Upholstery Process

Bea Uphostery stapler. Shoots narrow crown staples, will tear through vinly unless used in groups.

Start in the center of the sides pulling tight and stapeling both sides and then working towards the cornes working both sides simultaneously.


Frequently turn over to check appearance

sides only are stapled the wrinkle on the end will get taken care of.

The pull is important. It is actually done with one hand dragging the vinyl form the front of the piece while the other pulls the salvage(extra material) on the back side. when pulling around a corner the objective is to pucker the waste a little with each staple changing the pull each staple to use up the excess fabrick generated by the turn. Pull tight to eliminate puckers and pleats outside the staple line.

Since I started with a large square of fabric rather than a patterned skin there is a lot of extra and it is getting in the way, so the sides are trimmed of excess fabric. cut about 1/4 inch past the staples for strength.


One end of this seat is a "V". I make relief cuts to ease the fabric around the shape. Better to cut shallow at first and extend as necessary. avoid making cuts that will go into the finished side of the seat.

The seat is stood up to beter access the end for stapleing.

THe other rounde end of the seat is having issues. The latch is in the way and had to be removed. It is clear that the vinyl will not stretch enough to form without puckers and will need some motivation.

Vinyl gets butchered when staples are removed. Fortunatly heat will allow this area to strech further so this section will be cut off as waste.

Heat with caution. I set the gun openings about 1/2 open, and stay about 8" away from the vinyl. I flipped the fabric up and heated the backing first. then more heat from the front side monitoring the surface temp with my free hand.

I was not able to duplicate the factory results. I wound up with a small pleat on each of the two rear corners, a small price to pay for the money saved by doing it myself. The remaining excess fabric was cut away, and the trim pieces were re-installed.

The last step was to rivet the rider strap back in place.

This project had a total cost of $26 for materials. I had all the staples and other materials on hand. I hope this helps anyone wishing to re-skin their seats.

Hopefully you don't hear any startling news when you are using that tack hammer with a mouthful of tacks! I had to read that part twice.

Joel,It seems wierd at first but it becomes second nature to work with a mouth full of tacks after a while. I have only swallowed one but it passed without incident.you get very sppedy at turning them aand sticking them to the magnet on the hammer.

Sebastian, Therre is a product called LVR (liquid vinyl repair) somewhat like rubber cement. it is good for stopping extension of rips. I have know idea where you would get it in your part of the world. I have a jar of clear stuff but they sell it in kits with colorants and textured plastic sheets , you mix a color to match and apply, then press on the textured sheet and leave until dry. I have never tried the kit, ans suspect the color match would be tricky but with some experamentation it might work well. I hate to recommend this but there are also some vinyl spray paints that match some colors well. You could glue up a tear, and then paint to match if you have a common vinyl color like white.

My mistake for confusing terms. I should know better. Narrow crown would refer to the distance between the staple legs. 1/4 " would be a narrow crown. I was trying to describe the staple guage. My air upholstery stapler shoots a staple similar to the guage of a common paper staple. Hand or electric guns tend to shoot staples that are a wider flat guage. With vinyl the smaller guage upholstery staples will tear through the vinyl if air pressure is to high or if you are stretching the heck out of the vinyl (as I usually am). A single staple placed in tightly pulled vinyl is to much for the vinyl and it will simply tear away when you release your hand from the strech to inspect or move on. Three staples about 1/4 inch apart end to end will usually be enough to hold the section until you can make the next smooth/pull action and be ready to continue stapleing. If using a hand or electric staple with the thicker metal staple there might be enough surface area to the staple that a single staple will hold. They can also be spaced farther apart. The disadvantage is in speed. An air stapler triggers as fast as the operator can go and is more nimble in operation. It has an extension on the nose that makes it easier to maintain contact with the piece. With hand or electric guns I usually will have numerous staples not completely driven in and I have to go back and hammer them down. with air this rarely occurs. I could not find a guage marked on my staple boxs. You just need the staples designed for your gun and then adapt your practices to their characteristics. I use 3/8th inch leg staples for boat work, no matter the guage.

What do you think of T50x3/8 S/S staples (thats what my hand stapler uses)

skutsch wrote: Thanks Dave! In the Common Questions section under the Replacing Upholstery thread I think you made a comment about 18 gauge being too big, so I was trying to narrow in on the right size. Sounds like something in the 1/4" Narrow Crown, 3/8" length 20 gauge is what I am going to aim for. Now to find an air powered stapler to match that staple!

I would find the stapler first then the staples. And I would go wide crown, 3/8th leg. I will do a serch tonight and see what I can find just for fun.

My wife got me the Arrow electric stapler for X mas
I used it on the trailer bunk carpet (pita) the hand stapler is a little more powerful. I'd Reeeaaalllyyy like an air stapler. I just don't use it that much. (yet)

skutsch,
   Looks like a good stapler and at a good price ?

Done! Will pick one up next week and let everyone know!

Looks like another fine choice.