what to cut with and how to do it right?

**TheFaze** · 04-18-2006, 11:10 PM

Okay, so I know nothing about fabrication and had that in mind when planning my current carputer project. I decided to go with an in-dash motorized screen so I wouldn't need to cut and bondo much since I'm pretty sure I'd screw up my car somehow. Only after buying the screen did I realize I'd have to do some fabricating anyways to get that AND my head unit (both single din sized) in a 1 1/2 din opening. So I braved it and hacked away at the stereo slot in my dash and with some touchup bondo, I installed/secured it semi-satisfactorly. The only thing is now I have to widen and cut the opening on the dash faceplate (is there a name for this piece?) and I'm scared. Because if I screw this up, not only will it be obvious to anyone who sits in the car (and will look ghetto), I have no idea where I'd get another nor do I want to have to buy one or others. My major question is this; what kind of tool is best to cut through this accurately? (it's plastic, semi thick) My fear is using something that (a) won't make a clean cut and (b) using somehting that is too powerful and if I jerk suddenly while cutting, I'll screw it all up. Where to begin?

Thanks in advance.

**2k1Toaster** · 04-18-2006, 11:44 PM

I'm still in the processes of my fabrication, and I too am scared as hell of messing something up and it looking ghetto. So I bought a spare piece for every part of the dash that I would be hacking up. If I screw up, then I just pop in the original. I got my parts from eBay. Also I needed 1 part that I couldn't find on ebay (

) so I went to local dealership. They didn't screw me over either! Only about $2-$3 more than I thought it would.

**shotgunefx** · 04-19-2006, 12:19 AM

How much do you have to widen it?

2k1Toaster, I'm with you. On some parts, I had 3 or 4 of them for my modding projects, though I sold a bunch, cause, come on, who needs 4 gauge clusters

**blacklancer** · 04-19-2006, 03:53 PM

i was just about to sell some of my interior pieces and decided to keep them to cut up. i would suggest getting another piece just incase.

it depends on how much you have to remove really. if its a small amount and you're really scared of cutting, sand it or file it down. it gonna take longer, but you should feel more secure about doing it that way.

**shotgunefx** · 04-19-2006, 04:21 PM

If it's a small amount and not too thick, you can use a "plastic nibbler", radioshack sells one. Basically nibbles a small square with each squeeze of the handle. You'll still probably need to sand out the resulting line though.