desperately need heat press custom 1966 bucket seats

[4x4steve]

i want to put a upside down horseshoe heat pressed pattern on the back of my custom reproduction vinyl bucket seats. my upholsterer says he can sew it but does not have the heat press to press it. does anyone know anyone who can help?

thanks

 

[jedblake]

Hello Steve,
I do not have experience w/ a heat press but could a insert be sewed into the back panel to meet the same result?
I would assume if it had a scrim backing (1/4" foam) glued to the horse shoe material it would give it a nice look. Depending on the guys sewing machine he could use a double-stitch machine to make it stand out and also use a different color for contrast.

 

[4x4steve]

Hello Steve,
I do not have experience w/ a heat press but could a insert be sewed into the back panel to meet the same result?
I would assume if it had a scrim backing (1/4" foam) glued to the horse shoe material it would give it a nice look. Depending on the guys sewing machine he could use a double-stitch machine to make it stand out and also use a different color for contrast.

Yah, that was the initial offer from my upholstery guy, but i just want to be as authentic as possible. The current theory is that the vinyl needs to be welded onto a background that is possibly also vinyl so as for the entire assembly to hold together as if stitched. I thought of trying to make a metal press pattern out of solder using the lost wax process but that sounds somewhat complex and possibly problematic in itself to do successfully. We are continuing to explore options. It may be that we are out of luck if we stick to the san francisco bay area, and have to go someplace larger such as the los angeles or detroit areas where there might be more places that do specialty classic car upholstery. I can't yet believe that no one does it. DI and TMI have machines that do it. I hope I am not regressing by attempting full custom authentic but then getting stuck in the middle of the stream without a paddle so to speak (yikes). Incidentally I think this is now both my critical path and almost the last thing I need to do for my first pass of a full patina restoration of my 66 v8 roadster. Everything else seems to be falling into place at the moment. So it is getting a lot of attention from me right now (are we there yet? haha).

 

[Slowleak]

Have you checked into having embossing stamps made? I’m not sure that you have to use a specialized machine. Just heat the stamps and press with something that will apply even force. This place makes stamps and seat medallions....
http://www.kristkustoms.com/logostamp.html

SMS sells original materials and does custom embossing....
https://smsautofabrics.com/pages/embossing

 

[bamabaja]

Thought amount trying kydex press ? Might use sculpting clay that hardens in oven to make reverse cast, use pour resin for part mold. I have used on damp leather with kitchen vacuum bagger to mold leather items. Heat gun might soften vinyl enough to set imprint but no experience with vinyl. Good luck !

 

[Rustytruck]

my guess is to use a vacuum table. make your pattern out of hard board and lay the pattern down on a platten spray it with 3m super 90 and the same with the back of the vinyl suspend the vinyl over the pattern and heat it up hot with a heat gun then drop the vinyl down and pull a vacuum until the vinyl gets cold then the pattern will form the panel and glue the pattern to the back. or do it with out gluing just to form and fill the back with stuffing. all experimental. if you want to spend big bucks talk to chuy's auto interior in carson they do expensive custom stuff and can handle your needs.

 

[DirtDonk]

I wonder what one of them new-fangled laser tables would do in that regard, and what it would look like. Might just resemble an etching rather than an embossing, but might be cool nevertheless.

Good luck. Sounds interesting, but I've been wondering. Did you mean you're looking to do it on the vinyl upholstery part at the top of the back of the seat, or the plastic panel covering the back?
Got pics of these custom seats you're willing to share? Love to see what you've done.

Paul

 

[El Kabong]

I thought of trying to make a metal press pattern out of solder using the lost wax process but that sounds somewhat complex and possibly problematic in itself to do successfully.

Is this a repeated small horseshoe pattern or a life sized single horseshoe? If it's a single full size horseshoe, could you use an actual horseshoe as the metal press pattern?