A way to make holes through a felt covered D1 base plate

[TelePlay]

     Regular Member Post


For those of you who recover D1 base plates with felt and don't mind the screw head on top of the felt pulling the felt down tight into the recess, I came up with this really quick and foolproof way to make the two holes.

First step is to cut and mount the felt with the screws removed from the base plate.

Second step is to melt two perfect holes through the felt from the inside of the plate out. Once the holes are cut, the screws can be screwed back into the plate through the holes and the recover is complete. (NOTE: this does not work if using suede).


The Tool (images below)

Had the idea to put a small flame next to a piece of scrap felt to see what would happen. It melted, it did not catch fire. I had a spare, old soldering iron tip and put it into my drill, cheap lathe. Reduced about 7/16" of the end to a diameter that would just pass through the threaded base plate holes. 7/16" is long enough to cut the felt and have the original diameter stop the movement through the plate hole and the backer material. I then cut the pointed tip off to create a flat, blunt end.

I used a piece of 1/8" foam center white board as the backing material. I placed the base plate felt side down on the foam white board and pressed the hot, blunt tip through the hole, through the felt and into the whiteboard. This created a hole in the felt that is about the same diameter as the base plate hole.

By going through the felt and into the foam board, the melted material was pressed into the foam board and the edges of the hole were hot melted, fused, into an edge that would not unravel or fuzz up in use.

In the past, I used a piece of brass tubing with one end sharpened into a fine cutting edge to "core" a hole through the felt. This worked but if the cutting edge got dull, it would tear the felt and when sharp, would cut a hole that fuzzed or raveled with use, the screws would catch the loose edge of the holes. The hot tip fused the edge of the hole and kept that from happening when the screws came into contact with the edge.

Put the screws through the felt holes and threaded them through the base. Turned out the best I've ever done when recovering a base plate with felt. Suede is easy to core a hole,  but not felt but since felt melts with heat, melting a hole through is easy and effective in use.

So, if you don't mind a small hole with the mounting screw head visible on top of the felt, this works well, and quick to put holes exactly where it should be in the felt.

[Pourme]

Very neat, clean & precised placement....

Thanks for sharing that, John!

Benny

[HarrySmith]

Very Cool! Thanks John!

[RB]

Great idea! gonna use that one myself!
ALWAYS lookin for options, and a better/cheaper way.
Thanks for sharing.

[Nick in Manitou]

Very useful!