Door Panels: Starting New 02 Civic

[razuuk004]

Okay so i take the cardboard cut-out and trace it to mdf. Always make a template out of some other material before passing it over to acrylic, you can reshape or recopy mdf better and faster that acrylic and acrylic is not cheap so these steps assure that you only have to do the piece once.

upon cutting the piece on mdf and test fitting it on the panel and just looking at it. I thought that it needed a much bigger angle from center to end ( from wide in the center to narrower at the ends) so to fix that i take a straight edge and clamp it on the piece in an angle and use a dremel and sand barrel to narrow the piece. (The same exact reason why i saw to make a template out of mdf first instead on the acrylic).

once i'm satisfied of the angle that i just created and rounded the ends again, I then trace it to a new piece of mdf, cut it, and router the new piece from the old one to have a clean piece to work with. The old piece i keep as a reference template when it's time to make the other panel. I did not take pictures of this process but you will see the new piece taped to the mdf below.

I then trace the new piece the the acrylic and cut them. When you cut a piece of acrylic that you will flush with the template in a router, it is very very important that you cut very very close to the trace line. Acrylic is much denser material and the router has a harder time cutting it so the less material you leave to router the better the finish cause the router wont kick back as much also make several small passed instead of one big pass. trim a little each time till the bearing reaches the mdf template and be very careful when flush router small pieces like these. It is very dangerous.

you can also use the dremel and sanding barrel to smooth out the ripples and come extremely close to the template before routering. it saves you time, it leaves less material for the router to cut off, its safer. Also on these very small pieces, i just router the straight edges only, don't try to go over the round edges on these extremely small pieces, (very dangerous), instead finish of those round ends and any imperfections with 60 grit sand paper. Tip: put the 60 grit on a flat clean piece of mdf or sanding block to clean up the straight edges if needed. and use a small piece of 60 grit and the dremel to round out the ends.

[JNells]

That's a really good idea with the metal yardstick to sand a straight line!

[oldsoundguy]

I like the way you teach safety. Looks real good.

[razuuk004]

OKAY SO THE ACRYLIC TRIM PIECES ARE CUT. BUT I WONT LEAVE THEM JUST LOOKING FLAT LIKE THAT SO I WILL BUT A BEVEL ALL AROUND THEM. ALTHOUGH THE BEST MOST GREAT LOOKING RESULT IN MAKING BEVELS IS WITH A ROUTER AND 45 DEGREE TIP WITH BEARING, THESE PIECES ARE WAY TOO SMALL TO TRY IT (UNLESS I DON'T MIND MAYBE LOOSING A FINGER OR TWO TRYING IT.).

SO I INTRODUCE TO YOU THE DREMEL WORKSTATION. IT TURNS YOUR DREMEL INTO A DRILL PRESS, BENCH GRINDER, AND ANGLE GRINDER AMONG OTHER THINGS. IT HAS ALOT OF POSIBILITES

DRILL PRESS:

BENCH GRINDER/ POLISHER:

AND WHAT I AM GOING TO USE IS FOR; TO CREATE ANGLED BEVELS WITH THE SANDING BARREL:

SO I POSITION THE ANGLE AND HEIGHT SO THAT IT LEAVES ABOUT A 1/4 INCH OR SO OF FLAT SURFACE LEFT BELOW

AND COMMENCE TO RUNNING THE PIECE UNDER IT OVER AND OVER AND OVER GOING ROUND AND ROUND TILL THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL EDGE IS ALMOST TOUCHING THE SIDE ACRYLIC WALL.

FINISH THE BEVEL LONG STRAIGHT EDGES BY USING A SANDING BLOCK/PAD

AND NOW THE BEFORE AND AFTER

AND NOW TO SEE WHAT IT WOULD LOOK LIKE LIT UP WITH L.E.D.'S

[razuuk004]

[JNells]

That's an awesome Dremel tool!!! Where'd you get it?

Just a thought on your LEDs in your acrylic pieces, you could try the front facing LEDs if you wanted to light up the entire piece (including the bend).

[razuuk004]

That's an awesome Dremel tool!!! Where'd you get it?

Just a thought on your LEDs in your acrylic pieces, you could try the front facing LEDs if you wanted to light up the entire piece (including the bend).

I GOT IT AT HOME DEPOT

AND TO LIGHT UP THE ENTIRE PIECE??? LIKE THIS?

[harlemn8ive]

wow lots of good unique work.... tuned in

[JNells]

Haha always one step ahead of me. Touché!

[razuuk004]

OKAY SO BACK TO FINISHING UP THOSE ACRYLIC TRIM PIECES AND HOPEFULLY ON THE DOOR. SO WHEN I LEFT OFF, I DID THE BEVELED EDGES ON THE PIECES AND USED A SANDING BLOCK WITH 60 GRIT TO EVEN OUT THE STRAIGHT EDGES

IT LEAVES SOME NASTY HEAVY SCRATCH LINES ON THE EDGES. TIME TO CLEAN THOSE UP AND SURFACE FINISH THE PIECES. YOU WILL NEED 60 GRIT, 80 GRIT, 120 GRIT AND RED SCOTCH BRITE (I HAVE MINE IN A DREMEL WHEEL)

CUT THE SAND PAPER IN SMALL SQUARES, BEND THEM IN HALF AND SPRAY SUPER 77 ON THE BACK AND FOLD THEM AFTER IT TACKS UP SO YOU HAVE A MANAGEABLE PIECE THAT WONT OPEN UP AS YOU ARE SANDING

START HITTING THE EDGES WITH 60 GRIT BACK AND FORTH (NOT THE TOP) AND FEEL YOUR PIECE WITH YOUR FINGERS TO MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO BUMPS ON THE SURFACE. THEN GO TO 80 GRIT AND DO THE SAME THING AROUND THE EDGES TO GET RID OF THE SCRATCH LINES CREATED BY THE 60 GRIT. THEN FOLLOW UP WITH THE 120 GRIT AND HIT THE EDGES AND TOP AND BACK THIS WILL GET RID OF THE SCRATCH LINES CREATED BY THE 80 GRIT AND LEAVE A SEMI OPAQUE SURFACE. FINISH IT OFF WITH PASSING IT OVER THE SCOTCH BRITE WHEEL (OR JUST A SCOTCH BRITE PIECE IF YOU DONT HAVE A WHEEL) THIS WILL TAKE OFF ALL THE DEEP SCRATCHES LEFT AND WILL LEAVE IT KINDA A DULL GLASS FINISH.

60 GRIT

80 GRIT

120 GRIT

SCOTCH BRITE WHEEL

SECOND PIECE THRU ALL STEPS