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Well get ready for a long list of requests. Me included. I did some rubber casting for a wagoneer restoration using Flexane. It tuned out great but the mix ratio was very picky. To remove every bubble try a small vacuum chamber. I still have a vacuum pump and like you got busy and never went any further.
Your work is awesome. Thanks for posting and if you end up selling them, why put me on the list. I currently have two sets soaking in 303. But they are growing in size...:D Big kudos to you.
Wow. I read fishtail's comment about not even knowing they existed and I laughed because I felt the same way. A long line is a great way to describe it, Al. I know I would want a set- gonz
Count me in for a set.
Wow that looks really great! I could use a set for my Jeep! :mrgreen:
OMG!!!kitties.!!!! PLEASE PLEASE. COUNT ME IN FOR TWO SETS.
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New M715 owner here. Please add me to your list.
So winter hasn't let up yet, which gave me some more time indoors to mess around with this project. I went ahead and also made a mold for the little round bumper near the top of the door frame and the oddly shaped seal that goes at the top of the door frame.
The round bumper mounts with the screw shown by the red arrow (sorry - the bumper isn't shown in this photo), the green arrow shows the odd-shaped seal at the top of the door frame
https://i.imgur.com/8mMxxljl.png
These original parts on my truck were pretty rough and hardened.
This photo shows the original round bumper next to the pattern that I turned from a piece of scrap plastic:
https://i.imgur.com/2xL73G6l.jpg
It was pretty easy to make a silicone mold of the pattern. The original part had a washer overmolded in it, so I decided to use a penny instead, I drilled a hole and then fit it into the mold. Urethane is then poured over it resulting in a new bumper. These are probably commercially available somewhere but I had a little extra silicone mold material, so I thought I would make a few of these molds to use it up.
https://i.imgur.com/P9QkBYnl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/UIN1ragl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/muDbYRCl.jpg
(More in the next post)
I also wanted to see if I could re-make the seal at the top of the door frame. This one turned out to be a real hassle. It is an odd shape, it has a weird, overmolded metal bracket with tabs on different planes - in general, a troublesome part. I wanted to make it a little larger than the original, which would allow for some "tuning" by material removal once I had it fitted to the truck.
I tried making a pattern several ways and then ended up taking some modeling clay and smashing it in the door:
https://i.imgur.com/19HHssnl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Jxob9Njl.jpg
This gave me some idea of the correct shape, and I then morphed that shape with the original to make my pattern. The pattern is some polymeric modeling clay, epoxy, and styrene sheet:
https://i.imgur.com/HWF0wTMl.jpg
A silicone mold was then made around the pattern. This took me several patterns and molds to get right.
https://i.imgur.com/PQJD2xwl.jpg
This picture shows the bottom half of the silicone mold with the overmolded mounting bracket, ready for urethane.
https://i.imgur.com/GxBFTbPl.jpg
Picture after urethane, ready to be removed from the mold. This part ends up with a lot of flash and extra material due to my sloppy mold technique, but it cleans up ok with a little work. This picture shows one of my earlier attempts, and you can see the bracket poking through the material. I tuned that with some later shots and the bracket is now buried about 1/2 way into the seal.
https://i.imgur.com/v155b6bl.jpg
New part on the truck (the old round bumper is in the background). Like I mentioned before, it is a little larger than the original, so I can sand away a little material to get it to seal well on the door frame and door.
https://i.imgur.com/O8qMUzgl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/wTZG64pl.jpg
(continued...)
The process was then repeated for the other side of the truck, ending up with the front door seal, rear door seal and several round bumpers. Here they are with some of the originals.
https://i.imgur.com/PbUgvIAl.jpg
So a few of you asked about making some more. Honestly, I am not too excited about trying to make a bunch of these things. It is a fun "can I do this?" hobby experience but I want to be done with it. For the front and rear door seals, I am happy with about 1 out of the 4 or so that I have made. The molding process isn't too terrible but making the metal inserts isn't fun and takes some time. The urethane material I use also just went up in cost by about 30%, which means doing it even as a hobby is getting expensive.
So what to do?
I can add more details to the process so people can make their own parts. It doesn't take any special equipment - just some clay, hot glue, and whatever you want to make the metal parts. The patterns could be made from simple materials (wood, clay) but I chose to do the front seal by 3D print.
The front seal could also be 3D printed using "TPU". I have no experience with this material but it is supposed to have "rubber-like" properties. Note that this wouldn't have the metal insert, so I am not sure about how well this would stay put on the actual truck. I quoted this TPU material at the same place I had the front seals 3D printed (Shapeways). Pretty spendy for an obscure rubber seal but it could be an option if somebody wanted to try it.
https://i.imgur.com/xMD3dv9l.jpg
This 3D printing process won't work for the rear seal since it requires the metal bracket to mount it to the truck.
Sorry guys - I want to help out but cranking out a bunch of these things myself sounds miserable and expensive.
I had a feeling.... One set of molds, 600 requests. :D You would be 85 years old when you got done. And you would have no hair left after fretting over how good they looked going out the door. Been there done that.. Kudo's to you for nailing it though. You do great work. You have done the best thing by showing how to do it. Others can then get after it. And yes, the little round tall bumper with the washer in it is available. Nice job on all of it.