Pimp My Dash

[RAY185]

I need to look at cleaning up my dashboard a bit on the 40. It looks like crap with old faded paint and holes where old decomissioned switches used to be. When I put the 60 series steering column in I was able to do away with the dash mounted wiper, hazard and headlight switches (all on the 60 combo switch now). After I paint up the dash I want to set up a switch panel, maybe stainless, to layout a neat cluster of labled switches. Does anyone have any tips or possibly pics of well set up switch panels? I was planning on using missile launcher style switches for all except the ARB Compressor/Locker and the existing choke and heater control knobs.

This is where I want to put the switch panel.



And this is a layout I was playing with.



I'm open to suggestions so let me know your thoughts.

[wrksux]

12voltguy.com

he does very nice bling work
My Brother in law in the US used his stuff and loves it, He also does custom work and its not that expensive

[V8 Middy]

Should be bling!!!! Do you want any guages while you're at it? Tacho or accurate temp or anything?

[RAY185]

I dont have the room for any gauges in that section. I have a tacho on the RHS of the dash and I think that will probably do me gauge wise. Someone told me instead of painting the dash I should put on that adhesive fake checker plate crap. That was just before I backhanded him.

[V8 Middy]

for $10, get a real piece of aluminium checker plate

[RAY185]

12voltguy.com

he does very nice bling work
My Brother in law in the US used his stuff and loves it, He also does custom work and its not that expensive

Great site, thanks.

[RAY185]

for $10, get a real piece of aluminium checker plate

Well yeah if I wanted the whole dash to be checker plate I'd buy checker plate, bt it would cost alot more than $10, the sash is about 1.5m wide. Paint will do just fine for the dash though, cheap, easy and much less glare.

[wrksux]

Im thinking something like this. very very very

http://12voltguy.com/images/m715.jpg

[just cruizin']

Speak to these guys

Aluimage Pty Ltd
8 Veronica St Capalaba 4157(07) 3245 6941

They can put a photo or any design u want onto a sheet of aluminium and the can also cut holes etc to get it exactly right.

I used them at my old job to manufacture the control panels on the sides of fire trucks. Lots of colours on black background.

Or Wolfe Signs(Geebung area)or Sumner Signs (Sumner Park) both can engrave a 3mm sheet of ally and infill with colour.

[chimpboy]

Speak to these guys

Aluimage Pty Ltd
8 Veronica St Capalaba 4157(07) 3245 6941

They can put a photo or any design u want onto a sheet of aluminium and the can also cut holes etc to get it exactly right.

I used them at my old job to manufacture the control panels on the sides of fire trucks. Lots of colours on black background.

Or Wolfe Signs(Geebung area)or Sumner Signs (Sumner Park) both can engrave a 3mm sheet of ally and infill with colour.

Hmm, what kind of prices?

[RAY185]

Speak to these guys

Aluimage Pty Ltd
8 Veronica St Capalaba 4157(07) 3245 6941

They can put a photo or any design u want onto a sheet of aluminium and the can also cut holes etc to get it exactly right.

I used them at my old job to manufacture the control panels on the sides of fire trucks. Lots of colours on black background.

Or Wolfe Signs(Geebung area)or Sumner Signs (Sumner Park) both can engrave a 3mm sheet of ally and infill with colour.

Sweet, now I just have to come up with a design I'm happy with. Anyone see any flaws with my layout?

[just cruizin']

Speak to these guys

Aluimage Pty Ltd
8 Veronica St Capalaba 4157(07) 3245 6941

They can put a photo or any design u want onto a sheet of aluminium and the can also cut holes etc to get it exactly right.

I used them at my old job to manufacture the control panels on the sides of fire trucks. Lots of colours on black background.

Or Wolfe Signs(Geebung area)or Sumner Signs (Sumner Park) both can engrave a 3mm sheet of ally and infill with colour.

Hmm, what kind of prices?

How long is a peice of string, depending what you want, everything is relative. From memory Aluimage were pretty good but we got a fair bit of stuff done too and always in multiples of about 10, runs are always cheaper.

[RAY185]

I think I'm pretty happy with this layout now. This is pretty much to scale after measuring all the switches.

Have to buy another ARB compressor switch to use for the OBA to keep the second row tidy.

IGN and H/BRAKE are warning lights.
HEAT, VENT, FAN and CHOKE are pull out knobs.
The whole top row will be missile switches with flip back red covers.

If there are no suggestions for changes I'll get cracking!

[bj42turbo]

There is a few 40 dash ideas here. http://www.ih8mud.com/interior


BJ

[just cruizin']

You could label these if you want and they can do that or put boarders around things if you want to group things. If you don't want any of these things you could get some carbon fibre water cut to size, that would look flash

[mac1cruz]

I think I'm pretty happy with this layout now. This is pretty much to scale after measuring all the switches.

Have to buy another ARB compressor switch to use for the OBA to keep the second row tidy.

IGN and H/BRAKE are warning lights.
HEAT, VENT, FAN and CHOKE are pull out knobs.
The whole top row will be missile switches with flip back red covers.

If there are no suggestions for changes I'll get cracking!

I like it looks user friendly and you would be using the locker switch's more then the other ones I would imagine and also the passenger if you had one could reach them too...It will also look bling and (TUFF)

[Mick_n_Sal]

Only suggestion that I can come up with is find somewhere else for your cigarette lighter - if you have any sort of accessory plugged in ( say for a GPS ) the plug and cable might be in the way.

Mick_n_Sal

[booflux]

Not 100% sure but have you left enough room so that you dont bump the locker switches while trying to reach the top row??

If you take into account trying to use a missile style switch on a bumpy track you may knock the second row switches

[chimpboy]

I don't mind the lay out but for that authentic feel what about using old-school style pull-push switches like the original ones? They are still available aftermarket and will look more stock.

Just a thought, not saying there's anything wrong with your plan as it is.

[wrksux]

if you use the design from the pic i posted a link with that could prevent this problem by having a small devider which not only looks bling actually works!

[RAY185]

Speak to these guys

Aluimage Pty Ltd
8 Veronica St Capalaba 4157(07) 3245 6941

They can put a photo or any design u want onto a sheet of aluminium and the can also cut holes etc to get it exactly right.

I used them at my old job to manufacture the control panels on the sides of fire trucks. Lots of colours on black background.

Or Wolfe Signs(Geebung area)or Sumner Signs (Sumner Park) both can engrave a 3mm sheet of ally and infill with colour.

Thanks for the info, just thought I'd follow up.

I was at the inlaws on the weekend and got my father in law to draw up the switch panel in Autocad. I got a copy of the file and sent it to 3 laser cutting mobs. 1 was Aluimage as per your recommendation. The quote was to cut a plate to size out of 1mm stainless sheet (which I would supply as I happened to have a piece), then to cut 10 x 10mm holes in their correct positions and 4 rectangular cut outs also in their correct positions.

Aluimage quoted me $120 and stated that this included the material as they didnt want to work with mine.

Another mob on the northside quoted me $100 (using my sheet).

Now this was way more than I was thinking of spending on this panel, I only thought of laser cutting for neatness and accuracy but for $100 I'd prefer to cut it myself and do a fair but not perfect job. Then the 3rd quote came in. $22.50 (using my sheet) and to top it off they are only 5 minutes away. So its there now and I should get the plate back early next week. I won't put up their details yet until I see the job finished, could be crap. Sometimes you get what you pay for but sometimes you are just plain getting ripped off.

[RAY185]

Only suggestion that I can come up with is find somewhere else for your cigarette lighter - if you have any sort of accessory plugged in ( say for a GPS ) the plug and cable might be in the way.

Mick_n_Sal

Great point. I've moved the cig lighter to the bottom row and done away with the 2 warning lights. They will be mounted on the other side of the dash.

Not 100% sure but have you left enough room so that you dont bump the locker switches while trying to reach the top row??

If you take into account trying to use a missile style switch on a bumpy track you may knock the second row switches

Yeah fair point there too. I did think about this but if you look at the lables on the top row they are not the sort of switches that you are likely to have to use while bouncing around in a track. You're more likely to activate or deactivate those switches once you've stopped or before you start moving. Either way I ended up spreading those switches out a bit more by taking out the warning lights and moving the choke and cig lighter to the bottom row.

I don't mind the lay out but for that authentic feel what about using old-school style pull-push switches like the original ones? They are still available aftermarket and will look more stock.

Just a thought, not saying there's anything wrong with your plan as it is.

Yeah not a bad idea at all but to be honest its just the sort of look I was going for. That would look great in a more authentic type of restoration project but my old rig is far from authentic.

if you use the design from the pic i posted a link with that could prevent this problem by having a small devider which not only looks bling actually works!

Very true but given the space I have to work with I think that type of divider would make it even harder to work the switch. That site has some great products but they are a lil on the expensive side when you consider the currency conversion, freight and waiting time ( I absolutely hate waiting for stuff). He is very good at what he does though. Now I just need to find a spot for the Elanor Switch!

[just cruizin']

Speak to these guys

Aluimage Pty Ltd
8 Veronica St Capalaba 4157(07) 3245 6941

They can put a photo or any design u want onto a sheet of aluminium and the can also cut holes etc to get it exactly right.

I used them at my old job to manufacture the control panels on the sides of fire trucks. Lots of colours on black background.

Or Wolfe Signs(Geebung area)or Sumner Signs (Sumner Park) both can engrave a 3mm sheet of ally and infill with colour.

Thanks for the info, just thought I'd follow up.

I was at the inlaws on the weekend and got my father in law to draw up the switch panel in Autocad. I got a copy of the file and sent it to 3 laser cutting mobs. 1 was Aluimage as per your recommendation. The quote was to cut a plate to size out of 1mm stainless sheet (which I would supply as I happened to have a piece), then to cut 10 x 10mm holes in their correct positions and 4 rectangular cut outs also in their correct positions.

Aluimage quoted me $120 and stated that this included the material as they didnt want to work with mine.

Another mob on the northside quoted me $100 (using my sheet).

Now this was way more than I was thinking of spending on this panel, I only thought of laser cutting for neatness and accuracy but for $100 I'd prefer to cut it myself and do a fair but not perfect job. Then the 3rd quote came in. $22.50 (using my sheet) and to top it off they are only 5 minutes away. So its there now and I should get the plate back early next week. I won't put up their details yet until I see the job finished, could be crap. Sometimes you get what you pay for but sometimes you are just plain getting ripped off.

That price is great,are they in Brendale, I think I may know the place. Quality shouldn't vary too much from place to place on cuts of thin material, main variance would be the drawing. On thick material the speed they cut has an impact. Some places don't like cutting stainless due to how the laser reflects etc.

[RAY185]

Nah, not at Brendale.

Laser Dynamics Australia Pty Ltd
95 Raubers Rd Northgate QLD 4013
ph: (07) 3267 9666

I hope it turns out well. They seem like a professional mob. I cant understand the huge difference in prices though. Someone mentioned that some of these businesses have a setup cost or minimum charge that makes 1 off jobs like this too expensive. I have the layout on Autocad file so as far as I know the machine should just cut straight off my layout, whats to setup? But I really have no idea how it all works.

[RAY185]

Pretty happy with how it came out. Now have to find the time to paint the dash and fit it all up.

[bazzle]

I would run just normal switches (not covered missile type) a lot easier, the covered ones are a pain IMO.
Prob too late now but a row of rocker switshes at the top for the lights would of fitted in well with the overall design.

Bazzle

[smiley_smoke]

looks good. make sure you put up some pics of the finished job..
cheers

[RAY185]

Bazzle, yeah I see where you're going but I have a strange fetish for missile switches, I don't find them annoying at all.

Have to find time to paint the dash up and fit the switches to the plate but I will post up pics once its all done. Just might be a while. Oh and on another note I found a supplier for ARB style rocker switches (exactly the same but without the locker symbols) to use for OBA.

[aussie_stu]

ray - I know how you feel with missile switches, I got em in my truck and boat

[evil_hitman]

Oh and on another note I found a supplier for ARB style rocker switches (exactly the same but without the locker symbols) to use for OBA.

Care to share? as i am looking round for a supplier in aus if possible.

Only one i have is similar to the arb ones (same size but switch cover not the same)

http://www.4x4mods.com/Product/Jeep/Roc ... tch40.html

Matt