After my vacation I'll be back into parts making mode

[66Dvert]

Hopefully after I get back from my vacation I can get some of my molds done to my satisfaction and start making parts for my wife's and my 66 darts. here is my latest set of adventures that just add to the many I already have.
rear armrest pads for the convertibles W/O the ashtray. I found a person who can show me how to rotocast eurathane rubber into the molds and make the pads as flexible as they were when new(gotta pay him big $$$ to get the correct color on reds and blues though) so I'm sticking to white or black pads.
I have the metal cut and bent to shape except for the finish rolling of the edge. the main pad is made
here is the metal that matches the original plate pretty close.

here is the wooden plug for the armrest pad minus ashtray. I'm still in the make it look "purty" phase.

the other side

metal

metal matches the curvature pretty darn good
now I have to roll the outer edge and die punch a 1/8" dimple in the screw hole locations.

after the wood buck is made I'll have a pro stretch vinyl over the mold and take a master hard cast part to creat the 2part rotocast mold part.. I'm excited to get these done. I can then start work on the side panels with speakers to match the front kick panels I have made and if I'm luck I can finish up the dash pads. by Christmas.

 

[SSVDP]

Sweet!

 

[clhyer]

Very interesting!
C

 

[66Dvert]

Just posting an update to the armrest pad situation.
I could not get a small supply of the vacu-formable vinyl that I need *(had to buy 10k worth to get any at all.) so I'm going with plan B. I do have some marine vinyl that does mold but since it is twice as thick as I need it to be so it won't work as a formable part but will work as a temp new grain cover for the new part I'll have to make a master part and then cast it on pour-able urethane rubber in my roto caster then pour in expandable foam to get the correct feel. ahh just no easy way for me to do it %^#%^#. here is my (now) working roto-caster

and here is where I am at on the masters

I have the part formed over the wood master and will cut it out and glue it to the blank. whew. then I'll have to attach the bottom mounting metal or newer ABS plastic piece to the mold and cast a master pattern of the complete thing..then test, fix , test, fix and so forth until it's correct for me. then I get to di it again for an ashtray version GAH!

they should be ready to cut out and glue to the wooden blanks so that I have the outer skin shape of the mold and then on to the inner bracing and bottom mold. yeeehaw! I'm getting there.

 

[clhyer]

$10,000 bucks worth?
How about signing up on a forum site for this type of work. Surely someone would sell you a small amount.
It does look promising though!
C

 

[66Dvert]

$10,000 bucks worth?
How about signing up on a forum site for this type of work. Surely someone would sell you a small amount.
It does look promising though!
C

I've tried. the big guys like Just Dashes and others (challenger dashes)think my piddly little forming operation is going to cut their business and they will lose big money or something. I do have a link to a place the just might have a roll of thermo vinyl that they "might" be willing to part with if I buy the whole roll. No one is willing to send me a yard or so and there is no sense of buying 40 yards@ 25.00yd of vinyl if I can not test it to see if it'll work. Ain't buyin a pig in a poke again, since I wouldn't get as lucky as i did the first time

 

[4spdragtop]

I cant even fathom the amount of patience involved! Not sure if there is a mfg/supplier up here in Canada, but Im about 2 hours east of Toronto and 3 1/2 West of Ottawa. Ill help if I can, $10k is ridonculous.

 

[66Dvert]

I cant even fathom the amount of patience involved! Not sure if there is a mfg/supplier up here in Canada, but Im about 2 hours east of Toronto and 3 1/2 West of Ottawa. Ill help if I can, $10k is ridonculous.

thanks for the offer I'd appreciate any info on the thermoformable vinyl supplies and getting test samples I talked to a few other suppliers and they all said the same thing a minimum 5k to 12k first purchase commitment(that's a whole lot of armrest pads covered to sell). It's not really patience .. it's just that I want to make these parts nicer and better for my car(mine are really bad). I want parts That are done "My" way first and then the stock look with the ashtray and so forth. The thicker vinyl does hold a LOT better grain than the thinner stuff and will cast a much better mold if I can hide the webbing so it only is on the bottom of the mold.
I do have a workaround or 2 that might work for the armrest and this will be the testing grounds for the other way to make them. Where I'm at right now is the thicker vinyl does work, but does not get as tight to the part as I'd like. Now it's just a case of trying to glue the vinyl to the master blank and then making a mold of the part after it is as " perfectl as I can get it" finished. Once that is done then there are 2 processes that might work to make good replicas. it all takes time to get the correct materials and then time to make sure it will work before going to major money outlay of 1500 or more for the rubber materials.

 

[slantsixdan]

gotta pay him big $$$ to get the correct color on reds and blues though) so I'm sticking to white or black pads

That's no real obstacle; see my writeup here.

 

[66Dvert]

That's no real obstacle; see my writeup here.

that a great write up THANKS. I do heel pad for 60's lincoln a similar way but that guy I was talking about made up the water base paint, all I really do is add cross linker to the paint and spray it on the heel pad. I'll have to see if I can find a paint shop that will mix some correct colors for my pearl colors.. I appreciate your info!

 

[66Dvert]

I just got one master arm rest template made and covered for the convertible Side panels, dang nice looking grain on it and It just might be a keeper. here is a top shot for fit.

side shot

curve fit

so far so good. now to finish the other one and make a master mold for all the parts to fit together in the right spot!
movin forward slowly

 

[66Dvert]

HAH I just finished the second side master plug. Now I have to make the molds. but they do look good on the one set of side panels, and jsut a bit proud on the second set. I can live with this as a master plug set.
side good tight fit in the curve (this set of gold side panels is made slightly different than the white set and the armrest pad sits out about 1/8th of an inch on the outside curve vs the white panels). the black panels that are not GT panels are like the white ones

white side panels are a lot tighter fit

this is the shape I'm staying with for the master part plug I like the shape and love the graining.

it should be a couple of weeks and the molds will be ready to test out.

 

[66Dvert]

next step is making the mold.. I'm getting there slower than I'd like but it's going forward anyway!

here they are clayed and stuck to cutting boards ready to get the casting boxes made.

clayed before the board

top surface

and the casting box getting made.

 

[slantsixdan]

Out of Lego™ blocks, I love it!

 

[66Dvert]

Out of Lego™ blocks, I love it! View attachment 1714983025

thanks, I have a bunch of grandkids(10) and they all seemed to want lego's. Now that they are older ehhh.... not so much. So I use what I have AND it work good on weird shaped like this curved arm rest to save on molding rubber(that stuff is expensive.) over $150 a gallon for the good stuff so I try to save material where I can. ohh and they are reusable for different shapes.. win-win for me!

 

[66Dvert]

one step closer to the production of my new armrest setup. Whew...... I hope this pans out this armrest is getting expensive to prototype. Now I'm digging into the kids toys to get more of the lego bricks (I know they have more )$%#$% I just checked buying them $$$$ . (yeah I'm gonna keep looking)
I have one side made and the rubber poured for the main top mold. Now I'm wait on it to cure. Then pry the mold up without too much movement and pour the working side where all the sprue or air relief holes go.


before cleanup

after pour working on second mold box

and waiting on the curing process

 

[pishta]

What size is the sheet dimension and thickness. material? They have TP sheets on Ebay for cheap, 12X24 for like $20 and 8 packs of 12X12 for $18. Here is ~8 square yards for $70. alibaba.com is a B2B marketplace that has some great deals but you have to be aware of shipping and minimum orders.
Lot of 8 ABS Thermoplastic Sheet .06 Inches Thick 48" By 33" And 48" By 30" New | eBay

 

[66Dvert]

What size is the sheet dimension and thickness. material? They have TP sheets on Ebay for cheap, 12X24 for like $20 and 8 packs of 12X12 for $18. Here is ~8 square yards for $70. alibaba.com is a B2B marketplace that has some great deals but you have to be aware of shipping and minimum orders.
Lot of 8 ABS Thermoplastic Sheet .06 Inches Thick 48" By 33" And 48" By 30" New | eBay

2'x2' is the smallest I'm setup to run right now. (I'm developing custom parts shaped platen so I can go even smaller or odd shaped )
.06 is wayyyy too thin for any of my work Even the top trim on the convertible side panels is thicker at the start due to it thinning when I pull it over the molds (shipping kills me @ online orders since it can't be rolled into a smaller package)
the cut out process for the top trim pieces is causing me to revise the mold for better trimming options, but the shape is dead on now!


the panel in .060
It was weak and flimsy. I'm going to .093 for a much better look and feel.

before finish trimming

I get my 4'x8' Hair cell ABS for my speaker kickpanels and the smooth sided white pvc sheets for the side panel top trim from a shop local to me in Florida. (shipping is a price killer if I order online) most of my work right now for thermoplastic is in the 2'x2' range. But I have a dash pad project that will require a 54" piece to help in making the 66 dash pads (NOT the cheap overlays) and the "custom" complete (minus the stainless trim) rear convertible side panel with speaker (IF these arm rests prove out to my satisfaction for durability and grain looks). I found a guy that could do the foam injection process for me just like the mustang armrest pads are made. (grain pattern sucks since it's a ford grain not Mopar) I like this Madrid style since it's closer to original for the diehards if I ever make armrests with ashtray openings


next step the bottom pour

 

[66Dvert]

next step. pouring the bottom filler section so that I can make these things!

the rubber for the bottom section is harder (shore 40 instead of 30 for the deep blue top) that way it'll deform less and hold the plugs when I add the expansion foam since the last test on another part proved to me that 30 is too soft to be "grippy" on the filler plugs.
almost put too much in the bucket when I degassed it (whew) it makes a mess if you do. almost a 6 to 1 expansion on this stuff!

poured and waiting on curing (24 hours) then I get to see if I did it right.

 

[66Dvert]

ok!!!! I could not wait to get the mold done and tested. ... yeah I'm impatient. so I had some left over material and thought ,,hmm why not
well I'm glad to say it will be a part! The test went good even though I didn't have enough material to do a compression casting or make a complete part. but it did come out pretty nice for what part of the armrest it did make. here is some shots of my first test. I need to get the correct release agent since this stuck a bit into the mold. and order some more material for the pad along with coloring. I can say for sure that my dart WILL be getting new armrest pads for the rear with no ashtray(5th item on list of need to make parts)
bottom (or the top of the arm rest pad)

the top pour side. yup it did push up on the top piece when it expanded .

together and poured. I do need to mark how deep to push the cork though since it did mess up the top surface of the pad by being too deep

as you can see when removing the cork it pulled back some of the foam

graining cam out pretty good and a decent look once I figure out exactly how much material I do need to make the pads.

you can see how short of material I was and pushing the cork in too deep. But it was worth it just to see a part almost ready. Now I can go ahead and make the other mold knowing that I have not wasted $150.00 in rubber and $75.00 in foam (whew)

 

[clhyer]

C

 

[66Dvert]

just got mthen mold pressure box made since the 2 attempts to hold the lid down was a complete failure, tomorrow will be attempt 3 for a shape.
the 2 part mold

relief holes for material

now it should not squish out when expanding to fill the shape.

the test will tell tomorrow

 

[slantsixdan]

This is cool stuff! Just curious, and you may be advanced past this, but have you seen this?

 

[66Dvert]

This is cool stuff! Just curious, and you may be advanced past this, but have you seen this?

That site and a few others gave me the idea to make this part for my car (I already make replacement rubber door pulls blank forms that have to be vinyl covered for 60's Lincolns). hopefully this single stage casting for the arm rests will work out. If not I'll go to a harder (as in expensive) way to roto-cast the metal base and rubber. Then fill it with foam. one way or another I'll have new rear armrests for the convertibles. Just cause I need em

 

[66Dvert]

ahhh another test part. whew I'm getting tired of doing them. But the part is getting closer to a real part instead of scrap. I don't like the way the flash is positioned so I'll have to reshape the main master mold for both parts to get it on the underside of the part for easier trimming. I do like the graining I'm getting and surface finish so that is a plus. Hopefully there will be only a few more tests to get a good part yay me!


fit and curvature is really nice!

here is the flash and demold marks I'll be moving(or trying to) to the underside of the part.

and a nice sierra- madrid grain similar to the original armrest grain.