I want to make some nice easy interior piece which basically flat panels. what I want to is, what you have people done to make a mould for a part thar has a vinyl material on it?
some of these parts can’t really have the vinyl removed. I was thinking to lay down some fiberglass over the vinyl then make the mould from there.
what r some recommendations from u pros? I know I have seen lots of interior pieces done
Made a mould for a part like that a couple of days ago. If the vinyl surface is textured, then there is a chance of it getting damaged when you need to release cured mould.
I taped the surface of the part, made a rough mould, from which I will take a plug, which can then have textured vinyl cloth glued to it, and then a final mould made from this.
No need to bother with this unless the part you want to mould from is irreplacable or very costly to replace if it gets damaged…
Similar to what i was thinking…
The vinyl is obviously textured so it would be very time consuming to make it smooth. Assuming the part is irreplacable should i just put a layer of fiberglass over the vinyl and sand it, just to make it smooth?
Ill take some pics tomorrow and post
I would brush on a few layers of RTV silicone. After the second or third coat of silicone lay a layer of dry fiberglass on the back of the silicone while its still tacky.
Once the silicone has set up, apply a layer or two of CSM and poly resin. From there you should have a pretty solid piece to pull a mold from.
What IF…
Make the mould.
Instead of a gelcoat layer, lay down the vinyl, texture side down to the mould. Lay up composite and resin onto the cloth backside of the vinyl, and apply vaccuum. That SHOULD pull the vinyl down flush with the mould, and after the resin cures, it should hold it’s shape, and be stiffer due to the composite.
Firstly test on an unseen area, that your vinyl part is not going to be affected by polyester filler/surfacer (if it is you will need to seal the surface before proceeding).
To make a smooth mould from a textured vinyl part, spray the original part with polyester filler/surfacer, then sand to a smooth 320 finish.
Next apply 2 or 3 coats of 2k car paint, and after this has fully hardened wet sand finish with 1000 grit, finally machine buff to mirror finish.
You then have a nice shiny plug from which you can make a mould in the conventional way, which is something that is very well covered in many books, and even here on the web.