Jump to content

EpicenterDesigns

S.O.T.M. Winner
  • Posts

    1612
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About EpicenterDesigns

Contact Methods

  • AIM
    epicenterdesigns
  • Website URL
    http://www.epicenterdesigns.com
  • ICQ
    0

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Bradenton, FL

Recent Profile Visitors

9857 profile views

EpicenterDesigns's Achievements

Newbie

Newbie (1/14)

57

Reputation

  1. Pretty much what Ray said. When I see people do one door all the way to bodyfiller and then start the next door, I wonder how they are sure it will be exact. Unless they don't care. I do both doors at the same time with ALOT of measuring to make sure everything is symmetrical. Pain in the ass are Ford truck doors. They differ from side to side.
  2. Gonna try to tackle a few things extra along with answering your questions. When wrapping your pillars and resining them, that is NOT fiberglassing. That is making the mold of the pillars with speaker rings. You HAVE to add mat to the rsined material or it will be brittle. In most cases, you need to wait for the first resin coat to cure hard before adding the mat. It just helps you to work all the air bubbles out and get a smoother lay. Get some 40grit and some 80grit sand paper for pieces that your going to wrap. Start sanding the fiberglass with the 40 grit till it is looking poretty even all around. Then you will want to add a layer of filler. You can shape it and knock down rough areas with the 40grit and then fine tune it with the 80grit. You may need to do several coats to get all low spots filled. You HAVE to get the low spots and the high spots all even or it WILL show up once wrapped. Only material that hides bigger imperfections is carpet. And when I see custom pieces covered in carpet that aren't a piece that needs to be carpeted, I know their finishing skills need improvong. As for the wrapping material you need to match your current vehicles look, you will need to look up an auto upholstery shop in your area. They will be able to match your colors and grain damn near perfectly.
  3. It is mainly due to the fact they sell good resins on-line and ship it and it is all resonably priced. Other than that, if you can find it locally, then go for that. But when I say good resins, I am NOT talking about Bondo brand or Elmers brand you can get at some auto parts or home improvment stores.
  4. MDF, usually 1/4" and 1/2". Low temp plastics. Fancy stretchy materials... ie Ponte'. Polyester resins and MEKP. 1.5oz fiberglass mat. 2" chip brushes. Mixing cups. Latex/Nitrile gloves. Jig saw. Air body saw. Routers (table, trim, plunge) UPOL Fribre Tech reenforced filler. Rage Gold filler. A metric shit ton of sandpapers. Primers. Vinyl. Paint. Imagination. A respirator will help also.
  5. Since I am in here reading this, I will throw in my 2cents. First off, 412 CVX, I want a link to the rest of that video in your avatar please. Secondly, adding mat or just resining the enclosure isn't going to do much. Sure, the mat will add alittle weight mass to the panels but it won't really make it any stronger. Fiberglass mat is weakest on large flat panels. And resining it will only seal the wood up, not make it the least bit stronger. Your actually wasting more money doing that than buying birch sheets. Now, I know that was to shave weight, an experiment or whatever, but by the time you add enough bracing to counter all the panel rattle, you will probally be in the same weight class as if you would have built the box outta 3/4 birch.
  6. This is gonna turn into a book, so I apoligize in advance. IMO, using an upholstery stapler gives you the cleanest lines. Dedicated upholstery staplers shoot fine wire staples that don't crack the plastics (in most case), and penetrate cleanly. http://www.yourautotrim.com/fascostaplegun.html Use a small fine staple and you won't have many issues http://www.yourautotrim.com/fa3x5list.html Now, I know everyone can't run out and buy a quality stapler right off so an adhesive is needed to hold the material down. It can be done. I still use an adhesive when the time is correct. Staples don't fit in everywhere. As mentioned, CA will hold up to the heat generated by resins hardening. But CA can be an expensive glue. I buy mine in large quantities and spend $80 for 32oz. Thats a pretty good price. Activator sold seperatly. If you have to use a spray adhesive, I recommend Permatex spray adhesive in the orange can with a blue top. They make another in a blue can with white top that isn't as good. Orange can blue top is what you want. 3M is ok as long as it is the Super90. Anything else is garbage household crap for scrapbooking old ladies. Now if you use a spray adhesive, it will let go when resin hits it. The trick is to spray and stretch the material past what will be resined. If it is on a door panel or kick or something, spray it and wrap the material around to the back side of the pieces and don't allow resin on the back side. Hope that helps.
  7. Well for the most part, you aren't tying to reproduce sub-bass from the doors, just midrange and on occasion some midbass. So airspace isn't a huge criteria for 95% of the users. Just do your best to seal the door with weatherstripping and around the edges (use the self adheisive kind and attach to the back of the panel) and you can get good results getting midbass from door panels.
  8. I will almost always build both panels at the same time and take ALOT, I mean ALOT of measurments to make sure they are as close as possible to matching. As for the clip issues, try to incorporate a screw or 2 behind the speakers. Screw the panel on and then mount the speakers. Just make sure they aren't too long a screw and your window breaks or gets scratched all to hell.
  9. Best way to put it, is that it is B stock resins. Once you use quality resins, you would understand. Night and day differance. The good resin is thinner and has an even consistancy from mix to mix. You will always know what your gettting. The stuff from the hardware stores is thick. Imgine trying to spread honey compared to water. You can soak the material much better, cheaper, with the good stuff. Speaking of material. Old school knowledge and general cheapness say use fleece. BUT, it takes twice as much resin to completely soak it. Use a thinner material, like swimsuit material from the fabric stores. It stretches super easy for no wrinkles (key part of a job), and uses little resin to hold. You MUST add mat to your project fro strength. Just plain resined material will be brittle. We have done test to prove this. But again. lazy people will skip it cause they assume resined fleece is strong.
  10. I know everyone has their own methods for what works for them and thats great. I have use foil 2 times and in the end, I wondered why I used the foil. Why do YOU use the foil? My method is like this..... tape the area up vertically overlapping the areas you want your edge to end. Then tape the same area horizontally. Then wax it a few times. Apply a thin coat of resin and then add mat. 1.5oz chopped mat is all I recommend. I suggest 3 - 4 layers of 1.5oz before you pull the mold and then add some after that. If you use less weight mat (box store mat packs are .75oz) then more layers will be needed IMO. Use a fiberglass roller to push the resin into the mat and get out all the bubbles. Oh yeah, besure to protect all the surrounding areas with drop cloths/plastic. Resin likes to wander around when you least expect it.
  11. I even got a silver mettalic vinyl that damn near matches the cars paint.
×
×
  • Create New...