A Question For You Cabinet Restorers..........

[marcoos_1]

Ok, so I went to change a bulb the other night and ended up taking my entire machine apart to redo the cabinet (I was enjoying myself and just seemed to keep on going). I have ordered decals and I have the cabinet completely stripped and sanded with the damaged areas filled and prepared.

My question is this;

Now the cabinet is sanded and ready for the decals, is it worth bonding/sealing it with a mix of PVA and water? Does anyone do this? Based upon other consturction techniques for sealing porous surfaces (i.e. sealing new plaster or plywood with water-pva mix) I sem to think it might be beneficial as opposed to just leaving it as bare, untreated wood? I know this will raise the grain, but after a few coats I would just use my DA sander with some 800grit to polish it off.

Having it prepped like this will surely make the decals stick better and seal the wood?

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

Mark.

 

[paddythegreek]

I’ve only done two and I never sealed em with anything. Don’t think B/W, stern or D/E did. Makes sure it’s smooth n dust free and slap the bu**ers on

 

[drhex]

I usually paint them black, you can prime first to make it really smooth. Will also allow to put the decals on with water which helps tremendously imho. Also a good opportunity to sink the bolts if you want uninterrupted decals.

 

[Epotech]

High build primer and 800 grit. Are you really going to put it in a damp environment?

 

[kev a]

Decent quality decals should bond well enough to the wood, but depending on how smooth the wood is I would reccomend fibreglass resin with car body filler, its liquid ish and can be spread over with a credit card, once sanded its like glass. Theres a couple of pics on my swing time restore thread.

 

[Dex-Jay]

Having it prepped like this will surely make the decals stick better and seal the wood?

I'd rather apply decals to a smooth painted surface not bare timber, myself. The factory would have applied vinyl straight to timber true, but I'm sure they were experts at it in a great environment.

You will get a certain amount of shrink (and sink) with filler and wood and paint would help give a slightly more consistent surface IMO. That filler and repair isn't something they would have had to contend with. Prep as you know is everything, super dust free and a warm environment. Also, leaving the paint a while (longer the better) ideally.

 

[marcoos_1]

Brilliant, thanks for the advice everyone. It's certainly not going in a damp environment,.......I just wanted to prolong its life as best I could and do the job well. Decals onto bare wood didn't seem right, so I will give it a prime.

Wet application sounds good. I've ordered the decals from retro-refurbs. Hopefully they use air-breathe vinyl. I've done motorsport graphics on cars several times and that material makes life much easier.

Finished all the cab sanding tonight thankfully.