Dash chronicles

Tinkerer · Feb 11, 2005

Here's the problem dash, with bits of aluminium plate the previous owner screwed over the holes of gauges etc he'd removed.

Here it is with the magnificent speedo I got yesterday trial fitted and the steering wheel removed.

In wider view with the very tired fake woodgrain decal across the width.

And the steering wheel and its mount sanded back ready for primer. No idea how this will go as the coating is a plasticised finish but I'm hoping the primers will let the epoxy paint stick and not just melt the original finish.

DJ · Feb 12, 2005

Re: Dash chronicles

It looks easy enough to cut a nice piece of wood to cover the entire dash area. It can be painted or stained, to suit your tastes.

Tinkerer · Feb 12, 2005

Re: Dash chronicles

Originally posted by DJ: It looks easy enough to cut a nice piece of wood to cover the entire dash area. It can be painted or stained, to suit your tastes.

Funny you should say that. Exactly what I've been thinking. But the beautiful piece of gloriously stained and glossy wood I've been thinking of putting in will stand out like dog's nuts against the aged other parts. Or I could cut and paint some aluminium sheet or a laminate to the same effect. I'm thinking about it. We'll see what evolves. Any other suggestions gratefully received.

DJ · Feb 12, 2005

Re: Dash chronicles

Yes, aluminum and laminate would look good to, but wood is cheaper and easier to work with. The beauty of paint is that you can get it to match anything, even age.

Tinkerer · Feb 12, 2005

Re: Dash chronicles

Originally posted by DJ: The beauty of paint is that you can get it to match anything, even age.

Does this mean I should paint my wife?

DJ · Feb 12, 2005

Re: Dash chronicles

I'm not going to touch that one.

Mark42 · Feb 12, 2005

Re: Dash chronicles

Tinkerer, I painted a VW beetle steering wheel with epoxy paint years ago. I had it for a few years after that and it never scratched from rings, etc. Another option for the dash is a piece of polycarbonate plastic. About 1/8" can be cut nice with a saber saw, then sand the edges and they look like the edge of auto door glass. The neat part is that it can be painted from the back side. The paint doesn't get scratched because it's on the back, and it has a nice deep clear finish. Silver, gold, black and white spray paints look the best, I think. Silver or gold might look nice with your color boat. It holds up to water well. You can put a bead of silicone around the edge and let it squish out and harden. After it hardens, trace the edge with a razor blade and peel off the excess silicone. I have done this in a car and painted it black. Looked like a factory piece. Did it in white for a control panel and silver on a electric guitar. You might what to test silver first because it can get a grain pattern in it if put on too wet. Light coats make it even. Remember it's your FIRST coat that you will see. I really like the spoke part of that steering wheel. It's gonna look great with fresh paint. Did you think of using vinyl 'dye' spray paint? I might work better than epoxy if its really soft. You will have to remove all the primer and clean it down to the original finish for it to work. It is designed to soak into plastic, not primer. It is flexable and strong enough to hold up to use on seats. Search for "SEM vinyl dye" on Yahoo. Don't you just hate it when people cut holes in dash boards? Mark.

Tinkerer · Feb 12, 2005

Re: Dash chronicles

Mark Thanks for the suggestion about polycarbonate painted from the back. A very neat idea. Would never have thought of that. I've added it to my possibilities. I'm still tending towards a wood finish just because I like the traditional timber dash, but the trouble is it might look a bit funny with that baby poo ochre colour I've got. I'm going to experiment with some wood stains and see if anything looks good. The plastic finish on the steering wheel is pretty firm. I need to paint it because of the substantial areas of bare metal. I'll give it a spray this arvo and see what happens. I've still got the original Ride Guide triangular emblem that fits in the middle of the steering wheel but it's a bit hard to get the last little bits of set adhesive off the back of the clear letters, which take their colour from the adhesive used behind them. Takes ages with an engineeer's pick. A good job for having a beer with. I don't mind people cutting holes in dashboards, as long as they're where I want them. Which they never are. I'm going to have to drop the steering wheel about 3/4 to 1" to fit a tacho above it. I could put the tacho to the side but it'd be unbalanced with two smaller gauges elsewhere. I want one gauge each side of the tacho. Things will slow down for a few days as the steering wheel paint needs a day between coats and I've a few other things to attend to. Will post again when there's any useful advance.

Tinkerer · Feb 18, 2005

Re: Dash chronicles

Originally posted by DJ: It looks easy enough to cut a nice piece of wood to cover the entire dash area. It can be painted or stained, to suit your tastes.

That's what I thought, too. Wrong. And I'm an experienced woodworker with a good set of tools. No great level of skill required but very time consuming and requires very careful work. I've cut it and it's ready for finish coats.

The dash lines are deceptive. There's not a straight line anywhere on the top of the dash. A lot of the gauge and switch holes are odd sizes that can't be cut with standard bits or hole saws. I couldn't have cut them without expanding bits and an adjustable circle cutter, which aren't things everybody has. The holes have to be very precise. The bezels on gauges and switches are only about 1/16" to 1/8". Cut oversize by more than that and the gauge will fall through. Cut too close to that and the gauge won't fall through but there will be daylight around part of the bezel. Each odd size hole required several test holes to be cut in scrap first to get the expanding bit or circle cutter adjusted just right. The scales on them are as meaningless as the scales on most other woodworking tools. A millimetre or about 1/24" on the radius makes a real big difference. I was getting down to half millimetre adjustments to get it right. My digital vernier was very handy in measuring gauge and switch diameters and setting bit and circle cutter radii. An analog vernier would be fine but you'd want one with a locking screw on it, not those cheap plastic things that are alright for coarse work. I like digital because I need a magnifying glass these days to read an analog scale. Some of the holes were odd sizes but too small for the expanding bit. They had to be drilled with standard bits and enlarged fractionally with a rotary rasp in a drill. The next problem was that none of the switches are designed to go through anything thicker than about 4 to 5 mm, which is half the thickness of the ply I'm using. So I had to cut out bigger holes to half depth on the back to allow them to fit through and screw down. The steering wheel is painted. I'll put a few coats on the timber over the next few days and post again when it's ready. Might take a bit longer as, despite lots of experiments with stains and varnishes on scrap, I can't decide on the right stain to go with that green / ochre colour so I'm going to use a light varnish and if that looks wrong I can probaby deepen it later. And if I don't like that I'll paint the bloody thing because I ain't cutting another one!

tengals123 · Feb 19, 2005

Re: Dash chronicles

thats a nice looking dash. What colour you going to stain it in?

Tinkerer · Feb 19, 2005

Re: Dash chronicles

Originally posted by tengals123: thats a nice looking dash. What colour you going to stain it in?

tengals Thanks. The worst part of the dash design was trying to fit it into the existing shape. The best I could do was the angled ends. The left end works but the right one is a bit awkward. Should be OK when the steering wheel goes in. I got brave and decided to just spray it with the colour that seemed about right, and that I like regardless of trying to match it with the impossible green / ochre fibregalass, and it seems like it's OK. It's a mid-range to light dark varnish tending towards mahogany / light rosewood, although Wattyl calls it Dark Mahogany in its One-Step Gloss range. Not sure if they still make that range. Just one of the tins I happened to have on the shelf. I bought a few other stains and varnishes to test and as usual they bore no relation to the samples in the shop when I applied them at home. Here's the first couple of light sprays which I've done in the past hour so they're still wet and drying in patches. Thinned about 60:40 varnish:general purpose thinners. Should darken nicely with more coats. Photo colour is reasonably accurate. I'll give it another few coats over the next day or two and sand back with 1200 grit to get rid of the grain that'll raise with the early coats, then another 5 or 6 coats over the next few days. Might need to sand again in between if more grain raises I want at least 4 coats over the last sanding as they're thin coats.

tengals123 · Feb 20, 2005

Re: Dash chronicles

yep she's a beauty. great effort mate. Cant wait to see it on. cheers

Tinkerer · Feb 26, 2005

Re: Dash chronicles

Continued at http://www.iboats.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=26&t=002662

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