Da Door Panels
Making your own door panels just ain’t no big deal, really. It’s a matter of tracing the old ones onto a piece of fiberboard (you know, the stuff that looks like pegboard only without the holes) and making the cuts.
I’ve
had good luck with a razor knife for cutting the fiberboard.
It drills like wood for the holes you need to make and you cover it with
vinyl from the local fabric store.
K,
so we’ll need a piece of fiberboard.
We’ll need a razor knife and a spare blade or two.
Some vinyl from the local girly shop (in just about any color your heart
desires) and 3M Super 77 Spray Contact Adhesive.
Cut
out your pattern based on the old panels. Mark and drill the holes accordingly
and lay out your vinyl on a good working surface (an old door works great).
Lay
the door panel down on your work surface with the glued side up.
Now you can lay the vinyl down, glued side facing the glued side of the
door panel (it is, after all, CONTACT cement).
Place the vinyl down starting at one end of the panel and smooth it as
you go. Work out any air
bubbles. Once you’ve gotten the
vinyl smoothed out you can lay some weight down on the vinyl where it covers the
door panel. A piece of plywood cut
to size with heavy books laying on it makes a good weighting device for letting
everything set up nicely. Leave it
for a few hours just to be safe.
Once
we’re set up and dry we can put the edge pieces back over the BACK of the door
panel and cut out the holes for the handles and knobs.
Run around the edges of the vinyl and the outside edge of the door panel
(now the back side of the door panel) with your 3M Adhesive.
Let it set up as per the instructions. As you fold the edges of the vinyl
over to make them stick you’ll find a need to make small slits to make corners
and such. Use your razor knife to
make the slits in the vinyl. Go
carefully here. It’s not hard to
do, it just takes time.
Stand
back and admire your work, you built those yourself.