Homemade panel for car radio

A homemade panel for a car radio is done by hand. Such a panel for a car radio or a frame, as it is called, will help to install any model of a car radio, regardless of whether it fits or not.

Several variants

Today, even in stores, a large number of various frames for car radios are offered, but this state of affairs does not save. The fact is that the factory panel does not always fit tightly and well into place, and this, in turn, gives rise to other problems.
You have to do the following:

• Or buy a new radio.
• Buy a separate transition frame.
• Make your own homemade panel.

Each of the above solutions has both disadvantages and advantages.

New radio

So:

• When the user purchases, at times, expensive, but head device not included in dashboard, or enters, but hangs out, you have to return the model you like or change it.

Note. Given the high cost of equipment, this approach is not entirely justified.

• In the store when making a purchase, you must ask in advance about the size. A simple ruler or tape measure will help you avoid mistakes and immediately decide on the choice of a particular model.

Note. Strange as it may sound, such a solution is not always able to eliminate the problem. The fact is that if the frame rises, it's half the battle. The car radio will have to dock well with the installation site, and this is not always possible to achieve.

Separate transition frame

So:

• Gives a quality and reliable installation. Transition frame is screwed to the car panel, and then the car radio is installed. To date, the following types of frames have received the greatest popularity: a separate frame for a car radio and a separate frame-pocket for a car radio.
• There is no particular difference between them. In the first case, just a frame is purchased, in the second - also a pocket.

Note. The frame pocket is a special plastic box that is open on both sides. On the one hand, the front panel of the device is inserted here, and on the other, external wires are brought in. Only the price of a frame with a pocket is more than the cost of a simple adapter frame.

DIY

So:

• The third option is considered the most correct, from any point of view: be it financial or practical.
• Such a panel will make it possible to connect a new car radio of any size (1 or ) and type to the car panel with each other.

• Among other things, such a home-made frame will not require any financial investment, because everything can be made from improvised materials.

Manufacturing process

So, we decided to make a panel on our own. AT this case, we will definitely not guess.
So:

• To begin with, a mixture is made for putty work. The putty must be thoroughly kneaded and allowed to stand for the right time (usually 20 minutes).
• We protect the front panel with something, for example, masking tape or a plastic bag.
• We wrap the inside with cardboard in order to fix the rectangle, which we remove.
• We apply the front panel, getting the necessary print.

Note. In some cases, a box from an old DVD becomes an ideal option for a frame donor. It fits both in width (189 mm) and in height - (60) mm.

• After we apply the putty, we wait until it is completely dry and becomes very durable.
• We take a rectangle made of cardboard and set it strictly in the center, thus obtaining a kind of blank for pouring. The rectangle itself must fit snugly, otherwise if gaps remain, problems cannot be avoided in the future.
• We buy epoxy resin at the nearest hardware store.

• We bring it home or to the garage. Put on fire to melt. Be sure to stir to get a homogeneous mass without lumps.
• Pour the resulting resin into the mold, which was prepared in advance. We give time to cool.
• Remove the cardboard after that.
• Then carefully remove the frame for the radio from the mold.

Note. Before us will appear a rather rough form that requires processing.

• We put the mold in a vise.
• We take a file and a skin with fine grain. We begin the polishing process until we get a favorable appearance products.
• After that, we select the design of the frame. In other words, you need to choose the color of the paint with which you want to cover the product.
  Only first the frame will need to be treated with a primer, and only then with paint. Be sure to wait until the primer dries, and only then apply the paint. In some cases, if one applied coat of paint does not give the desired effect, an additional second coat can be applied.

Putting the panel in place

Advantages and disadvantages of such production

Advantages	Flaws
Such frames are made by hand quite often today. Their advantage lies in their versatility. You can always make a homemade panel for any speaker head unit, regardless of size.	It will take a lot of time when you can just go and buy a frame from the store. But as mentioned above, this does not always solve the problem.
The quality of the product, if everything is done correctly, cannot be worse than the factory panel. Epoxy resin will give the product a stronger and more reliable structure.	You will have to work hard, but the result will be surprisingly attractive, both in terms of functionality and design.
As a result, having done everything on his own, the owner also receives positive emotions. The result of your work can be improved over time and even start your own business, since there is always a demand for these products.

The above instructions, if followed strictly according to the points, while also using video and photo materials, will provide valuable benefits. Why pay for the services of specialists, the price of which is very high, if you can easily do everything yourself.

Silent radio frame

Today, while cleaning my computer from accumulated debris, I came across one small photo report. Maybe it will be useful to someone, and someone will call it delusional. In any case, I decided to put it on the blog, whatever it was. Well, as you already guessed from the name, we will pick the frame of the radio.

The photo report was made when I still had a Honda Civic EK3. The car was not a stock cassette player, which never bothered me. I went without music, enjoyed the sound of the engine and VTEC, but extraneous sounds strove to spoil this idyll. It crunches here, it rattles here. At the car, the last one sold (which I will write about later) made an engine swap from D15Z6 (115 hp) to a more powerful D15B (130 hp). For those who are interested, read the post "Engines on the Honda Civic VI".

He changed the engine, but left the computer (brain) as standard. From which the revolutions constantly swam and it was unrealistic to set them. And it was not possible to find a new suitable brain for the budget available at that time.

Actually, because of the wrong brains, the speed was floating, from which there was a vibration in the car at low speeds. The frame for mounting the radio was crackling loudest of all. It was necessary to do everything carefully, so as not to stand out and not rattle. Having climbed the Internet, I came across an interesting method on some forum and decided to apply it. How I made the frame for the radio more quiet with my own hands - read on. All images are clickable.

Making a frame for teapots))) .wmv

Frame did not suit me, so leave a link to frame I won't! And if you are still wondering where you ordered, then ...

Adapter frame for radio from China.

We glue frame in place to eliminate errors ...

To carry out the work we need:

2. Electrical tape in the color of the frame (in my case, black);

3. A sheet of paper + stationery scissors to cut paper and tape.

Because the frame from the radio tape recorder was black, then I picked up the electrical tape in color. In principle, now you can find it in any color, so there should not be any problems. Using it, you need to make several layers from the bottom of the frame, i.e. tape will be under the radio. Due to its elasticity, it will take on the vibration and dampen the unpleasant plastic crackle in the cabin. It looks something like this:

Then, I took a regular sheet of paper and cut out 2 small rectangles:

Here, many will ask: "What kind of nonsense? What else is this for us? Oo." Everything is extremely simple. From the resulting rectangles we will make small spacers of the radio frame, which will also take on vibrations. Just fold the papers in several layers and insert them into the empty cavities of the frame.

Well, with the final touch, I sealed these "spacers" in the frame of the radio tape recorder with electrical tape. What for? HZ. I just wanted to

Well, here's the final result:

I can’t say that this is a panacea for all diseases of the radio, but despite this, in my case everything worked. The frame of the radio tape recorder stopped nasty cracking during vibrations, which was very nice. So to speak, I made a small soundproofing of the car interior with my own hands. Joke, of course. This is not noise isolation, but only a local treatment of the problem, but working. Visually, the frame of the radio has not changed, because. all the electrical tape was under the radio.

If you have any questions - ask. I will try to answer everything in detail. And that's all for today. Until new posts.

Very often, when replacing a standard audio system with a 2 DIN radio, motorists are faced with such a situation that after installation, there is not a large gap between the radio and the center console.

This problem is eliminated with the help of an additional transitional frame, which can be ordered in an online store, but somehow you don’t want to pay 10-20 dollars for a piece of fragile plastic. After searching the net for a solution to this problem, I found a very interesting and simple way to fix it. this shortcoming with little material cost.

To make the transition frame, you will need the following materials:
1. Cold welding (the required amount must be calculated individually);
2. Sandpaper No. 40, 120, 340;
3. Food film;
4. Masking tape;
5. Two-component putty for plastic, acrylic primer (in a can);
6. Degreaser, primer, paint.

Instructions for making a transitional frame.
Before proceeding with the manufacture of the frame, you need to tape over the places that will be in contact with welding on the center console and radio tape recorder. Then a cling film is glued on top of the adhesive tape, and in the middle of the radio tape recorder, fasten the thread with which you will remove the frame from the seat.

In order for the finished frame to hold well in its place after installation, a mount should be made, for this it is necessary to install plastic plates between the radio and the console. The plates must be installed so that when welding is applied, they do not change their original position, and come out with a frame as a single piece. In order for the future part to have greater strength, it should be reinforced with 2.5 mm copper wire around the entire perimeter of the hole.

At the next stage, we proceed to filling the hole with cold welding. During the execution of this robot, it should be cool in the car interior, since welding at high air temperature quickly hardens, and you risk not having time to mold a high-quality workpiece.

After the welding has completely dried, carefully remove the part from the seat. Important: do not allow excessive force and mechanical impact, so as not to break the workpiece.

Then, using a clerical knife and sandpaper, you need to remove all unnecessary and grind the front side of the frame. For rough cleaning, sandpaper No. 40 is used if you have cleaned too much or you need to build up places where there is little material for this, cold welding is used. It should be noted that the more often you try on the workpiece and eliminate irregularities, the more you will be pleased with the final result.

After the stripping of the transition frame is completed, it must be degreased, primed and puttied with a two-component plastic putty. You need to apply two or three layers of putty on the part to get a perfectly flat surface, and after drying, clean it with sandpaper No. 120, and No. 320 to make the surface smooth.

After the putty has completely dried, the surface of the frame should be degreased, and then 2-3 layers of primer should be applied to obtain an even texture for further painting. At the end of the work, the transition frame was painted with black matte alkyd enamel in three layers.

Finally installed this multifunctional miracle of technology. Yes, China, yes, many will say. At first he hesitated, and then he thought, why is my Alpine, made in the same China, better? When I put it on and turned it on, I was even a little surprised at the quality of the sound.

In general, I'm happy with the sound. The most important thing is, of course, the navigation in this thing - I'm tired of the navigator on the suction cup - the wires are always hanging out and blocking the view. And here everything is in one bottle.

The installation went without any problems. I sawed out a shelf, wired it (a separate antenna was used for navigation), connected it and voila ... although there is no voila. there was an annoyance that with a native frame, well, it’s not ice at all, but without it, there’s a gap in general.

It was decided that something to think and sculpt. From installing the PTF, I was left with epoxy and fiberglass, and I began to come up with a frame.

First, he took off the console, dragged it home and pasted over the radio tape recorder with masking tape, pasted over the frame very carefully in order to repeat the shapes and sizes.

After pasting with tape, I marked the border in which the frame will actually be made.

And sobsvenno began the process of sculpting and cutting. Cut out the fiberglass to the desired shape.

I applied a layer of resin to the tape and laid the glass, after soaking it abundantly. This happened several times. Here's what it looked like.

Then I removed this design, in principle, without making any special efforts, the masking tape came off well from the console.

Well, here's what we got:

That's what ended up with this piece of glass and epoxy

It looks clumsy of course, but it completely and perfectly repeats the geometry of the console and the radio frame.

And yet, the display of the parking sensors got used to the move due to the removal of its shelf =)) Now it is here

And tomorrow we are waiting for the process of puttying.

04.07.2016

Many motorists during the replacement of a regular player with a new one car radio face such a problem that the decorative transition frame is slightly larger than the tape recorder, and after installation, the player looks like some kind of foreign body on the center console. After searching the net for ways to solve this problem, of all the possible options, I chose the method making a transition frame with your own hands from cold welding.

To start the robot, we need the following materials:

• Cold welding (the amount depends on the size of the frame you will be making).
• Sandpaper No. 40, 120, 340.
• Masking tape, cling film.
• Acrylic spray primer, two-component putty for plastic.
• Primer, paint, thinner (degreaser)

1. First you need to paste masking tape on the places where cold welding will be applied (center console and front of the radio) so that they do not stick together. Then stretch the cling film over the masking tape, fix the edges with adhesive tape, and fasten the thread in the middle of the radio tape recorder, with which you will remove the frame after the welding has dried. An example in the photo.
   
   
2. In order to avoid difficulties with the removal and installation of the frame, plastic plates were inserted between the radio and the landing socket. You need to install them so that when you apply cold welding, they do not change their position and come out with a frame, like a monolithic part. You should also reinforce the future workpiece with copper wire 2.5 mm thick around the entire perimeter to make it more durable.
   
3. After the previous operations are completed, we check again and proceed to the process of sculpting the workpiece, which we will later turn into a transition frame. To prevent rapid setting of the material, try to maintain a cool temperature in the cabin.
   
   
4. After the material hardens, carefully remove the frame from the seat, avoid excessive force and mechanical impact so as not to damage it.
   
   
5. At the next stage, it is necessary to grind the front side, and remove all unnecessary (adjust the external and internal contours). Sandpaper No. 40 is used for rough grinding, and cold welding is used to build up, if the excess is removed. It is more convenient to align the outer corners of the frame, as well as to make a point adjustment of the frame, with the help of a clerical knife. The more often you try on the workpiece to identify and eliminate irregularities, the more you will be pleased with the final result.
   
   
   
   
   
6. After finishing fitting the transition frame, it must be puttied. To do this, use a two-component putty designed for plastic bumpers and a regular acrylic primer. Before puttying, the surface must be cleaned and degreased, and then one or two layers of putty are applied, for grinding and leveling, use sandpaper No. 120.
   
   
7. Before priming and painting, sand the puttied workpiece with sandpaper No. 340, and then degrease. In order for the surface to have a smooth texture, it is necessary to apply two or three layers of primer. After the primer dries, you can start painting the frame. The paint was applied in several layers, each of which must dry completely.
   
   

   

This completes the process of manufacturing the transition frame, you just have to install it in its place.