Upholstery Adhesive??

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phlip99
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Upholstery Adhesive??

Post by phlip99 »

What's the best adhesive to use for sticking leathercloth to fibreglass???
I'm thinking in terms of dashboard & glovebox.
My old standard is Evostik Impact but with the glovebox the shape may be a problem for the instant grip characteristic of the Evostik stuff.

What have others used??

Thanks
Phil.
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simonjrwinter
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Re: Upholstery Adhesive??

Post by simonjrwinter »

The way I did it (I worked as an upholsterer in my youth) used spray glue. I stretched and stapled my leather upside down to a wooden board. I then spray glued the leather AND the dashboard.
I then placed the dashboard onto the back of the leather. The next step is to release the staples and pull the covering around to the back side of the dash after spraying some extra glue on the back edges.
Then spray the back of the holes and cut star shapes with a sharp blade in the leather in the holes.
Simon
phlip99
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Re: Upholstery Adhesive??

Post by phlip99 »

Thanks for that Simon. Is the aerosol a contact adhesive or one allowing some slight movement of the leather?? Any particular brand ?
- I'm thinking the shape of the glovebox would be a problem with contact adhesive as it's quite deep.
Cheers
Phil.
StuBaker
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Re: Upholstery Adhesive??

Post by StuBaker »

With Evostik you have to precoat absorbant surfaces then coat again before assembly. If you assemble immediately after the second coat, before it goes tacky, you have room for manoeuvre. As usual, try it on some scrap first.
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simonjrwinter
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Re: Upholstery Adhesive??

Post by simonjrwinter »

Contact adhesive. I flocked the inside of my glove box!
KevinW
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Re: Upholstery Adhesive??

Post by KevinW »

I think the mistake I have made in the past is insufficient preparation, in particular for sticking cloth to grp: as I have since learned, you need to thoroughly degrease the area first using Isopropyl alcohol to remove any minute traces of wax/mould release agent, and then rough up the gelcoat using 180 grit so there is a rough surface for glue to bond to.

Without proper preparation then adhesion will be fine for about 3-4 years and then it will start to give up. ....guess how I know?
phlip
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Re: Upholstery Adhesive??

Post by phlip »

Thanks Kevin = interesting point. At the moment I'm just doing the glovebox and I'm wondering if the glovebox is in fact GRP or just a plastic moulding. It certainly looks like plastic of some sort rather than fibreglass.
As far as I know it's the standard Hawk item.
What's the view = plastic??
Phil.
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