I think I might have posted about my non Ford truck project before but I think I have finally nailed it.

I been working on rubber running board mats for '37/38 Buicks. My other project is a '37 Buick I've been working on and off on for the last ten years. As with any of my old vehicles I tend to try to do everything myself including building hard to find or expensive parts. I've made grills for the '37 Buick out of stainless steel to replace the fragile pot metal grills they originally came with and would break easily and are expensive to have fixed and rechromed. I made and sold a few of them..



My latest venture is reproducing the rubber mats. I have been working on a way to make them for over two years. First I though I could use a form to spray some kind of rubber product into the form but I had trouble finding an affordable material to use that would be able to hold up. If I did use a liquid rubber of some sort I'd have to build a vacuum chamber to degas the product. Something I didn't want to do.

A couple of years ago I bought a CNC router table to make parts for the industrial control panels I build in my real business. It wasn't cheap but I couldn't find any other place that could make the parts at a reasonable price. The router table does what I want it to do but sits idle most of the time. Why not use it to make the mats?

First, I had do a CAD drawing of the stock mat. I had beat up running boards with remnants of original rubber mats I took measurements from. Second, I had to find a useable rubber mat I could use. I found 1/4" rubber horse stall mats at my local farm supply store. Then I had to figure out how to secure them to the table. I tried two sided carpet tape, it worked OK but would let go once the rubber got warm. The router bit I was using would grab the rubber and pull it up. The company I bought the table from was of no help. They had no experience using their table to carve rubber and couldn't give me any advise. I searched the net to find out how other people were carving rubber and every discussion I found on the subject said you have to freeze the rubber to make it firm enough to carve. No way I could freeze a six foot long piece of rubber. I then found carpenter two sided tape, used by people to hold wood to the table and is a lot stronger than carpet tape. Then my son suggested to use a down cut router bit. Both made carving the rubber a lot easier. Then the quality of the stall mates when way down. The first mats were fine but then they started to get voids in the mats like there was debris on the roller used to make the mats. The company actually later went out of business. I searched the net and found a place that sold neoprene rubber in small sheets. This neoprene is three times the cost of the stall mats but are a lot better quality. I made a couple of test pieces, glued them to a piece of steel using contact cement and set them outside my shop door for a year and exposed them to the sun, the heat of summer, the freezing cold of winter and have people walk over them on almost a daily basis. The samples held up very well and I doubt the cars this mats will be going on will experience this type of abuse.

These are the finished product.


For now I am only making mats for '37/38 Buick Specials, I'm in the process of getting measurements for the other '37/38 Buick models. I also plan on expanding out on other rubber products like custom floor mats for other hard to find car parts. I'm not going to try to compete with existing parts already being made for Fords and Chevys because I couldn't match mass produced parts. I would like to focus on orphan makes of cars that no one makes for part for.

 

Great story. Thanks for sharing. A handy guy can always make a living. I hope your rare rubber parts business takes off and is a huge success. Didn't Dennis Carpenter have a similar start?

Jim

 

I heard about many business starting off in a person's garage, I worked for a guy who started his business in his kitchen baking circuit boards in his oven. His wife wasn't always happy about but he built a good business and later sold it for millions of dollars.

I don't envision making a full time job out of this but it would be nice to be able to build it into a part time business in my, I hope, soon to be retirement. My next purchase I would like to make is a 3D printer. There a lot of car parts like dash ***** for orphan cars no one makes.

 

I have some elementary age grandchildren that were introduced to 3D printing through an engineering club hosted by the local Community College. Their parents, wanting to encourage their interest, purchased a printer. It's pretty amazing what can be done. Dash ***** are something the grandkids could make even with the inexpensive printer they have. All they would need is an original to get the measurements from.

I'm looking forward to your retirement. My truck could use a little cosmetic repair in spots. Let me know when you have an opening in your schedule. LOL.

Jim

P.S. I guess you know the grandchildren--Maverick and Emmitt.

 

Amazing what the young kids can do. I worked for a robotic company for a few years, before I worked for them I was a contract vendor for them. When I worked for them i was sent to numerous robot training classes. I went to a programming class with a guy who was in his early 20s. While I couldn't get the idea behind programming the other guy was typing away and was making the robot do some interesting maneuvers. He wasn't a programmer, he was a tool designer for a job and wasn't involved with programming. I asked how he got so familiar with programming. He told me he was taught basic programming starting in middle school. I was so lost. I'm old, when I went to high school they were just getting into computers, or I should say one computer. It was big, had a dinky display and hooked up to the central office via phone dial up.

 

Very nice Bob!

And making hard to find parts is a way to get a good spot in the afterlife. I hope many more people take up the art of doing this as vintage car parts get more scarce.

Just today I'm in search of a firewall wire grommet for a 70's Land Rover. It is not a complicated part, is flat, only 6 x 2 x 0.25 inches in size. I'm going to have to make one myself with my crude caveman tools and skills using an old mudflap or something. Cause no way am I paying almost a 100 dollars with shipping for this:
I'm the same age as you and old enough to remember getting whole vehicles that would sort of run for $100.

 

I sent you an e-mail Bob. Tom

 

Your part Tom, I think would be a perfect candidate for making with a 3D printer. It's tedious getting all the measurements into the program though. If you are going to make one, then you should just as soon make ten. One thing the grandkids have done is purchase the code for something to run off on their printer. Someone else makes the measurements and inputs the data.

Jim

 

The way I do my patterns is first do a CAD of the part, save as a .dxf file and upload it into router table manufacturer’s software that converts it into file it can use. Fairly easy once you get the hang of it.

If I make a small enough part I will print it on paper and compare all of angles and holes. If everything matches then I upload to machine and hopefully make a successful carve. With running board mats I set the drawing to a print store that does blue print drawing and had them print a 1:1 drawing and laid that on the boards.

 

Cool stuff!
Great job on the rubber boards Bob

 

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I have a few parts for my motorcycle that are 3D printed. They are scanned and printed replicas, it’s funny, parts even have factory bar code sticker scanned and printed along with part number.

 

I’ve been looking at radio blank spot in my 1948, I keep thinking that spot would make a great gauge holder spot. Also thought about a small android tablet. Would need to 3D print a holder.

 

Contact this guy. He makes 3D parts at a very reasonable price and does nice work. He is very easy to work with. Right now he is making me a custom shifter cap, side mirror shims for my Camaro, switch holders for in my center console and a custom Key Fob. Great guy.

The name of the company looks like a decal company which is another business he has, but it's his 3D printing business.

https://savage3ddecals.com/