Anyone make their own instrument cluster panel out of plastic?

[scorpion]

I've been using some Black 1" HDPE for other projects around the shop and noticed the other day that the surface texture is similar to that of the factory cluster panel ('74 chevy) and wondered if anyone has made their own using plastic before.  I've searched the net and can't find a single thread about anyone doing so which surprises me.  Anyone here ever heard of someone doing it before?  Seems it wouldn't be that difficult only time consuming.  Thanks.

[bake74]

     I would think the time involved to cast your own plastic cluster would not be worth it, unless you plan on going into production and sell them.
     Moulding plastic for 1 piece would be very time consuming.

[theaddictedchef]

I'm not sure this is allowed.......might get an email from Kapt.  I am not selling this, just letting you know that I have a cluster housing out of a '73 that has a bunch of broken tabs.  If you pay the shipping, I will give it to you.  If you had an extra, maybe you could mess with it and not worry about messing your other one up.  Just a thought.

[scorpion]

     I would think the time involved to cast your own plastic cluster would not be worth it, unless you plan on going into production and sell them.
     Moulding plastic for 1 piece would be very time consuming.

Actually I was considering machining one out of 1-inch thick plastic sheet.  I originally purchased it to make some end mill trays. 



And the texture I was referring to.

[scorpion]

I'm not sure this is allowed.......might get an email from Kapt.  I am not selling this, just letting you know that I have a cluster housing out of a '73 that has a bunch of broken tabs.  If you pay the shipping, I will give it to you.  If you had an extra, maybe you could mess with it and not worry about messing your other one up.  Just a thought.

Thanks for the offer but I should be able to get measurements off of the one I have in the truck.  I should have to do anything destructive to it during the process.

[roger97338]

I'm also a machinist, and that's a great looking end mill tray!

[scorpion]

I'm also a machinist, and that's a great looking end mill tray!

Thanks, I got tired of alack of organization in my tooling drawers and expensive end mills and taps moving around.  Decided to do something about it when I ended up with some left over cutting board material.



And the tap drawer...



So the idea is to machine a dash cluster out of this material.  Probably make it out of six pieces and glue them together to make an assembly.  Guess no one has seen it done before which surprises me a little.  I always have difficulties thinking that, in this day and age, there can be new ideas still.  Lol

[pholliday1]

Gotta love them Stanley Vidmar cabinets! I have 5 and there such an awesome way to organize things.

[Captkaos]

I haven't considered it out of plastic, but I think you would have to do it out of one piece, depending on how you plan to attach them.

[scorpion]

Gotta love them Stanley Vidmar cabinets! I have 5 and there such an awesome way to organize things.

Diffidently the best chests I've had.  Wish they were easier to get your hands on used.  Seems like everyone knows to grab them when they surface.  Gotta be lucky.

[scorpion]

I haven't considered it out of plastic, but I think you would have to do it out of one piece, depending on how you plan to attach them.

The angle change between the center, left, and right of the cluster is the challenge. I figure, at bare minimum, it will have to be three pieces.  Not sure how that will look.  I almost have all of my gauges so I might try it on one section to see how it turns out.  I think the biggest issue would be scratch resistance.  Plastic sheet like this is essentially cutting board so it will scratch and gouge unlike the hard plastic of a factory dash.  I guess I could use the stuff to machine inserts for the factory dash. 

[VileZambonie]

Are you talking about making a gauge cluster or the bezel?

[Captkaos]

There is also and offset on the left where the lower gauges are stepped in.

[scorpion]

Are you talking about making a gauge cluster or the bezel?

Sorry, referring to the bezel.  Got the gauges.  Lol

[scorpion]

There is also and offset on the left where the lower gauges are stepped in.

Yeah, that's why I was thinking that something like this (obviously an over simplification)

Could be three pieces

Or 4, 5, or 6 pieces

The benefit of smaller pieces is that making any one piece would be less involved to machine, easier to replace/change in the future (add a switch or need to move something, I mess with only one of the pieces), and would make mistakes easier to fix (if I blow a piece while machining, I don't have to remake the entire dang thing).