Hypothetical question. You have an MDF baffle or panel on the outside of a door panel to mount a speaker in. Let's say you want to wrap it in vinyl to match the characteristics of the interior, but you don't want to recover the entire door, just this small panel (maybe 9"x9" and around .75" thick). Is it possible to cover it in vinyl and not see a seam on the corner? The sides may possibly be rounded with a router, but still, it's in the shape of a square so you will have a corner.

I'm likening it to wrapping a box with wrapping paper.. you're going to have a line on at least one visible side of the piece, aren't you? Or is there some way to get around this by heating the material or some other method?

 

Something, say, like this... (the carpet just doesn't do it for me)

To keep this 3rdgen related... I have actually done a Jeep interior swap on my Firebird. It's pretty sweet.

 

You're going to have a pretty hard time getting the vinyl to stretch the way you want to. If you were trying to do anything thicker I would call it impossible. Routing the edges would defiantly help. Jim will have a better answer for you thanks to his experience with his kicks and vinyl wrapping.

I’m not sure how much I would care about trying to make a block of wood attached to a door panel look stock. IMO you’re better off trying to build the panel up around the speaker to try to make it flow with the door a bit better. Not many cars have a spacer for speaker clearance, even if it is vinyl wrapped.

The other thing is that I’m not sure how good it would look with four screws going through the vinyl to hold the spacer to the door. Carpet will do a better job of hiding the screws than the vinyl will.

 

Buy better vinyl and you'll be able to easily stretch it around the piece you're dealing with so that the front and sides of the wood will be covered with no seams or folds. The trick is to buy the stuff that can stretch when you heat it. I overpay for mine from Select Products because I know it works well, but sounddomain.com and other places have what's probably the same thing for way less.

If I could wrap my kicks in vinyl with good results, I'm sure you'll have no problems with that little piece you're trying to cover.

I agree with Gummie though... just putting vinyl over that block of wood really isn't going to improve the appearance very much. Now if you build up the whole lower door panel area, and chamfer the piece so that it blends in with the stock door panel, not only will it be easier to wrap, but it'll look way more professional.

 

I think I can make it look decent by rounding the edges, it will look similar to the lines on the armrest. I'd like to avoid covering the entire panel in vinyl.

The spacers you see in the pic are courtesy of the previous owner. I'm going to fill in the screw holes with bondo and attach it with short screws from the back of the door panel, so ultimately you won't see the screws holding it in place.

Thanks for all the great information guys, I appreciate it.

 

You will need what we call here in Toronto 4-way strecth vinyl (more expensive).

The art of vinyl work is in the sanding the surface must be very smooth as all imperfecations will show not like carpet that hides everything.

Also you will need some good glue preferably helprin (i think thats how its spelt), and a heat gun.


Heat up the vinyl so it stretches easy then wrap away.......

I made my own build outs for my door panels..........take a look

 

Here's a link https://www.selectproducts.com/ It's called HF Vinyl on their site.

GTA_IN_T.O: nice work

 

 

whatever vinyl you get make sure it has hospital grade tolerances. If it will hold up in a oxygen rich environment it'll hold up in a car. My father is an upholsterer and my brother does aircraft interiors. That is primarily what vinyl is used in both applications.

On the wrapping of the vinyl, there is a technique that you can use to have no seams. Doing this you can wrap a bowling ball and not have any creases, trust me I have.
First start by building a vacuum table. You will need:
approx. 12' 2x4 wood
1 2'x4' 16-18ga aluminum sheet (if you have to use alum. flashing for roofing, just seal the joints very well)
drill
1/8" drill bits
3-4" wood screws
approx 2'x4' sheet of mdf, or plywood (must be perfectly flat)
silicone(lots of it)
gorilla glue or equiv.
misc. 2" chocks (scrap wood or other)
Hole saw(choose a size that will tightly fit the hose of a shop vac or home vac you have)
Start with 16-18ga aluminum sheeting approximately 2'x4'. Drill 1/8" holes by laying out a grid on the aluminum that is 1"x1". Make a wood frame out of 2x4"s that is 2'x4' and put an mdf bottom on it, plan to use the aluminum as the top. When you have the frame built with the bottom on it seal the inside of it GOOD. Make chocks that will go in about every 3 inches or so to support the table from imploding. Use gorilla glue to secure the chocks evenly throughout the inside of the enclosure. Now seal the aluminum to the top of the "box" with the silicone. Do not use screws if possible to attach the aluminum to the box, this will compromise the seal on the top of the table. Use plenty of silicone to do this as this will be the adhesive and the sealer for the top. If you have the ability "cap" the aluminum over the sides by bending over the corners. Let cure for the recommended time for the silicone to set completely. Use the hole saw to open a hole on the long side of the box centered as much as possible. I know some people who have attached tight fittin pvc couplers on the sides and this works great. After everything has set, hook the vacuum up to it and check the structure of it and make any adjustments or repairs for leaks. Put a garbage bag or something similar over the table to create a static vacuum to make sure it'll hold under stress.
You now have a vacuum form table. How do you use it?
First get a heat gun. This is necessary to heat the vinyl and mold it around the corners. Second get a peice of plastic sheeting, roofing laminate, or heavy mylar works best. Then you are ready to go.

Take the piece to be wrapped and put it in the center of the table (put it on a platform if you wish the vinyl to wrap under it). Lay your vinyl over the piece. Leave plenty to pull around the item.(think in 3-D) Now take the plastic sheeting and make a frame around the item. This is to seal off the holes so you can maintain vacuum. Do this by cutting a square that leaves about a 2" window of vinyl around the piece with plenty of vinyl under the plastic, so when it pulls in it allows a seal to remain. Now comes the fun part, turn on the vacuum. Already you should see the vinyl pulling into all the openings and sucking tight around the piece. You will see wrinkles in the vinyl where the angles are too sharp. Take the heat gun and SLOWLY warm the area around the wrinkles in a slow circle moving inwards to the wrinkle itself. This is where technique and practice comes into play. You might toast the vinyl on your first few tries until you get the handle of your heat-gun. When you have the area warm enough the vacuum should pull most of the wrinkles out on thier own. On spots that are stubborn you may have to lessen the vacuum and pull the vinyl away while heating it and allow the vacuum to pull it tight again. Once again this take practice, one of the best things to practice on is a pyrex cooking bowl. When you have sufficiently worked out all the wrinkles let the vinyl cool while the vacuum is still on. You can use a wet cloth cooled with ice cubes or i have even used air duster held upside down to cool it. After the vinyl has cooled you will notice it now retains the shape of the item you have tried to wrap. Pull the peice and the vinyl and put it on another table. Glue the piece, and the vinyl with landau top glue, or 3m super 777 works great. When glueing coat evenly with the glue and DO NOT lay it on too thick. Just a light dusting is more than enough considering you have cleaned the surface well enough. And you have to act fairly quickly before it dries too much. Get both pieces glued well enough and get them onto the table setup like you did before. Now repeat the vacuum process and heat the piece evenly. This cures the glue and will let you fudge it a bit to adjust any last minute wrinkles. Let cool, remove, trim and install.

When you use this process practice with strange shapes. I have taken bowls, boxes, pliers, pretty much whatever I could lay my hands on and wrapped them. When you do some things it may be neccesary to put a hole (or holes) in the piece you are working on to allow vacuum to come from inside the peice, i.e. the convex part of a bowl. Try different glues as well as some are more forgiving than others, and keep in mind that you will get a better bond due to the pressure that is applied by the vaccum pulling it to the surface. It is common for you to burn quite a bit of vinyl doing this, so i recommend going to a local upholstery shop and getting some scraps to practice on. Not only will this lessen the f-up factor but it will allow you to see the differences in different grades of vinyls.

I hope this will help you guys. Its alot to do but it is WELL worth it to have one of these tables. Mostly due to the fact that vinyl is just the beginning of what you can wrap with.
P.S. old air hockey tables work great for these!!!

 

lockchad: amazing post. Maybe I'm dense but I'm having a hard time visualizing the table you're describing. Any chance of you snapping a picture?

 

sure its at my dads shop, I'll try to get a shot this weekend. Basically imagine a 2 foot x 4 foot x 4" deep air hockey table with a vacuum hookup.
this is kinda the idea Ralis Kahn's Vacuum Form Table Plans
simpler but he welded his www.TK560.com: Vacuform Table IV

 

Cost is per yard right? So if you order 2 of them, you get 2 yards, right?

 

Would imagine so. You can always call them.

 

Sorry guys no pics this weekend, went fishing offshore on saturday. Rested today. damn i'm burnt......

 

No problem, I don't have much disposible income with the resturant fire and what not. No huge rush