how to: make a factory bezel - Page 7

Nermin · 01-03-2008, 10:08 PM

awesome work Turbo, your installations helped me a lot with deciding to install CarPC in my car - pictures soon

turbocad6 · 01-04-2008, 01:06 AM

hey, thanks guys for all the compliments, it's really nice to know that I can inspire or help others to do stuff like this, definatley makes posting it worthwhile

.I wish I could talk everyone into putting a pc in there car, but most people I know just give me that "yeah right" kinda look or just think I'm nuts, nice to see others able to use this info on there own projects.

I want to do a write-up explaining another technique I use often for fabrication which is plastic welding

plastic welding, combined with this stuff shown here, & the limits are pushed way higher as to what can be done in building a pc into your dash.

this nissan bezel in this thread was done with the goal of not modifying the actual bezel. while it worked out real nice & many other cars can use this method, I think that even more cars will need actual modification to the bezel itself. most times it's a matter of grafting the screen bezel directly to the car bezel, & making them into one piece. sometimes even more surgery is necissary to fit what you want, where you want. plastic welding is a great way to do bezel fabrication too.

I will work on getting a guide up detailing the procedure & tips, basicly with plastic welding you can build anything you want, you can cut bezels apart & put them back togeather like a jigsaw puzzle, you can relocate & move controls & buttons, theres very little you can't do really when it comes to plastic, & most modern cars are all plastic dash bezels, so this would be useful to many.

a quick preview, with plastic welding you can turn THIS:

and THIS:

into THIS:

that's from my latest install in my sig, you can see some more of it there, but I want to do a seperate guide like this one, just focusing on the methods & techniques involved in doing it. it is pretty easy to do really & if your willing to practice a little you can do some nice things with it. before I start that guide though I got a few others that I have to finish, first one is a guide to powering & using a laptop as a carpc that I promised jan like a month ago, should have that up soon, been so busy lately

Nermin · 01-07-2008, 07:18 PM

awesome work as usual - where did you get that monitor?

I'm looking to get one for my car - I have 06 Chrysler 300 Touring. I already bought my CarPC and big touchscreen to instal on my center console (I'm not suffering from shortage of space)

turbocad6 · 01-07-2008, 07:31 PM

it's the lcd from a fujitsu tablet that actually is my whole carpc...

there are many sources for a 10.4" lcd really...

h3rk · 01-08-2008, 06:56 PM

While it seems that the factory bezels (CONSOLE-LID in the original case, and now mine as well) are easy to find and order online, but other than blow-ups like this one I haven't found a picture on any of the order sites.

Did the bezel you ordered from nissan come with the upper pocket lid? I can't find another part for it.

I noticed that the middle bar (between the radio and the pocket) wasn't on the part in the first picture, did you cut it? The edge looked pretty smooth.

I'm thinking about doing something very similar now, but I'm hoping to use the silver color found below, you didn't find out what would match best, when you were exploring that option, did you?

From having done this I was wondering if you had any advice on a similar build with the exact same bezel:

I'm going to move the mid-bar upwards and cut the lid fromthe swivel and slide it up, shaving the top to match again.

Then I'm going to build a similar insert for the now-larger bottom section and an 8 inch lilliput (4:3).

I'll try out my new plastic welder on the lid and bar. However, I thought I would ask; with your recent (incredible) achievement with your new project, do you still think the dynatron/3M molding is best method for the insert?

And yes, I did buy a different vehicle, just so I can follow along with your examples

turbocad6 · 01-08-2008, 08:59 PM

so you bought the plastic welder? cool

as far as welding & bumper repair products, there 2 different approaches with 2 different results... sometimes one is better suited to the job than the other & sometimes a combination of welding & then fillers like used here are necessary. in my Montana I had to do welding to build my basic console & weld 3 bezels together & then use bumper repair products to finish it off as one piece. I did that one way before this one, so it's not like welding supersedes the fillers, there just different

if you want to keep it as an insert & not have to touch the factory finish then, yeah, this method is probably still the best way to make that insert.

the bezel comes with the door up top & the whole compartment there really, that's why it's such an expensive bezel to buy in the first place, think it was almost $170 list back then. yeah, the cross bar did need to be cut out. just cut a little before the edge & file to the edge... I was able to get it flush without it being visible as a cut from the outside, the seem helped there so I didn't have an actual cut edge all the way out to the face of the bezel.

there should be no problem doing it silver, we wanted it black so I never really tried to match anything silver, but I'm sure it could be matched pretty well.

the biggest challenge in what your talking about will be the shortening of the lid door. that's going to be hard to do & have it look factory. the first thing that comes to my mind is if you only need a little room, I would try to cut from the front of the door & then maybe make a lip that matches &\or mates to the bezel, cutting it at the back near the hinge sounds like a problem really, I would avoid that I think.

if you make a nice clean edge & file then sand, you may be able to get it to look good enough as is, but keep in mind that the bezel is really black & then painted from the factory, so any cut will show as black... this cut would be tricky... if your real careful & bevel the edge to the inside then you may be able to do it & have it look good as just a cut... it would have to be perfect though, or a finishing piece would be needed

is yours the same color too?

h3rk · 01-08-2008, 09:05 PM

No, mine is blonde. Perfect is a high bar for a beginner. I'm not sure then, I just really know what you mean about the factory finish (deep, unique texture), and I would like to preserve it. I'll have to re-think the top. I didn't even think about the actual plastic color. I just assumed it was dyed throughout. That's the good thing about this place.

I did get that welder. I've been fooling around with it. I've fixed so many things, it's great.

VmtSquad · 02-06-2008, 05:00 PM

Hey turbo, thanks for your write up, its been an inspiration for me and I found that the Dyna product was so easy to use, you simply need to have imagination and the right tools.

The only thing I was wondering is .....the 3M product : 5895 stuff, there's no way I can get it to ship in Canada(montreal). I am basically not creating the bezel here, I am only filling some space and adjusting it to my screen to make it look more OEM....if I don't use the 5895, would I be able to get a good finish???? or there's a similar product that I can use instead??

Thanks man! Keep up the Good work!

VmtSquad

turbocad6 · 02-06-2008, 05:32 PM

yeah, you can definatley do without the 3m stuff, I find it flows a little better & is a little easier for fine finish work sands a little easier, but either of them can def be used by themselves... most times it's either/or really... I like to sometimes use both

galvitron · 02-06-2008, 05:48 PM

Awesome write-up and a great reference on how to fab a proper bezel.

I bought the same goops you use to make my bezel. I will post pics when finished.

HiJackZX1 · 03-06-2008, 02:59 AM

Is there any way I can hire you to do my dash?????????

katit · 03-31-2008, 08:57 PM

Do you use Dynatron for ABS stuff? Here is what I do. I have lilliput housing and I need to make bezel for 2din opening (there is no kit for my car) I tried dynatron on ABS before and it was peeling off. So, I'm hesitant trying to build up around lilliput housing with it. Should I use ABS goop? What do you suggest?

turbocad6 · 04-01-2008, 01:15 AM

the new lilliput housings suck, there a hard plastic that is trouble to stick too. I'm doing one right now, to a very flexible & thin bezel. I'm having to actually rienforce the assy with aluminum wire mesh... heres a few shots, I'll put more info tommorow....

turbocad6 · 04-01-2008, 01:22 AM

this is all welding so far... the mesh is a very fine aluminum, it embeds the plasic & is super strong as a bond, it's as if it was cast into the plastic mold, it is very strong as far as bonding goes...

sporty_drew · 04-01-2008, 01:24 AM

Very neat trick with the mesh.

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