Home Made wood trim, i think i am up to something Options

[NaderG]

So i posted this idea in an older post and no body replied , i have alot of ideas for my car , some are impossible to do without a fat wallet , some are simple , here is one of the simpler ideas :

i want to add custom amde wood trim in my car , in places that it shouldnt be :
RED --> places i want to put it in
Yellow --> maybe , if things turn out well





Here is what i PLAN to do :
I baught a pack of wood veneer , not the best but the wood looks good . i will finish it my self , cut it to size and then the problem begins ( You can buy prefinished, high quality , flexible veneer online for a price ) The problem is how exactly to put it on there , if i just stick it on there using adhesive it would look cheap and the wood would be above the vinyl and ehh , what i am thinking of doing is using a knife to carve out a 1mm deep place for the wood into the vinyl , make a lil bit smaller that the actual wood and make pockets at the end like this /________\ and then squeeze the wood in with some adhesive and i am done , the only thing is that i am afraid that cutting the vinyl would leave marks all over the edges and make it look bad

PLEASE I NEED OPINIONS !!!! help me out with this project !! any ideas of how to put it on without making it look cheap ??? suggestion ??? THANX , i hope this works so that everybody can benefit.

[NaderG]

I just finished finishing one of my wood veneers , its HARD , i hard to do a bunch of tets first and it still isnt perfect , i cut pieces into size for test fitting ..... lets just say that out interior is a heck alot more curvy that it looks !!! the natural 2 ply wood veneer couldnt accomodate all the curves ! so yah , 20 bucks down the drain for the wood , and another 20 for the finishing products , i thinki can still return the finishing stuff ... god i hope , i havent given up though , i am still looking into flexible veneer ... tough stuff to fins though , so i will try laminate first , i just hope it doesnt look cheap , if it does then i will just quit the project ..

[CelicaST_CALI]

dude u might ruin ur interior on this...cause as u said the interior is curvy as hell,the only thing i would think that would be easy to do as wood would(haha)be the dash trim inserts but u already painted them.Regradless of what it looks like i wanna know what it looks like when its done

[manphibian]

It's an interesting idea, let us know how you get on with it

[NaderG]

So far i havent reached far , but for now , i will try to find the flatest parts of my interior and try to fit them with veneer , i will also try to avoid cutting/ carving anything untill i get a good handle of the whole thing ... laminate look cheap and the good ones cost a fortune and also dont come in small sizes .... right now the only thing that is stopping me is that i dont want to spend money , there is alot of really good materials on the web like flexible veneer which is already finished and glued .... i will see how far i get into this before i give up , for now i am doing a cover for the lower Din and the ashtray

[NaderG]

IT DIDNT WORK !!!! , man ... but well , i have to try something in order to know what works and what doesnt , real wood was not just a bad choice , it was a stupid one !! and to think that veneer would be flexible enough to acomodate the car's curves !! lol , well , thats another 40 bucks down the drain but well i learned a couple of new stuff taling to a friend of mine who wraped most of his interior in carbon fiber and added a lil bit of extras in there ... if i want a good looking , none damaging way i have to use a very thin wood laminate , the kind they use for floors and cabinets and stuff , i have to also find plastic and cut / shape into the shapes i want , then cover with my precous laminate and then stick on my dash , sounds good ? alot better than real wood i say ! well , i am out of extra cash for the month , so i will have to tackle this some time later

I just have a question to alll of you plastic experts , how do i mold or shape plastic into the curves of the interior ???

[CelicaST_CALI]

well it dependds on how thick the plastic is.You car heat it.

[NaderG]

i am kind of putting this project on the shelf for now , i cant find any damn laminate anywhere ...

[NaderG]

I know 6GC will be down tonight but i am not in a hurry , i want to know what kind of really thin plastic i should use for my wood project , something that would easly adapt to my interior's curves or easyly molded to it .... if i had to heat it up , wouldnt that burn my vinyl ?? a lil help here plz , i am not really good with plastics

would this tuff work to make small thin panel to glue the wood on ?

www.shapelock.com

how much would i need ?

This post has been edited by NaderG: Jun 24, 2007 - 12:44 AM

[CelicaST_CALI]

wait its 11:30 and teh sites still up...

[Rockford]

I have mine, if you want i could sell to you, i'll take it off my car!

[NaderG]

I have mine, if you want i could sell to you, i'll take it off my car!

what exactly are you talking about ?

[DSToyo]

off topic question, but what are the switches next to your cig lighter? were they stock?

[NaderG]

off topic question, but what are the switches next to your cig lighter? were they stock?

theese are my top control button and rear quarter windows control because i have a vert !

[topshed]

I've got that plastic wood,see what you think. sorry can't get photo to upload



This post has been edited by topshed: Jul 1, 2007 - 12:38 PM

[CelicaST_CALI]

wow dstoyo...and u call uself an american...lol yes its the vert switvhes!!

[DSToyo]

wow dstoyo...and u call uself an american...lol yes its the vert switvhes!!

i know, i didnt realize he had a vert...

This post has been edited by DSToyo: Jul 1, 2007 - 5:15 PM

[CelicaST_CALI]

lol nader wat happened to doing it urself?

[NaderG]

lol nader wat happened to doing it urself?

new college semester left me bankrupt ( college books are $$$$$ ) , also no time to finish the damn unfinished wood , i intend to use it on the DIN cover , the auto shifter surround and maybe the ashtray cover , then i will try to find a way to fit a strip on the dahs and door , just to make it look a lil bit more luxurious

[CelicaST_CALI]

yea that would be nice..

[cochise]

if you are using wood veneer, try soaking it in water when you bend it. then you have to hold it in place somehow till it dries. it is really amazing how much bend you can get when it is wet.

[NaderG]

i am already done with finishing almost half the veneer i have , i tried cutting some into shapes and fitting them , but i havent perfected the edges or even the finish yet ..... but my point is , i have to wet it before i start finsihing !! , i hope i have enough unfinsihed veneer left

Thanks for the tip