Help with Scissors/cutting tool

[sunshine_n_pc]

We make custom wrap-around fender covers  - mainly aimed at the week-end mechanic who lives to work on, rebuild, and spend lots of money on parts to make his car go faster.  They then blow it up and have to work on it more.  (I know this because I have to live with one).  The fender cover is patterned to completely cover the entire front end with a custom fit.  I pattern a 1/2 of the front end very similiar to how you all do a car seat or a boat cover.

Here is my problem:  We had a high end car company contact us to make a fender cover for a super car they sell - the car is very limited and very expensive - 300K to 500K. They only want about a dozen fender covers - they plan to give one to dealership in the United States who has sold one of the cars so that whenever an owner brings their car in to be serviced they will have a fender cover to protect the car's finish.

After negotiating with them for almost a year now, we've come down to it is time to do the pattern.  The closest car to us is almost 4 hours away at a dealership.  The dealership was not involved in the negotiations - that all happened on the corporate end.  The dealership is not all that crazy about us being there.  They have basically told us "if you scratch it, you have bought it". 

I don't plan to scratch it, but accidents do happen. I am close to saying forget it but it is a really big opportunity which would have the potential to put us out there on another level. 

I pattern with plastic sheeting - just like you all talk about using.  I have to use scissors to trim the plastic to make it fit the lines of the car.  I am worried about slipping and scratching the finish. 

Do any of you know of any scissors or cutting tools that have a safety edge to prevent scratching?  I usually use several different types of scissors - sometimes though, I need to trim close and might use a very small, sharp pair of embroidery scissors. 

ANY thoughts or ideas? 
CeCe

[Mojo]

Crazy idea but.... take a clear plastic hose and slip it over the bottom end. Cut the material towards the most inner part of the scissors. The hose wont scratch the paint and 3/4's of the blade can be used for cutting. If your cutting anywhere the point will be near the paint remove the hose. Slip it back on when you get close to the fender or whatever.

Or take some electrical tape and tape the bottom blade near the end closest to the car when cutting to prevent it from scratching. Other then that I know of no cutting tool that wont have the ability to scratch the paint.

You going to have their logo embossed or embroidered on the cover ? Sounds interesting. Be sure you tag it somewhere with your business name on it.

Lotsa luck. Let us know how this deal works out.

Chris

[Allan]

If you are so worried about scratching the car is it possible to take out insurance for a day to cover the job?
Otherwise as Chris said

Allan

[sunshine_n_pc]

Thanks Chris

I will give that a try....I thought about trying to do something with that plasi-dip stuff, but haven't tried it yet.

We have a tag with our name and logo that I sew into the binding on the driver's side - kind of like a large Levi tag.   


Temp insurance, hadn't thought about that...I will check into that.  Their big thing was "do you realize how much the value of this car will drop if it has to be repainted".  I am trying to not let it bother me.  It's almost  like telling your child, "don't drop that"......of course, then, they drop it. 

[MinUph]

How about if you tape off the areas on the car where the seames will be? Painters tape wont hurt the finish. 2 layers if your concerned.

[byhammerandhand]

I'd be inspecting carefully from a number of angles and taking lots of pre-work photos.   You don't want to get a, "It was perfect before you started."

[sofadoc]

Can you chalk out a template on the car, and then move to a table to make your scissor cuts?

[Mike]

im thinking like paul when I pattern a boat I used painters tape and seam tape on it to stick the pattern plastic to then mark the seams on the plastic. of course I don't want to scratch a boat hull ,but when I pattern a outboard motor cover I make them snug form fitting like a glovel and with a new $25,000 motor I really don't want any fudge ups. so at all the seams line I add blue painters tape then add transfer tape and stick the pattern plastic to it and mark the seams.

maybe if its really scarry use 2" tape

[JuneC]

I'm with Keith on this one.  Inspect and photograph the paint thoroughly with the dealer's representative present so any existing defect is documented.  Inspect and photograph again when you're done patterning.  If some careless customer or dealer employee scratches the paint that day or even a week later, they may try to pin it on you.  I'd have them sign something stating that you're legally off the hook when you're done.  Since the dealer doesn't want you there, what exactly does he plan to do to protect the paint when it comes back for service?  He's being short-sighted.

June

[bobbin]

I know that sometimes "it happens".  But I also have to wonder at what point the owner of the vehicle (the person who called you for your service!) has to assume some responsibility/"liability" for the possibility that his "precious" might be scratched.  He doesn't have the vehicle insured against things like that? (give me a break)

I'd go to "code red" on that job.  I like the idea of supplementary insurance (add it to your estimate!) and documenting the present condition of the vehicle, too, but JEEZ! how far are you willing to go to get the job?  I suspect my rope is a lot shorter than yours. 

[JuneC]

CeCe, something just came to mind for cutting plastic.  Have you ever used a shrinkwrap knife?  It's a razor that's just about completely encased in a plastic hook-shaped handle.  Here's one model, but there's many on the internet from $2.00 and up. 

http://www.shrinkwrapcontainments.com/p-26-shrink-film-knife.aspx

Hope you can work out the liability issues.

June

[sunshine_n_pc]

Thanks for the input everyone - we did the job this week and it went off without a scratch :)  Interestingly, they didn't even check the car once we left and never even acted too concerned.  We took complete pictures both before and after though.  The car actually belongs to the dealership.  One of the guys laughed when I made a comment about having been worried about accidently scratching it and said "yea, we were hoping you all would scratch it up so we could send it back to the corporate office".  I guess there aren't many with 400K to fork out for a toy.  We were in a glass garage/display area - had a quite a few people walk by and watch.  The guys working there say they aren't allowed to even touch the car.  It was interesting. 

If I hadn't been so worried about scratching the car, it would have been easier.  Even my husband was freaking out, not even wanting me to put the blue tape on the car.  We were so much more worried about it than they were.  I think they were just giving  us "the talk" upfront - kind of like what you do when your teenager takes out the car for the first time.  The pattern came out ok - could have been better - but, 7-8 hour round trip drive means, ok is good enough - we made 2 trips, one to pattern and one test fit cover. 

I now need some advice about the wrinkles:

The vinyl we use is about 28-30 oz - a decent weight, but it has a white felt/fleece backing on it.  They requested us to add a black fleece to the back.  I glued the fleece on the back of the vinyl on the passenger side but I sewed the edges only on the vinyl I used on the driver's side.  The fleece has A LOT of stretch - unfortunately, I stretched the fleece when attaching it to the vinyl.  I didn't realize how much the fleece could pull the vinyl. 

So, I know that I need to make sure that there is not any stretch in the fleece - but I also can't have wrinkles either.  Should I glue?  Sew?  how do I hold it in place if I sew it instead of glue it.  The fleece has no structure to it.  I am leaning towards cutting out the vinyl pieces separately from the fleece.  I could leave the fleece in oversized pieces and then trim it down after attaching it to the vinyl.  I am just not sure the best way to attach this.    Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

[Allan]

Looks good
How do you hold the cover to the car?

Allan

[Darren Henry]

I am leaning towards cutting out the vinyl pieces separately from the fleece.  I could leave the fleece in oversized pieces and then trim it down after attaching it to the vinyl.

my "knee jerk" reaction would be to do exactly that---cut the vinyl panels and glue them to the fleece and trim.

Another option (that i have done backing material like that) is to glue the vinyl to the fleece off the roll and then cut the double layered material.

[MinUph]

How do you deal with the seams being uncovered by the fleece? Doesn't sound finished this way. It seems something like this should be lined with all seams on the inside facing each other. Maybe finding a better lining material would solve the stretching issue. You could then Make the lining like the topper and line it properly maybe binding the outer edges. And stitching in places to hold it all together.