Markeb01 Build Thread

[markeb01]

After fitting the raw panel shown above, I pulled it off and created a duplicate from it for the passenger side. All the holes for the buttons and door handles were drilled in both panels. After my wife stripped all the interior panels, she helped me cut up foam for every one of the pieces. I was pleased to discover my one remaining huge sheet of foam was big enough to do everything. I ended up with about a square foot of scrap.

Yesterday I drilled out all the door panel button holes in the foam, using my new application specific diamond tufting hole saw shown earlier:





It was amazing. I cut all the holes on both panels in less than 10 minutes (maybe less than 5). With the old pipe and sledge hammer routine, it would take over an hour to pound out that many holes, and my hands would be useless for days after.

I would have cut the holes in all the foam pieces, but I need to double check the diamond alignment first, especially on the kick panels as they may no longer line up with the door panels. (Note – the double hole in the second row is for the window handle). There won’t be any arm rests as I never found them comfortable anyway.

The project has been stopped pending creation and attachment of the door panel spacers. Since the new full size door panels are going to be flat, and the inside of the door is concave, fitted strips are needed to fill in the gaps at the front and rear of the new panels. I’ve actually been dragging my feet because I didn’t want to do the work. I don’t have the right equipment and it’s been freezing cold out. Daily highs have been freezing with overnight lows in the teens leaves my garage about 45 degrees if I don’t run my little ineffective propane heater.

And what I really needed for this type of detail cutting is a band saw, which I don’t own. I have a circular saw and saber saw. The circular saw was too unwieldy so I had to do everything with the saber saw, and finish up with a variety of sanders. Making things a whole lot nicer, my wife came to the rescue and offered up the use of her nice 70 sewing room to do all the cutting. I bent the corners with a heat gun, then trimmed and sanded everything until it was ready for glue. I was hoping ABS glue worked by capillary action (which it does) because that meant I could clamp everything in place and apply the glue afterward. I had intended to do all this in the sewing room – until I read the label. The ABS glue is just plain nasty. Not wanting to kill myself or blow up the house I opted to move the attachment phase out in the 26 degree back yard. It was uneventful as I preclamped everything and worked quickly. I wasn’t sure the glue would function in sub freezing temps, so I got everything back inside as soon as I could. Here are the results:

The spacers don’t show up very well, but here’s an end view of the filler strips with the glue still setting up on the passenger panel:



To get the profile right I had to mark the perimeter of the door every inch, and then record the depth measurement at every inch mark. Those dimensions were transferred to scrap ABS sheet. I only ruined and had to replace one strip, so I was rather pleased everything came out so well.

Next step is to insert the attachment probes, glue the foam to the panels, mark up the fabric and get to upholstering!