V8S Dashboard

[gifdy]

I'm having the dashboard and heater panel drawn up in CAD so I can have a new one cut out. The holes and cut-outs will be changing around a bit but the outline drawings, stud placements etc may be useful for someone else. What format should I get the files in so they can be imported to other tools ?

Cheers.

[HvdWeerden]

If it is just lasercutting for a flat plate a DXF file would be best.
In case you need to machine parts (3D) suppliers normally can handle STP files.

[gifdy]

It's a flat plate so I'll ask for .DXF

Thanks

[Bobhon]

gifdy said:

I'm having the dashboard and heater panel drawn up in CAD so I can have a new one cut out....

Cheers.

Have you thought of looking at a group buy, maybe getting a better price on it? If the price was right I would be interested. I want to get a new one re-veneered and do a straight swap over.

Bob

[v8s4me]

If you're having new one's made have you though about using a different heater control? One with sliders which work better, make it easier to remove and refit to the dash and have decent illumination? Just a thought.

[gifdy]

Bobhon said:

gifdy said:

I'm having the dashboard and heater panel drawn up in CAD so I can have a new one cut out....

Cheers.

Have you thought of looking at a group buy, maybe getting a better price on it? If the price was right I would be interested. I want to get a new one re-veneered and do a straight swap over.

Bob

The one I'm having done is a bit of a 'special' which doesn't have the original dials etc so I doubt others would want the same. The drawings would be a good start for someone to sort this out though. I'll provide them to anyone who's interested.

[gifdy]

v8s4me said:

If you're having new one's made have you though about using a different heater control? One with sliders which work better, make it easier to remove and refit to the dash and have decent illumination? Just a thought.

I did look at that but ran out of time looking for alternative controls so I'm just sticking with the originals for the time being.

[v8s4me]

You wait 'till you go to put the buer back on!

[V8Smith]

Kenny, looking forward to seeing it all finished, sounds very interesting mate

[v8s4me]

Just remembered. My dash panel was a tight fit in the dash moulding so to avoid damaging the new veneer and to make it easy to slide in and out of the moulding when refitting it all, I ground the edges down all round. This made no difference cosmetically when it was all back together but made it so much easier to work on. So maybe worth a thought when you have your batch?

[gifdy]

Good advice ! I did bring it in a couple of mm from the original but for slightly different reasons. One option is to wrap/skin it in Carbon Fibre so I wanted a bit of space round the edges to wrap it around. If I don't like that then I'll remove it and have the panel veneered.

I get it back tomorrow so I'll see if it works out.

[gifdy]

Finally finished it ! Unfortunately I couldn't get hold of a full set of the smoked warning light covers so I've gone for some coloured ones for the time being. I've got the .DXF files for the panels if anyone wants them.

[SJS357]

Looks great Kenny.

[v8s4me]

Very nice! Is that a starter button below the tacho?

[gifdy]

Thanks Chaps. Yep, it's a starter button

[V8Smith]

Very nice Kenny, lookmforward to seei itmin the flesh, wemwill have to go for a blast out once it's all done. Love the starter button, I was going to do the same, I bought the button but then didn't get around to fitting it...

[techbotics]

Quality.. That is really very good.

I need one.. Was it cut from the CF or is it something else wrapped..? If CF would love more details like who cut it for you.

Cheers

Damian S3

[gifdy]

techbotics said:

Quality.. That is really very good.

I need one.. Was it cut from the CF or is it something else wrapped..? If CF would love more details like who cut it for you.

Cheers

Damian S3

I tried CF pre-preg first but didn't really like the gloss finish and it was also difficult to get a nice finish on the edges. See the dash panel below :



I then got a panel cut out of mild steel. The idea was to try it with the CF film first, if I liked it I would then use the panel to make a mould and lay-up a dash out of CF cloth so I could get a better edge and use a satin lacquer. If I didn't like the look of the CF dash then I'd get the mild steel veneered in walnut. As it turns out the finish using the film is fantastic and as long as you're very careful turning it over the edges and round the cut-outs etc then it looks good all round. I don't think I'll get it that much better using CF cloth so I'm staying with this.

If you're just after CF 'look' I'd just cover your current dash panel with the film.

[techbotics]

hello I want to move the switches myself so if you don't mind could I have a copy of your files to modify.. Thanks Damian S3

[TvrJohn]

bump