Cup-holder Cover Wood Conversion *pics* :)

[cduluk]

I wanted to add wood to the flip-up cup holder cover for the rx300. I added walnut veneer to the flip-up cup holder cover and added white LED's to the little 'arms' and blacked out the inside.

Here are some pictures and details in case any of you guys wanted to do the same :)

So here we are:

The first step was cleaning and sanding the cover

This is the thin layer of veneer i will be using

And believe it or not, i've found the best bonding agent to make the veneer bond to the plastic is you guessed it, superglue. It melts and bonds to the plastic and absorbs into the veneer to make an air-tight bond.

I used a foam brush to spread the glue on the plastic, then layed the veneer over that, and pressed and held in place with C-clamps. Baked in the oven at $100 degrees for 1/2 hour to dry the glue.

Edited April 17, 2009 by SW03ES
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[cduluk]

After some sanding

Not pictured, i spray painted the belly and sides of the panel with krylon's flat black. Notice on the wood panels in the rx interior, the sides and trim are black. I then stained the wood with a mix of two stains. After the stain has been applied.

Then it's time for the stain to dry completely. If there is liquid stain or moisture left in the wood, the first coat of clearcoat will not bond, and bubbles will form. I baked in the oven at 100 degrees for 4 hours. Let air-dry overnight. The following evening, it was time for the first coat of clear. I used duponts two part clear (same stuff used on car finishes).

[cduluk]

As you can see the first coat of clear still shows the 'grain' of the wood. Certain parts of the grain absorb better than others, which result in the un-even finish. I let the clear air-dry and baked for 30 mins at 140 degrees.

When the first coat of clear was dry, i wet sanded with 600 grit sandpaper to remove some of the 'bumps' and un-even surfaces. After wetsanding:

I repeated the process of more coats of clear, wet sanding, more clear, until all of the 'grain' was filled in and the surface as flat as i could get it. It took about 10 coats to get the best finish. After the last coat of clear, i wet sanded with 1500grit and buffed and polished with 3M scratch remover followed by Mequiar's ScratchX to get the best shine.

[cduluk]

Then it was time for the LED mods. I used two 5mm white LED's i got from Hong Kong. Wired them up with resistors and ran the wires in the little arms. In the pics they appear blue, but they are true white. Just my camera.

Then you can wire the + and - to the ashtray light. It will dim with everything else too :)

The whole process took around 2 weeks. The hard part is waiting for the paint to cure between each coat. The more coats you add, the better the finish will come.

I hope you guys like the pics :)

Edited April 17, 2009 by SW03ES
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[NJerseyDan]

Mr Duluk,

that is an awesome piece of craftsmanship. Truly impressed. I'd like to do the same to my RX. Can I ask you a few questions-

What type of wood is the veneer and how thick? (never worked with veneer)

What are the color of the two stains you used?

what grit sandpaper did you use to feather in the veneer to the plastic??

Why the resistors and what sizes did you use??

That panel looks great! Thank you

Dan

[Lucky13]

Looks great.

[cduluk]

Thanks for the compliments :)

I used walnut veneer which is the same wood that the rx300 uses. It's pretty thin, not all types are the same, but it's about as thin as a piece of poster board. The stains i actually used are a mixture of orange and yellow food coloring followed by a minwax mahogany stain. Easy to apply, dries quick, a water based stain and permanent when cleared. I start with a 250 grit sandpaper to roughen the edges, followed by a 400 grit to get it smoother. As far as the electrical work, the resistor values depend on which LED's i'm using and also depends on what my source voltage is. Normal source voltage is 12-14V and the average white/blue LED requires 3V at a max of 20mA, so anywhere from 400-600 ohm resistors will be fine per LED. Resistors lower the current to the LED's as they would burn out with 12V and such a high current.

[VBdenny]

Beautiful work, very impressive

[Swtstick]

Wow! That's impressive... as, all I do is love her, drive my RX300 and try to take good care of her. Unfortunately, I'm not automotive savy at all... let alone body fixing. Here it goes; I'm having a lot of lifting of the wood paneling on the dash (I think from the sun beating on it) and do not know how to glue/fix it. Lexus dealer fixed/replaced it once already while it was still under warrenty. That was years ago and it didn;t last two years before it started lifting again. The warrenty is clearly non-existant after all these years. How can I fix this? Also, my cup holder is great... except the cup-grabbers are broken. Lexus dealer said they don't make them anymore... that I would have to replace it with another cupholder without wood decor. I like the wood! It Makes my Lexy sexy. Can I fix or replace the cup grabbers?

Love your work!

Swtstick

[cduluk]

Wow! That's impressive... as, all I do is love her, drive my RX300 and try to take good care of her. Unfortunately, I'm not automotive savy at all... let alone body fixing. Here it goes; I'm having a lot of lifting of the wood paneling on the dash (I think from the sun beating on it) and do not know how to glue/fix it. Lexus dealer fixed/replaced it once already while it was still under warrenty. That was years ago and it didn;t last two years before it started lifting again. The warrenty is clearly non-existant after all these years. How can I fix this? Also, my cup holder is great... except the cup-grabbers are broken. Lexus dealer said they don't make them anymore... that I would have to replace it with another cupholder without wood decor. I like the wood! It Makes my Lexy sexy. Can I fix or replace the cup grabbers?

Love your work!

Swtstick

Can you post pictures?