Well, I've finally gotten around to working on my install and thought I would share pictures of the progress. I will also share a problem that came up and my way to solve that problem.
The current project is to build a fiberglass enclosure to house the face plate and lighting controls. What I did was start by glueing two pieces of floral design foam together and carve the shape I want. I needed to come up with a way for the face plate to stay in place, but not be permanently mounted into this enclosure. So I decided to fiberglass a mold of the back of the faceplate. So I covered the faceplate in saran wrap to be sure no resin gets on it, and then covered it with painters tape. You can see pictures below of this process:
Edit: SD is being dumb and the pictures aren't showing up. So I'm just going to link them instead.
https://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/4/web/304000-304999/304268_235_full.jpg
https://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/4/web/304000-304999/304268_236_full.jpg
https://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/4/web/304000-304999/304268_237_full.jpg
Just to be sure, I was very stingy on the hardener to make sure it wouldn't get too hot. It took 2 days to fully harden. However when done, I found out that it still damaged the face plate. Unfortunately some of the resin got to the front of the face plate, and the heat melted the cosmetic plastic part. Here's some pictures:
https://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/4/web/304000-304999/304268_238_full.jpg
https://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/4/web/304000-304999/304268_239_full.jpg
After checking with Sony and finding out that it will probably be around $300+ to replace all those damaged parts, I decided to just build my own face plate. One of my favorite features about the Sony unit is the thumber remote. This also means that I could eliminate some of the buttons from the front of the faceplate. So I bought a piece of plexiglass and carved out the holes for the buttons I will need. I then masked off an area to view the display and painted the rest of the back of the face plate black. Here is the results:
https://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/4/web/304000-304999/304268_240_full.jpg
https://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/4/web/304000-304999/304268_234_full.jpg
https://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/4/web/304000-304999/304268_241_full.jpg
You will notice on one of the above pictures the "Source" button was missing. I will include it when it is done, but left it off for the picture. The second picture has both the Source button and volume knob taken off. I still have to trim down the plexiglass to the desired size. I will try to add updates as they are available.
Steven Kephart
Adire Audio
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Just for information the resin does not get thet hot. Your melting was caused by the resin contacting the face and melting it(chemical not heat). You can avoid that next time by adding the normal ammount of hardner and wraping it up with a couple more layers of plastic wrap. As for the dash piece it looks awesome, good job.
I sure hope you are able to clean up the look of your faceplate, b/c as is it looks like crap. But thats just my opinion. The concept is great, but i still dont understand your reason for having the faceplate in while you were making the mold.
abovestock wrote:
Just for information the resin does not get thet hot. Your melting was caused by the resin contacting the face and melting it(chemical not heat). You can avoid that next time by adding the normal ammount of hardner and wraping it up with a couple more layers of plastic wrap. As for the dash piece it looks awesome, good job.
I can assure you that the resin never touched the face plate as it was completely covered in saran wrap, and then completely covered in masking tape. I've just learned not to make molds of plastic things. 
Steven Kephart
Adire Audio
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blufab wrote:
I sure hope you are able to clean up the look of your faceplate, b/c as is it looks like crap. But thats just my opinion. The concept is great, but i still dont understand your reason for having the faceplate in while you were making the mold.
Keep in mind that it isn't finished yet. I still have to trim it down to size.
I guess I should have explained the mold reasoning/process. Basically I needed a fiberglass piece the shape of the face plate that I could place in the foam. That way I can carve out the foam for it to fit in place, and then when I fiberglass the foam piece, I can fiberglass this piece into place. And now I have a perfect mold for my faceplate to sit in. Here's a picture of me fiberglassing it if it helps. The face plate is sitting upside down: https://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/4/web/304000-304999/304268_242_full.jpg
Here's a link to the rest of the install: https://www.sounddomain.com/ride/304268 That way you can see where this is going.
Steven Kephart
Adire Audio
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none of the links work. i'd curious now. lol.
~~Vinn
i dont see sh*t. use www.tinypic.com for quick hosting.
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Houston,TX
"The two most common elements in the universe are H+ and stupidity" (Ellison).
