Following some robust discussion on the Absolute Pace Facebook page regarding gauges, I was inspired to look into giving mine a refresh.
When I originally started the build of my car, I was gifted a period correct Smith Temperature gauge. I was able to source most of the other minor gauges, but could not find a Tach and Speedo. Smiths at the time were difficult or impossible to get, so I got the Howards refaced version of the VDO. They never looked quite right and the paint is now flaking off the needles, so time for a refresh.
This is how they looked:
Puling apart is not too difficult. You need to gently pry up the bezel from the back as it is crimped on. It was not crimped down too tightly so come off reasonably easily:
Here is the old face, printed on to 0.5mm styrene sheet. The resolution of the printing was not great:
I scanned the face as a starting point for the artwork - drew up in ACAD and imported into illustrator which is what the laser cutter talks to. Did a first run today with just some good quality black cardboard. Looks much better than the old one already. Put the Terlingua bunny on there for something different - not sure Ill go with her for the final version:
For the final version Ill use this stuff -
https://www.engraving-supplies.com.a...s/trolase.html
It is an acrylic laminate - solid white with a matt black thin layer on top. The laser cutter eats off the top layer in order to show the white beneath for the graphics and text etc.
A fun project I thought I would share.