Gluing steel to plastic Question

[CrazyGirl]

I took an .010 coated guitar string ( will never rust) and for kicks I did a fast bend job just to see how it would look and it looks good , can be great if I take extra time to do a proper bending for an exact fit , that's not an issue ,,,, issue is can this be glued up to plastic neatly , remember this was just a quickie bend ,,, but it would look killer

Edited April 10, 2013 by CrazyGirl

[Guest G Holding]

Yup.....use a drop of CA (stupor glue)

[Swamp Dog]

u a tooth pick (ones with a point) when applying the CA glue..

Edited April 10, 2013 by Swamp Dog

[CrazyGirl]

rough fit , but is this going overboard , is it even worth the time ??? the molded in trim I would shave off

[CrazyGirl]

a slightly better fit , , is it worth it ? that is the Big Q

[jeffs396]

You might just have something there Anne...

I wonder if you'd glue it down with CA, then paint the door panel as you usually would. Then carefully polish (or a touch of thinner on a Q-tip) to remove the paint on the raised metal?

Could be worth experimenting...

[CrazyGirl]

Jeff ,, what would be a lot better is tweak it to a perfect fit , that's easy , paint said panel , and if I could find the same type of sticky glue that they use on the 3M double sided molding tape , coat the back side of the wire with that sticky glue and then you can very easily fit the trim on the panel and tweak as you go with no mess , or am I being way to nuts even thinking about this

Edited April 10, 2013 by CrazyGirl

[Ace-Garageguy]

I think you're on to something novel here, but finding a pressure-sensitive adhesive you could evenly coat the back of the wire with may be asking a lot. The idea of gluing it down, painting the panel and then cleaning off the raised metal definitely has merit, though it's gonna take some R&D.

[Guest G Holding]

Water based contact cement

[CrazyGirl]

so Bill , you like this idea about the guitar string for interior stuff ?? , it's 100% perfect for the chrome molding on this vette dash ,, I see no other way to do this , or I mean I can't see painting a tiny molding like this

[Ramfins59]

Anne you "could" try using BMF if you've got a steady hand with your XActo knife.

[CrazyGirl]

very true Richard ,, but with this guitar string held down tight , it looks totally killer ,, I have a good steady hand , 2 actually lol

[1930fordpickup]

Super glue gel and the tooth pick they talked about . Give it a try Anne what do you have to lose . If you can not get the paint to come off the wire( must be removed after each coat) you can always paint it silver after the fact. You would have a nice raised edge to paint.

[JunkPile]

Dang Girl...nice idea. I am sure that more than one of us will be stealing this idea. Thanks

[heroncustom]

Would a clear acrylic paint work for this? Like many builders use for photoetch. Just a thought that way you could paint first and have no real worry with mess.

[charlie8575]

The idea of wire like that for the small trim pieces like that in an interior is an interesting idea. I'll be interested to see how the finished product works and looks.

Personally, I'd use epoxy, but the idea of clear paint like you use for photo-etch might work better. Experiment with some scrap and see what works.

Charlie Larkin

[dimaxion]

Color me a thief . If this works ... I've used thin wire for Rain Gutters and Exterior Moldings . Attached with Super Glue dripped on and capillary action . The resulting fine Sandpaper to clean up when dried . The dumb wire won't stay in place otherwise . The gutters , I painted over . Trim , I "silvered" . Let us know how this works for you please ? Thanx ..

[CrazyGirl]

I sure will , but I just thought of another idea , I am going to experiment with it first before I do a post on it ,,, my mind never sleeps , I will waste more time on something like this

[JunkPile]

Here is another tool you may want on that shiny new bench...Flex-I-File Touch-N-Flow. With a little practice it may work well for that wire trim. I think there are two models of them. One for thin liquid cement and another for thin super glues. Good luck

[gtx6970]

I used guitar string many years ago . It takes some patience but making thin stainless trim can be done. I just did a dab of superglue to hold it in place all these years,,,,, even through some rough handling ( aka dropped it ) it stayed attached.

It also works well for brake and fuel lines that have the spiral wrap, AND parking brake cables ( just remove the spiral wrap )

ps, bending the stuff is tough so keep that in mind if u go this route

Edited April 11, 2013 by gtx6970

[Ace-Garageguy]

Man, the spiral-wrap look is fantastic. You have changed my world, sir.

[jeffs396]

Man, the spiral-wrap look is fantastic.

X2!!!

[VW Dave]

The guitar string idea looks like a winner!

I'd use a microbrush or toothpick and apply it with 5-minute epoxy prior to paint; after painting the panel, a little careful scraping with the tip of a #11 would expose the trim nicely

[Chief Joseph]

You can also use very fine solder to make piping-type trim on door panels and such. The solder is very easy to bend into shape and glues down easily. A roll of solder from Radio Shack lasts a long time, plus you can solder stuff together with it, too!

[gtx6970]

The pictures I posted are on a MPC 1970 Charger I did many years ago and they have a very thin chrome band on the door panels , thus what I was trying to replicate . Doing something that thin with BMF was not going to happen.

I bent it after paint when I realized the BMF wasn't going to have the results I wanted .

I never thought about doing it pre-paint but that would work as well ( maybe better ) and I've never seen solder that thin

I stumbed onto it when I was on a lunch break one day with a buddy of mine when we stoped in so he could buy new strings for his guitar. As soon as I saw them I thought of park brake cables for models . plus they're avail in various sizes .