Garage fabbed Door Panel Build - Part 1

[protour73]

There have been a lot of people that asked for a build thread of my Garage fabbed Door Panels after I initially posted them a few months ago. I FINALLY found the time to do it, so here it is........

The initial pattern was just mocked up out of cardboard. The most important markings are the Black X's. They mark where the armrest would be located on the panel, secured to the panel and also where the base panel would be secured to the door. I also marked 2 reference points on the upper door panel and on the template so that the template would always be aligned correctly when it is removed from the door while marking all of the different fastener locations.





Next I positioned the location of the 2 insert panels. I actually secured the armrest to the template as this was my master reference point.





The material used to make the panels was black 1/8" ABS plastic. Then I traced out the door panel on the ABS material using a white grease pencil. Initially I used the sabre saw to cut the ABS material, but there was a ton of ABS chunks (read sawdust) all over the place, plus it was difficult to make straight cuts. HINT-I discovered after reading about working with ABS that you can score it like drywall and bend it away from the score and basically it snaps at the scoring line. It leaves a MUCH cleaner line that requires very little touch up of the edge.





As you can see, I transferred my reference marks to the new ABS panel for perfect positioning back on the door. I transfered the marks from the template of the armrest fasteners, onto the ABS panel and drilled holes, then attached the armrest to the ABS panel using stainless screws that came with the armrests. Then I drilled the holes for the screws that secure the panel to the door. My whole design allowed me to eliminate traditional fastener clips. The screws are all contained within the perimeter of the large insert panel and holds the panel very tight ot the door all of the way out to the edge.



After making sure the new door panel fit well, I laid out and positioned the 2 insert panels on the new door panel and marked them with the white grease pencil.



Then I cut out the insert panels and laid them out on the main panel to make sure they were sized correctly.



Then in preparation of starting the glue up of the foam, I scuffed the entire panel with medium grit sandpaper so that the glue had a good surface to hold to.