one end red hot and applied it to the tops of each bolt. It instantly melted a perfect hole in the correct spot and fused all the carpet pile so it won't get caught by the bolt threads as you screw them in and unravel. Worked perfectly on every hole and it was way easier getting the bolts started when not having carpet interfering. It worked so well I was kinda disappointed I didn't need more holes.

 

That is a great tip, thanks for sharing.
I am going to try it on my next project carpet install...

 

Great tech idea!

 

One of the better idea's I have learned here on the HAMB

 

That's pretty smart. Good tip

 

1/2" tube seems small (the heads of the bolts are bigger and still to be removed thru that hole?). Got any pictures? THX

 

Get a sheet of clear plastic, like a quality tarp. Lay it out on your floor. You can sharpie or trim the edges, and see thru it to mark seat bolts. Transfer pattern to carpet and your done.A soldering iron works nice to melt holes if you want to do it that way.

 

Thanks for the ideas.

 

Great tip.

 

The hole was only for the threaded part of the bolt. I removed the bolts before putting the sill plates back on. I suppose you could go bigger so you could p*** the head of the bolt thru if you needed to.
I can post some pics tonight.

 

Great Idea! In a past life, I worked in a State Highway Lab doing all kinds of material testing. One of the things we had to do was to bore corks for thermometers. We used cork boring tools which came in a set of different sizes...like these?

12 PIECE CORK / RUBBER STOPPER BORER SET

and a sharpener:

CORK / RUBBER STOPPER BORER SHARPENING TOOL

I have a complete set of all sizes and I've used them for carpet, rubber (to make grommets), belt holes and other things. Take a look...very handy to have around. Decent prices for a complete set if you look around.

Murph

 

That's good thinking and useful info! Thanks!

 

I've used a sharpened pipe to punch holes in carpet but the heat idea is even better. Thanks for the tip.

 

Thanks guys.....the idea came to me from a memory of my old motorcycle shop mechanic days. We sold Seadoos and there was a problem with the hull design on a certain model that didn't let it corner as well as they wanted it too. So all the dealers had to install skegs on both sides of the hull. There is about 8 inches of styrofoam glued to the inside of the hull for floatation that we needed a hole through to bolt on the skegs. We heated a piece of round bar to red hot and as you pushed the bar through it would melt and shrink the styrofoam and make a perfect tunnel through the foam. Worked really nice.

 

Thanks for sharing this great idea. I will use it next time.

 

It reads like you left seat/seat belt bolts in their holes and laid new crpt over them. ah...too much typing

 

I put the carpet in and trimmed to fit first. Then pulled the edges back and put the bolts back in and pulled the carpet back over them. Made the holes, pulled the edges back and removed the bolts, put the carpet back in place then installed the sill plates. Holes came out almost exactly in the right spot with a little wiggle room since the seat bolts are 5/16" and the holes are 1/2". For the seat belt bolts you could go larger so the head of the bolt will go through if you wanted.
This is on a 4 dr with a bench seat so the carpet is two pieces and it's split under the front seat so all the holes are near an edge of the carpet.

 

Good tech idea, I'll remember this next time I have to put carpets in.

 

simple is good thanks for sharing the tip

 

OK, got it. Thanks for reading my mind and giving me the answer without me having to type it all out. I can't wait to try this

 

I always do a similar but I think easier way. I have a soldering iron that I just poke up through the hole. It melts the carpet and padding, seals the thread and stays hot for as long as I need it to be.

 

Great tip. I haven't put in a carpet in years but I remember as a youngster trying to drill the holes and pulling a nice long 'run' in the new carpet. I'd probably do the same thing again had I not read this thread. Thanks!

 

Here's a link to a video.
http://youtu.be/KAj8W3P5kOU

 

Great idea. Laughed a bit when you almost grabbed that ball of molten carpet by hand, been there a few times.