Black Beauty Project Build - 06 Ford F-250 Super Duty **1/27/18 - New pics starting on page 41**

[scooter99]

So FUCKING Mad tonight. 2 steps forward tonight, 4 steps backwards. May have to start all over again. I'm going to bed, I have to get up at 4am to go workout tomorrow morning at 5am. Hopefully I can get to sleep tonight! True to form, that I show all things, failures and successes, pics are uploading and I'll post some stuff up tomorrow at work. Hopefully I'll have calmed down by then and I'll be able to think clearer to come up with a solution.

[Wood]

What happened?

[yurvalentine]

Fuck.

[scooter99]

Ok, it's crazy busy at work today, but I've calmed down a lot and my brain has been working overtime for a solution and I think I've come up with the best possible one. Pics are uploaded, and as soon as I get some time I'll get those posted and post up the solution. Basically I'll be starting all over again, but it's ok because I think this will give me the best finish.

I'll be back in a while with some pictures and more.

[scooter99]

Ok well, let's play the feelings roller coaster game!!

SO I got home last night and went out to see what was up, and it had not set up all the way. I was a bit peeved about it, but I was also pretty much expecting it. I told myself if it wasn't set up, I'll just scrape it off and do it over again. I think this was part of my downfall to the evening. But I'll get to that later.

Let's get started.

Here's where I thought I'd try sanding it a little. Knowing it was still to tacky and not hard.

Obviously that didn't work out.

So I stripped it as best as I could. Or as hurried best as I could. Remember my life everyone, I'm doing this, and running back inside to help with kids homework, and dinner, and regular life stuff. When that's balanced for a moment, I run back out and try and do something else. In hind sight, I probably just should've done this in the first place and got is all off. Live and learn right? CURRENT FEELINGS: Slightly irritated

So, after that I put on a new coat, with more hardener in it this time. I actually felt much better about how it went on too. I thought I did a much better job with this one than the first go round. I knew it was going to set too, because by the time I got done, it was hardening already. CURRENT FEELINGS: Very Happy, relieved.

While that dried, I had some time, since it was down time inside. I figured I better get myself a sanding block made up. I didn't want anything overly large, since the sides aren't very large on this. But I wanted to be able to cover the sides as well. So I found a strip of 3/4" birch scrap from the 10" sub enclosure I started, but never finished........which will happen soon. Sprayed it with some spray glue.

Cut a piece of 150 grit sand paper, and sprayed the back of it.

Let them set for a few minutes. And then wrapped the wood with the paper. There you go, instant sanding strip block.

After all of that I checked inside, and came back out and then checked the filler and it was dry, or sandable at least. So, I went to work! Between the strip I made, and a regular dome shaped sanding block you can buy at home depot or wherever, I got it sanded well. CURRENT FEELINGS: Excited!

[scooter99]

Now that I've made some progress, I decided to keep going. My hope was to try and get it as close as possible tonight, and get it sprayed with primer so I could let it sit all night last night, and day today, and then see what was up tonight.

Bring on the Rage Xtreme!!

Got a nice coat on there.

CURRENT FEELINGS: REALLY Excited and happy!

Time to start sanding again. God I love sanding.............................said noone....................EVER!!!!!!!!!

Another lesson learned along the way here, pay attention to where you're sanding. Yes, I managed to sand through the tape and sand some of the edge of the tablet.

CURRENT FEELINGS: IRRITATED! But still excited with how the actual panel is turning out. Sanded really well, the lines are looking good, I'm happy!

THEN....................................................

IT HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[reedal]

Oh come on. That's as bad as watching a tv show you're really into and then they end the episode at the plot twist. You can't leave us hanging in suspense like that

[scooter99]

So here I am feeling good. Got the kids in bed, back out in the shop, sanded the Rage Xtreme coat, feeling great! Now, it's time to pull the tablet, and do some touching up, and possibly prime it tonight.

So, I grab a screwdriver, since I didn't have a way to pull the tablet out, I will when the final product is done, but I didn't now. I got in on the back side of the tablet, not prying on anything that has filler on it. Completely away from anything having to do with filler or the outside of the tablet on the front of the dash. It was a little tight, but it popped loose.

THEN..............................................

I turned the dash panel around (I was looking at the back side).

YEP, THAT JUST HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some more of the carnage!!

CURRENT FEELINGS: FUCKING IRATE AND PISSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As you all saw last night. I almost threw the whole panel across the yard. But I refrained!

At this point, I've literally gone from both ends of the feelings roller coaster. Irritated, to happy, to excited, to completely pissed off!

So I went to bed!

That brings us to today. Guess what I've been doing since I woke up at 4am, through my workout, even up to this exact point in time. Yep, you guessed it, tried to figure out what to do for a solution. I came up with a few ideas, but I think this one is the best one, and what I'm going to go with. It's a huge step backwards, but I think it will make the steps forward go much smoother for me.

I brain stormed first of all, why the hell did that happen?! Then it hit me................. ..................this happened for two reasons. Recall I wanted a flush mounted look. I wanted a semi seamless transition between the dash and the tablet. Didn't seem unreasonable at the time. However what I failed to remember when I was thinking about it was, that the tablet sides are rounded, not squared. Why is this an issue you may ask? Well let me tell you. Recall when I started this, that the case has a lip on it, which is what held the tablet in the case.

That lip had to be removed so that the tablet could come out of the case without having to contort the case, since it would be mounted permanently in the dash and there would be no way to do that. SO I sanded it off.

Well, that's great and all, but that doesn't change the roundness of the tablet edges. So I didn't think about that when I was doing this. That was the first mistake. While the tablet sides in and out of the case ok, it does still stick, and when I filled in to the edges of the tablet with it in place, it basically sealed it in there. Not a major issue, but an issue none the less.

What about the second issue? Well the second issue was what I eluded to earlier. I bring you back to this picture.

Remember when I said I should've cleaned it all off, instead of hurrying through it? Well that's what played a major part in this failure. The old stuff was still on the panel, and while the new coats of filler hardened great, it did not harden the older stuff, and that's what caused the failure. Looking at the pieces that failed, and the layers of it, that older stuff is what let go. Doesn't matter how hard the new stuff got, if there's nothing for it to hold on to, then it won't hold.

So I'm going back to square one. I'm going to eliminate the tablet case all together. I'm going to make a two part system. I'll make a pocket for the tablet to sit in, by making an exact template of the tablet, and then putting that on a piece of 1/4" MDF. Then, I'll take that piece of MDF, and set it on the dash panel, and figure out where I need to cut it out to. Once I have all that set, I'll transfer the template onto a 1/2" piece of something. My original thought was a piece of 1/2" birch. My concern with this is that it may swell and contract and could cause cracking. Not sure if that's what will happen or not, but I'm just thinking about the environments and what wood does. The other option is to use 1/2" abs.

Ok, so after that's done, I'll epoxy it into the dash panel. Recall that the panel has a curvature in it.

The middles are higher

The corners are lower

I'm going to fix that issue, by epoxying the insert at the level of the middles. This way the corners stick up, and I'll sand the insert down to match the contours of the dash panel. Less filling to do. Then the filling left to do will be the transition between the insert and panel, which shouldn't be too terribly much.

For the back of the insert, I'm going to epoxy on a piece of sheet metal. Then I'll cover that with cloth or suede. Or maybe Ill just paint it. I haven't decided yet.

Why the metal back? Because I'm going to remove the back of the tablet. I'm going to drill holes, one in each corner, and then I'm going to ca glue some neo magnets into it. This will allow the tablet to stay in place, without any edges to hold on to and nothing to have to slide it into and will give it a nice clean finished look.

SO that's what I've come up with. The plan, after I figure out what material I'm going to use, is to get this current insert out and get started on the templates.

Lessons learned! Hopefully a stronger better comeback is in the works!!

[boometro]

to be honest bro, why not make it a slide in style mount. there looks to be enough room on the top of the dash to have the mount actually wrap the edges a little. leave the top portion open so the tablet can slide down into place.

[scooter99]

it ha a side mount usb port, and I'm not a big fan of the slide mounts. I see where you're going with it, but just not my preference.