Custom instrument panel face?

[WissaMan]

I've been toying with the idea of making a custom instrument panel face, but I want it to look like it came from the factory.

The panel in my 68 Chryslers use a combination of marks painted onto the black metal back panel and letters that are etched/engraved into the clear front cover. The painted letters, I assume were silk-screened. But the clear plastic, I wonder how the factory engraved and painted those numbers and letter? The only thing I could think of would be to buy a CNC engraver and do it with that. Then very carefully hand paint the recessed letters. But that's not how they would've done it in the 60's is it? Does anyone have any insight into how they did it?

So why go through the trouble? A couple ideas I have would be to re-purpose the failure-prone ammeter to make it perhaps an oil pressure or water temp gauge. How about giving the car a 150mph speedo? I also think it'd be cool to put a tach where the clock would go or, even more clever, where the PRND21 indicator is on my 4-speed cars. But in all cases, I'd want it to look like factory work.

I know that I really need to focus on the other projects and hobbies I have going already and not get into yet another off-the-wall time sink, but I can day dream

 

[marko]

i like what these guys did to a 66 newport cluster

Redline Gauge Works Refurbs A Retro Chrysler Cluster - Mopar Connection Magazine | A comprehensive daily resource for Mopar enthusiast news, features and the latest Mopar tech

 

[WissaMan]

Wow, yeah that's just about exactly what I was thinking about -- even converted the PRND21 to a tach! Schweet! I don't think they did any customization to the clear covering panel though. Just the white lettering on the black background

 

[mr. fix it]

i like what these guys did to a 66 newport cluster

Redline Gauge Works Refurbs A Retro Chrysler Cluster - Mopar Connection Magazine | A comprehensive daily resource for Mopar enthusiast news, features and the latest Mopar tech

View attachment 432249

Tried finding this but not shown on website.
Not that it matters much to me, I wonder what the cost is on this conversion...

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Love that 65-66 Newport speedo conversion. Gorgeous!! I really like the fact that they replaced the temp and oil idiot lights with gauges.

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

Tried finding this but not shown on website.
Not that it matters much to me, I wonder what the cost is on this conversion...

Speedhut gauges used. About $700 US just in the gauges, not including any custom programming of the gauges or labour to rework the cluster itself.

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

Replacing the ammeter with a voltmeter is a fun DIY project. This FB photo album is public so anyone should be able to see it. If not I will repost the photos and instructions here.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10156625161129460&type=3

 

[mr. fix it]

Speedhut gauges used. About $700 US just in the gauges, not including any custom programming of the gauges or labour to rework the cluster itself.

That’s a chunk of change

 

[Big_John]

But the clear plastic, I wonder how the factory engraved and painted those numbers and letter?

Injection molded, no engraving. I'm not sure if they used a masking or some sort of silk screening to "fill" the numbers/letters though.

If I were to try to duplicate, I would see if it could be silk screened on flat plastic.

 

[WissaMan]

I have an old "digital duplicator" in our copier graveyard that I'm going to try to fire up one of these days which is basically a modern version of the old time stencil duplicators. It creates the master at 600dpi and prints onto paper with a thick water based ink. I'm going to see if it works and if it does, I'm going to see if the stencils it creates can be used for silk screening with paint. Would be pretty cool if it does!

 

[69_topless]

This might seems kind of offtopic, but recently I found a device transferring existing signals from various sensors into OBDII format and sending them via Bluetooth to your iPhone or Android application i.e. Real Dash. Such a way you can use your cellphone/tablet as digital gauges, just when needed. Or keep your old cellphone installed hidden in an ashtray?

SP Leinonen DashBox

The next level possible is to design a digital dash of your existing setup and just add the digital gauges you are missing. Like on new cars, complete digital dash, including turn signals, high beams, GPS based speedometer, fuel level etc. But I think it's overkill.

 

[WissaMan]

I had thoughts about a totally digital dash. Could probably run it with a Raspberry Pi. However, the main obstacle I encountered, at least with the 68 Chrysler are the dimensions of the dash area itself. It's very wide but short. I did some searching for a monitor or even a raw LCD screen of appropriate size but could not find anything close. I'm sure if you could get one custom made to any size, if you have the volume, but for a one-off project like this I don't know if there's anything available. If you weren't looking to replicate the OEM look, but rather make a fully custom digital dash, I suppose you could go with multiple displays stitched together and then just keep the various gauges and indicators isolated on their respective screens.

 

[69_topless]

It's hard to guess whats size required, but did you try aliexpress? Most of LCD is done in China, unfortunately, but there is plenty of ultra wide to choose from. If you remove the existing panel, the part could be maybe stay hidden behind the dash if is bigger and just design the instruments for the visible area. There is one 8,8 x 2,5inch for example, but perhaps you find a more accurate size.

US $34.65 30% OFF|HSD088IPW1 A00 LCD Display 8.8'' IPS 1920x480 Screen Panel For In car Display Advertising Stretched Bar MIPI 40 Pins 600 Nits|Mobile Phone LCD Screens| - AliExpress

 

[WissaMan]

It's been way too cold here to do anything car-related out in my non-heated building. So I took the opportunity to work on my digital gauge display I've been thinking about.

My original idea was to put a small LCD display where the clock goes on the 1968 Chryslers. My original plan was to use an Arduino since I already had some experience with them. However, what I came to realize is that they aren't really easy to work with when it comes to displays, if you want more than just printing some text or drawing lines. Moving things around, clipping, etc. was going to require a whole lot of work and the refresh rate on the display I was experimenting with wasn't so great.

So I decided to look into a Raspberry Pi. They are a basically a full-blown computer with an HDMI output so there were a lot more options for displays right off the bat. It would require starting from scratch learning a new programming language (Python) but I actually like learning new programming. The great thing about Python is that it is so widely used and supported, you can find all kinds of code modules that are already written and work.

This video is what I have achieved so far. It's not hooked up to any sensors, I'm just entering values and using keys to increase/decrease values. I want the gauges to look and act like the real, sluggish, analog gauges. I haven't achieved it perfectly but I'm pretty happy with my progress so far. Let me know what you think

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

It's been way too cold here to do anything car-related out in my non-heated building. So I took the opportunity to work on my digital gauge display I've been thinking about.

My original idea was to put a small LCD display where the clock goes on the 1968 Chryslers. My original plan was to use an Arduino since I already had some experience with them. However, what I came to realize is that they aren't really easy to work with when it comes to displays, if you want more than just printing some text or drawing lines. Moving things around, clipping, etc. was going to require a whole lot of work and the refresh rate on the display I was experimenting with wasn't so great.

So I decided to look into a Raspberry Pi. They are a basically a full-blown computer with an HDMI output so there were a lot more options for displays right off the bat. It would require starting from scratch learning a new programming language (Python) but I actually like learning new programming. The great thing about Python is that it is so widely used and supported, you can find all kinds of code modules that are already written and work.

This video is what I have achieved so far. It's not hooked up to any sensors, I'm just entering values and using keys to increase/decrease values. I want the gauges to look and act like the real, sluggish, analog gauges. I haven't achieved it perfectly but I'm pretty happy with my progress so far. Let me know what you think

What a coincidence, I was talking with my brother just today. He was interested in using an Arduino to make a car-puter to display digital gauges in his NYer. I recommended a Raspberry Pi instead. It should have enough horsepower to also act as an MP3 player for a hidden stereo system. You gauge faces look good. What do you plan to use for an A/D converter?

 

[WissaMan]

I haven't gotten that far yet (A/D converter) other than to know that I will need one. Whereas the Arduino had that built-in. If your brother already has decent experience with the Arudino, it could work out ok for him. With the proper knowledge and programming, I'm sure it could probably pull off a digital color gauge display. But if he's just starting out and hasn't invested a lot of time into Arduino, I'd definitely recommend he consider a Raspberry Pi.

I'm using Python and it's not terribly hard to learn. And there's just so much info out there on the net regarding the Pi and Python. I'm using a module called "pygame" which is targeted towards writing games, but has the basic graphics commands that I need.

One nice thing about using a Pi and Python is that I can write code on my Windows PC and run it instantly to test it, without even needing my Pi connected. Once I'm happy w/ it I can copy it over to the Pi and run it there without any changes. With Arduino you have to have it connected and compile/upload your code to test. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but when you're working on a program, chasing bugs and making tweaks, that time adds up fast.

I didn't even think about the other aspects like you suggested -- mp3 player -- that's a great idea and I suspect wouldn't be too hard with a Pi and Python.

 

[WissaMan]

I also think you have a much greater choice of displays with the Pi since it has HDMI output.

I obtained a small HDMI display off ebay. 4.3" with 480x272 resolution. I already got it working with the Pi and it wasn't hard -- just had to go into the config file and manually enter the resolution since it wasn't available by default.

 

[WissaMan]

Now that I think of it, since the Pi has built-in wifi, you could create a hotspot with your phone and have the Pi connect to it to stream music. I don't know how, but chances are someone out there has done it.

 

[65sporty]

Replacing the ammeter with a voltmeter is a fun DIY project. This FB photo album is public so anyone should be able to see it. If not I will repost the photos and instructions here.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10156625161129460&type=3

What did you use for a voltmeter? I love the work you did. I wouldn't mind doing this on the father in laws 65 sport fury

 

[bnz84]

So trying to put this in terms that I (and others ) can understand. I'm going to get it wrong so please correct me. Raspberry Pi and Arduino are the operating systems that run a mini PC, kind of like Windows on a desktop or laptop. But these operating systems are open to modification and customization as well as completely separate programs written by users. A dashboard display would be one of these custom programs written/coded by a user. Key parts of this, besides the all important custom code, would be connecting to the display and getting the inputs (speed, rpm, etc) from the car itself. In a new car a OBDII port would typically be used?? but with old car we need electrical/analog signals to be converted to digital so the code can read and understand it. These interfaces pieces would have to be physical hardware pieces/chips not typically a part of these mini PCs.

So tell me if I'm even close. And if I am why use this versus a Microsoft windows mini PC? And could just the needle be programed to move on top of a digital picture of an existing gauge? thnx. Car PCs are very interesting and a little unnerving consider what they could control. Would give a new meaning to "crashed" my computer today. I need skin grafts but avoided blue screen of death.

Also found what I think is a good price on a RBPi kit. $80 after code LABIST1