Comfort in the car for the driver is everything. The neatness of which he contains the cabin of his car, can say a lot about him. But if with the panels, dashboard and steering wheel, in principle, everything is clear, then with the shift knob everything is far from so smooth. It is she who is most overwritten. You can’t almost grasp the panel with your hands, wiped it, and it is again like new. You can put a special cover on the steering wheel. But for gearshift knobs , covers are not sold, and hauling craftsmen will cost a lot. In this material we will tell you how to constrict the gear knob with your own hand.
What is required for this
Both leather and high-quality leatherette are equally suitable for a gear knob handle. It is worth paying attention to the word “quality”, because when stitching, the edges of loose and fragile material will simply tear. It is also necessary to pay attention to the coating of the front of the leather. It should be dense and thick so as not to be rubbed off by the constant touch of the hand during the first months after the constriction.
So, when you have chosen a suitable skin segment (we will focus on it), it is worth taking care of tools and other consumables. For work, in addition to the skin, we need:
- Clay "Moment".
- High-quality kapron thread.
- Small, sharpened scissors.
- Sewing needle with an eye suitable for the thickness of a nylon thread.
- Awl.
- Construction tape.
- Table knife or not too sharp screwdriver.
When everything is assembled, you can begin to work. We will drag the handle of the Lada Vesta car. Vesta’s do-it-yourself leather gear knob will be the easiest to do, especially for those who are going to do it for the first time. We will prepare two patterns that will later be pulled together (sewn) by us in front and behind the handle.
Dismantle the handle
The gear lever cover on the handle side is held by a special high-quality and long-lived electrical tape. It, in principle, during assembly, if desired, can be changed or strengthened with a plastic clamp. What are we doing:
- In the bottom panel, the casing is held by a plastic frame latched into the groove around the perimeter. It is not difficult to free him. You just need to pull harder on the cover, and the frame itself should freely come out of the groove.
- Then we turn the casing inside out and unscrew the handle from the main lever.
- Now that we have the handle in our hands, we should remove the plastic decorative panel from it, on which the gear arrangement is present. This can be done with a blunt screwdriver or a table knife whose blade is rounded and not too sharp so as not to damage the socket. You can use a solid ground piece of plastic. We insert it into the gap, pry the panel and pull out its fasteners from the slot. We do the same with the lower part, with some effort. Now the handle is ready for hauling.
We make a pattern
Do-it-yourself gearshift knob is the most important step. Parts should be cut to the perfect size. And this is achieved by the accuracy of the pattern made. This will require construction tape. The procedure in this case is as follows:
- We draw on the handle front and rear lines dividing into equal right and left sides.
- With adhesive tape cuts, we completely glue the right half of the handle, making sure that the edges of the adhesive tape are exactly on the edges of the dividing line places and with a 3-5 mm overlap in the places where the panel and the lower part of the handle will be.
- Then carefully unhook the tape. This will be the pattern for the skin on the right side of the handle. For the left will serve as a mirror image of the right.
- Our original pattern has a convex relief. In order to make it flat, neatly with small scissors we cut its edges to such a depth that it becomes completely even.
- We impose a pattern on a section of the prepared skin and outline its contour. There are gaps in the places of incisions, we fill them in, smoothing the general contour. The skin for the right side of the handle is ready.
- Turn the pattern over and make a blank for the left half of the handle.
Stitching cut parts
If there is a machine that can sew on the skin - excellent. If not, the edges of the workpieces will have to be manually trimmed. Sheathing the edges is necessary with a simple shuttle seam that looks like a regular dashed line. The process includes the following steps:
- At a distance of 2 mm from the edge of the right and left parts of the blanks, draw straight lines and at an equal distance (step no more than 3 mm).
- We make holes in the lines with an awl.
- Then, through the holes, we sew the line with kapron thread of the selected color.
- At the edges we make knots so that the seam does not open.
Bonding parts to the handle
Another important point in the process of hauling gear knobs with leather with your own hands. “Moment” grease the handle completely on one side, also lubricate the leather blank corresponding to this half on the back side and glue the skin to its half of the handle. It is glued strictly along the dividing dividing lines. Then repeat the same with the other half.
The inlet edges on the side of the panel and below will puff up. It's okay, it should be so. We cut small corners (cuts) into them, so that later these edges are easier to bend and stick to the inside, from the side of which the panel will be mounted with speed switching, and from below, where the decorative rim will be pressed to the handle.
Stitching parts
The penultimate stage of the leather gear knob is stitching the right and left glued leather parts. This is done with the help of the same needle and kapron thread. The parts are pulled together according to the cross method - from the middle of one dotted stitch to the opposite, located a little higher. Then, reaching the edge, you should repeat the same “lacing” with free stitches using the same technique. When the front part is sewn, we proceed to the shorter back.
Assembly and installation of the gearshift knob in place
The final stage of the gear knob constriction is the insertion of the panel, the lower part and the installation of the handle in its place. All this is done as in disassembly, only in the reverse order. If everything is done correctly and in size, the look of your speed knob will be significantly more spectacular and aesthetic.
If you wish, you can see the video, which clearly shows all the stages of the banner.
Conclusion
When you have learned the simplest method by the example of the handle of the Vesta checkpoint, you can try more difficult patterns. Only now to tear off the leather casing glued to the base of the "Moment" handle will not be so simple. That is why experienced craftsmen in this business prefer the constriction of the gear knob by the method in which they do not resort to glue.
Such a “cover” from the handle will be very easy to remove. Only for beginners, this method does not always work. Here you need skill and experience of a different plan. In the meantime, that's all for today. Have a happy and safe ride and success in everything!