I am attempting to create a mold of the inside of my car doors (with the original panels removed). The problem I have is figuring out how to do this without removing the doors to lay them flat. Is there a way to do this with the doors vertical as they would be while installed? Straight resin will obviously run. I saw a post where the installer used a 5:1 bondo:epoxy mix. Would that be thick enough to not run down the door?
The next issue was getting fleece to follow the contours of the door and stay put while applying the resin mix. I considered using some adhesive to make the fleece stick to the odd shapes. The problem then is how to remove it once the resin sets up.
As you can see, I need some serious help here. If someone can point me to an existing thread or supply some answers a guy working in his driveway can manage, I will be very grateful.
Can you explain a little more what you are trying to do? I sorta see what you are asking but you lost me a little. First, by "door" do you mean the outside door skin, the body panel? Or do you mean the interior door panel? Also, you dont make a "mold" using fleece. Molds are made for casting many duplicate parts, unless you plan to duplicate many identical parts you wont be making a "mold". Also, if you are planning on in fact creating some type of "mold", regular old resin and matting will work fine, matting will not "fall" as long as you aren't trying to use too much resin. BTW, resin eats up adhesives unless they are epoxy types, any thing you try to hold with a spray adhesive, and then get resin on will just fall apart.
You are correct. Poor use of terminology on my part. I'm looking to make what amounts to a fiberglass speaker cabinet for the lower half of the interior of the door. It will project in a couple of places into the inside of the door where it won't interfere with the window movement. This is to get as much volume in the cabinet as possible, obviously. I want to make the door side to follow the door contours as closely as possible to minimize rattling and maximize interior space in the door. So I guess it isn't a mold so much as one side of a cabinet formed to the door.
I used to use a piece of squishy bed mattress foam pressed over the fibreglass, for some reason the fibreglass never really stuck to the mattress, and only left a few fuzzy bits behind, maybe it was the type of foam (maybe because it was really old?). To hold that there we would use a piece of plywood over the back of the foam and clamps or wheel jacks to hold it to the object.
For your door i would lay on your fibreglass, wack on the layer of foam, put the piece of plywood over the back and clamp it to the door with some clothe to protect the paint from scratching and tighten it up.
I think best results would be acheived by removing the door, i fear that the soft glass may droop behind the braces and will sag away from the bottom edges of the braces giving you space where you dont need it and no space where you do. just a thought though
That's a good idea.
I've been considering taking the door off. I thought I might mask off the surrounding area to prevent overspray and just spray the hinge area. When it dried I would have a template of sorts to be sure I lined up the hinges exactly the same when I put it back on.
But I like the idea of the foam. I suppose a thin layer of aluminum foil layed over the foam first wouldn't hurt and would prevent sticking. I would probably use ratcheting straps wrapped around the door to hold it in place.
You have given me some things to consider. Thank you. This project has been on hold long enough.