I am having an epiphany!..... I want to use pearl celluloid pickguard material to replace the perforated lower dash portion of the 51 ford. similar to the pic Since the dash is curved at the bottom, and I would need to shape it around, would a heat gun be good for this, or does someone out there have an easier, or better solution? I don't have any of the materials yet, but since the car is going to be deep teal (per my late grandfather's wishes) I think pearloid on teal with the chrome dash trim would look brilliant!! Anyone out there done this, or have good tips? thanks in advance dave
heat gun may work. I haven't worked with pic gaurd material but with Lexan on a larger piece i've had good luck with popping it in the over then laying it over the whatever sahpe needed and letting it cool. Works real good if your chopping something and don't wanna risk screwing up good curved glass. Anyway my point is if its a longer piece and you want it to work you migh try popping it in theoven. I would probably experiment with little pieces to figure what heat won't trash it.
Where do you get the material ? What's the maximum size available ? What radius do you want to shape it to ?
don't know the radius really, but ultimately it will have to go to 90deg(duh) but not too severely, the material can be sourced from Stewart MacDonald, and the size of the piece is .090" x 9" x 24" which is wide enough and long enough to cover almost half the lower portion of the dash top to bottom from passenger side to steering wheel. I know it burns really well when you light it on fire (don't ask how I know this), and I don't want to risk melting or gooifying or getting it all blobby in spots. dave
If you can figure out how to keep from having negative returns, you could have it vacuum formed and then the 90 degree lip on the bottom could be formed using a strip heater. These are available from Plexiglass supply houses, are flexible, and heat a line of heat that you can then formed over an edge. Not all that expensive.
checked out their website, and it may be thinner than I need, although they really look great and easy to work with. gonna save some pennies and order a sample pack. thanks for the heads up on these guys
here's the dashboard in question. the silver is what I'm looking to replace. Grandpa was a nut about gauges, as you can guess. The big hole in the middle is where the radio used to live, it's now home to a big ass tach.
I am going to do a tech article on this subject. It is not that hard to do, but how to do it, needs some explaining so I will try to do a tech using Photoshop. I may take me a couple of days, but I will do it. Looking at the pictures the returns wouldn't be that severe, and it would come off of the mold easily enough. Does that silver piece detach. It would have to be braced from behind before you could pull a vacuum over it. Hard to explain without pictures, so I will do the tech and post it when I am done.
I'll look forward to seeing how you do the process. the silver goody does come off. it is really thin metal that is perforated with "speed holes"... I'd almost like to go away with alot of the gauges, but I'm of two minds about that... thanks dave
I think some of the pickguard material is pretty rigid like Formica and sometimes made of several layers laminated together. It might just crack if you bend it too far depending on what it's made of. They router the edges at a 45 degree angle and you can see black/white/black. You might want to look into the thinner more flexible mother-of-pearl stuff that they sell to wrap around drums. I think it's just one layer thick so it bends more easily. You might be able to hold it in place using spray on contact adhesive. Or they might sell some peel-and-stick stuff. That simulater mother-of-pearl stuff does look pretty cool, and I've thought about making a custom dash insert with that stuff too. The color combo you're talking about would look really nice too.
Holy crap! A mother-of-toilet-seat dashboard?!? Can I ask why you want to go .090" thick? That's a pretty hefty piece of plastic. Heat will definitely be your friend trying to bend this stuff. Another thin alternative is the stuff used to wrap drum shells. Here's an example: http://www.drummaker.net:3780/1-800-NEW-DRUM/www.drummaker.com/FMPro?-db=dm%5fproducts.fp5&-format=detailpop.htm&-lay=cgi&-sortfield=name&Category=covering&Name=Pearl%20FULL&-max=15&-recid=32897&-token.0=13531816&-find= 24"x54" sheet for $72 vs 9"x24" for $38 from Stew Mac. Oh, and you wouldn't want to use a celluloid pickguard material (different stuff) on a dashboard, that stuff doesn't like heat. The celluloid stuff was used back in the 50s and before. I don't know if you can even get it anymore. The mother-of-toilet-seat thing was a joke I once heard regarding the pearloid trim on an old Gretsch or something like that - don't get to use the term very often, couldn't resist the opportunity. Get this done so I can see it! You've got my imagination running out of control now! Tim D.
WOW! cool idea. I can see that on the dash, matched up with a steering wheel done by Pearlcraft in Australia.
I have done a tech thingie for vacuum forming, does anyone know how to post a tech article. Do you wait till "tech week"? Just post a new topic? What is the procedure. I wanted to do a general tech about the process itself and then you could adapt it to what you are trying to do here. Taking one of your pictures, to get it ready for vacuum forming, you would take off just the silver part that you are trying to do. The picture below would show that you would put backing behind it and brace it so the vacuum wouldn't affect it. You would seal all around as much as possible. you could control the vacuum to keep it from sucking down too much. The main thing is that you want to give it support. You would want it to just suck down into the round holes. When you see the tech, it will be much clearer I hope.
CRAP!!!!!! now that everyone's interested, I've gotta actually follow through..... and here I thought I'd have a nice, relaxing Christmas break... gonna order some of both the pickguard material and the "peel and stick" and see how they both work out... look for pics soon (I hope)
HEY, It's only half a mother of toilet seat dash!~ the .090 stuff is what I've found available, also, I may be removing the perforated stuff altogether, and the thicker material may offer some support for the "few" gauges on the dash.
Am working on the tech post now and will get it up this evening for sure. Trying not to confuse myself.
Tech post is up, but disappearing fast in the interesting posts about tattoos and stuff. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=148945
Oh, it's much worse than that. Now everybody is gonna steal your idea, and by the time you get yours done it will be so "yesterday" Craig
HEY!!! JUST REMEMBER, I HAD IT FIRST!!!!! (this year anyway....) bunch of sneak-thieves, taking my idea and runing with it......... boy, if I had the money, I'd have done it already..... jerks! But, hey, if someone does beat me to it, let me know how you did it so I can have an easier time... always nice to have someone else do your trial and error for you... dv
Well I for one think you have a great idea. . . . . I can't wait to take credit for it at the San Francisco Rod n Custom show this month.
old cabinet makers used to sand the to back area to be bent thinner ?so its flexible ... then to glue in place use a reverse buck mold to draw it into the corner with a c clamp/ by hand until glue is set ... careful of adhesives too as they may eat from behind if too liquid... good luck and save a leaf from that table for the family thanksgiving dinner! paperdog
I used the drum wrap material. $50 for a 24" x 52" sheet. It's fairly thin, and can be heated up with a heat gun and make a really tight radius. Craig
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