Couple of Shorties

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ccvstmr
Posts: 2230
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2003 10:37 am
Location: New Lenox, IL

Re: Couple of Shorties

Post by ccvstmr »

SHORTY END DOOR REPAIRS

With the scribed basswood panels removed from the end doors, it was time to start the rebuild process. Started by taking some other 1/16" thick basswood and gluing that on the back of the original scribed door panel. This, to simply make the door panel thicker to restrain future buckling. Door panels were identified to insure they went back into the proper door recess and in the same orientation as original. Shouldn't have made any difference, but why introduce another potential problem later on?

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Sanded the edges of the door panel to give the wood a little "breathing room" IF...it should be needed.

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Decided to add (1) more layer to the wood panels. This time, a piece of 1/8" hobby craft plywood. With alternating grain direction for each ply, this should be dimensionally stable material. Cut the plywood just undersized for the width to make door installation/removal easy-er without binding. Made sure the plywood was cut short on the bottom for the wooden door retaining cleat once in the car end wall. And, made sure I could get to the back of the escutcheon pin that held the decorative door knob in place. Hence, the hole in the plywood.

Had originally used superglue to hold the pin, but found that didn't "weep" into the pin holes. Had some Loctite 290 which is a "wicking" thread locker. Used this stuff to attach lens rings for caboose marker lamps. The 290 grabbed and held the door knob pins.

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Next step was to glue the scribed wood panel to the plywood backing. Had to find a way to hold the wood panel insert with respect to the door to keep that centered in the openings.

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Used a couple strips of masking tape on the front side of the door to hold the wood panel insert in place (or hold it as much as possible) until the glue could be applied, pieces clamped and allowed to dry.

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When the glue was dry, had a wooden insert assembly to eventually be stuck on the back of the door. Had to make sure as much of the old paint and primer were removed from the back of the door so raw wood would be joined to exposed aluminum. Used a Roloc polishing pad to clean off the affected areas.

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Next time, we'll prepare the wood panel inserts for painting and finish up the door restoration. Carl B.
Life is like a sewer...what you get out of it depends on what you put into it!
I don't walk on water...I just learned where some of the stepping stones are!
I love mankind...it's some of the people I can't stand!
ccvstmr
Posts: 2230
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2003 10:37 am
Location: New Lenox, IL

Re: Couple of Shorties

Post by ccvstmr »

END DOOR FINISHING TOUCHES

In this last entry on the subject, will pull everything together to finish up the end door restoration.

Last time, the scribed wood panel was attached to the plywood backing board using Goop adhesive. When dry, the wood insert was attached to the backside of the door and held in place with masking tape again on the face. Using a sharp pencil, drew the outline for door opening on the scribed basswood. Should be just able to make out the pencil lines. Sanded around the scribed wood so when it was time to "glue" the wood assembly in place, would have bare wood exposed for wood to aluminum contact.

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Then masked everything that I didn't want to paint on the wood panel insert face. Masking tape was set back slightly from the pencil lines so when looking at the door recesses, they would be fully covered with paint.

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After the scribed wood panel paint was dry, prepared the back side of the end doors. Once again, used an angle die grinder with a Roloc polishing pad to remove the original primer and paint. Masked the top part of both doors that did NOT need to be repainted when the back side was painted. After all, the plexiglass glazing was left intact.

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Applied Goop to the face side of the plywood around the scribed wood panel and even bushed a narrow strip down the center of the scribed panel. The wood panels were set the rear side door recess and clamped. Used some scrap boards to apply pressure across as much of the wood panel as possible and let that sit overnight.

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When the Goop was dry, inspected the doors and removed any "ooze" with a blade and tweezers. This time, the amount of excess Goop that oozed out was considerably less than the baggage compartment doors.

The doors were taking out to the train club and re-installed in the cars. Bottom wooden cleat was set in place and used a nail set to drive the cleat holding nails.

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Here was the end result from the outside (trying to avoid some sun glare).

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So what were the highlights of lessons learned from this experience...use a thicker dimensionally stable wood or laminate layers of wood to avoid buckling. Adhere such wood inserts with a good adhesive on bare wood or metal surfaces. Maximize contact surface area for the adhesive to restrain expansion and provide small gaps around the perimeter to avoid buckling in case there is any expansion.

Hope this helped focus on use of materials and/or material thickness for future projects Time to move on. Carl B.
Life is like a sewer...what you get out of it depends on what you put into it!
I don't walk on water...I just learned where some of the stepping stones are!
I love mankind...it's some of the people I can't stand!
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