Hot Rods Making a 37 Chevy dash insert

Went through the same thing with my '35 Chevy. It has a '34 master dash in it, and had the exact same ball-milled insert as yours. I wanted to mill off the ball-milled lines, and engine turn the insert. I finally decided that would be too much going on, because I would want to do the glove box door to match. So I made a dash insert from a sheet of guitar pick guard material, cut with a router, and held in place with double stick tape and the gauges holding it in place. Very happy with the results.

 

BTW, here's where I started.

 

I really wish I had a brake.



It’d make bending things easier. I don’t have space for a big one, and the little ones I’ve seen at HF are crap. Need to build a small one for myself, maybe this summer.

Checking figment.



It could be an 1/8” longer, but it fills the hole, and fits vertically between the mounting studs.

I read or heard somewhere that starting with a shiny surface is good.



Hard to get a picture of shiny. Hand sanded, wet, to 1000 grit.

Not ready to turn the real one yet, but scraps are good practice prices.






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Not ready to turn the real one yet, but scraps are good practice pieces.






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Looking Good!

 

Here’s something I haven’t seen anywhere else. The cratex rod is rubber, so somewhat flexible. Cut down and chucked in my drill press with 3/4” sticking out, it makes circles, but the end is wobbling all over the place while it’s in contact with the piece.

I picked up some brass tubing from the local hardware store. Cut a few inch long piece off, stuffed the cratex in the end, and crimped the other end to keep it from going in any further.

With 1/8” or so remaining stickout, the wobbling is gone.



And the circles look clearer and better defined.



Compare the last two rows (modified cratex) with the previous rows (cratex alone).




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I experimented with this years ago and found the same problem. I never solved it.
Now that I see what you did, I would make a sleeve, thread the backside and use a set screw to adjust the cratex protrusion.

 

David, love the parquet floor! This insert will be awesome, can't wait to see it lit up.

 

I thought about something like that. Adjustable stop, setscrew, etc. I opted for a quick low tech crimp. I can push more cratex out with a small stick, and crimp behind it again.

I guess I could make the fancy version, then sell them as a cratex holder, engine turning accessory. Probably sell at least two or three. But I already turned my other hobby in to a business. Don’t need another one of those.



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Laughs. The floor is my basement. It’s cheap stick down tile squares. The PO had it put down because somebody told him that a “finished” basement would help sell the house. Whoever did it had no idea what they were doing, it looks like they just started in a corner and went out from there. It’s well stuck down, and looks ok, I guess, if you don’t mind the wavy lines and misaligned corners. On the up side, I don’t mind damaging it from time to time, and have a big stack of spares to replace bad ones with.



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A couple of updates from the weekend.



I set up some MDF as a table extension for my little drill press. Originally I had the yardstick behind the work piece, but mocking it up I found I was going to run out of room that way. By the final pass, the yardstick wouldn’t fit between the piece and the column. Moving the stick to the front fixed that.

The brass tube worked well. Keeps the cratex stick from going all wobbly when it hits the surface. Crimping it wasn’t actually needed. Just chucking it in the drill press worked fine. The chuck jaws provided plenty of compression to keep the cratex in place.



Took about eight hours to turn this panel. Did some Friday night after work, some Saturday night after family stuff during the day, and the rest on Sunday. Took a few little breaks in there too.

Used a 3/8” cratex “medium” stick and a 3/16” x 3/16” pattern. I’m not sure that I’m happy with the results. I’m thinking I should have gone 1/4” x 1/4” on the pattern, to allow more of the circle to show. Also, maybe should have used a coarse cratex, maybe.

I’m going to look at it some more, but I might sand it down and do it again.




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It does look a little busy. But, might look different to you with the gauges in it. Can you paste some gauge pictures on it to see?

 

Nice! when you perfect it I'm gonna send you my dash insert Good work and persistence .

 

2nd one is easier, right?



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Yeah, I haven’t cut the holes yet. But the center “eye” of the circles isn’t showing. Not quite the same effect as I think a bigger pattern would give me.


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Do a mock up of your gauge lay out and then decide. Looks good to me, but the gauges being there will break up the pattern. Good, bad or otherwise, it will be easier to decide what you like. Share if you like, we always like pictures!

 

It’s the pattern itself I’m not totally happy with...

Here’s a closeup



Hard to get a clear picture of a shiny surface. I think the circles should have been further apart horizontally. I went with 3/16”. Thinking they should have been 1/4”, maybe 5/16”. Same thing vertically, this is 3/16”, should have been 1/4” or 5/16”. Enough to let the center of the overlapped circle show. Row to row offset, I used 3/16”, thinking maybe 1/8” would be better.

Here’s a sample, from cratex’s web site to show the difference.



That’s a 3/4” cratex, with .400” horizontal and vertical spacing, and 1/8” offset for each row.

https://www.cratex.com/engine-turning-sticks

Also reading their web site, I think I’m using the wrong grit. This is a medium grit, good for aluminum, less for stainless. I want a coarse grit stick.

Probably also should be running this at a higher RPM, and with some lube to prevent heating the metal. There are some places where the rod wasn’t as fresh, that the pattern is not even, and where it looks like I may have gotten it too hot.

So, a good first attempt, but I’m going to spend a lot of time looking at this dash panel, so “eh, kinda good enough” isn’t what I’m aiming for. It’s going to suck to sand it down, but I think that’s going to have to happen.

Fortunately, it’s too damned cold out to want to spend any time in the garage.



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Hard to live with good enough when you're looking at it every time you are in your car. That means more practice/research until you find the "right" one. I think the one you did is a helluva good first attempt!

 

I've seen some where the horizontal spacing is almost the full diameter. Looks like fish scales.
I agree, nice first attempt. You'll get it the way you want.
Don't you hate being a perfectionist?

 

Testing... The Fender amp lamps came with #47 (6 volt) bulbs. Looked kinda washed out when lit. Swapped for blue and red LEDs. 12V and much better colour saturation of the lens.



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What is the diameter of those lights. They look very cool!

 

3/4” at the bezel. 1/2” at the jewel.



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Thanx

 

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Got my Cratex order finally.



1/4” row x 1/4” column spacing, 1/8” offset for each row. Using a 3/16” coarse Cratex stick, with my brass tube to keep it from wandering. Upped the RPM on the drill press to 800. Lubed the panel with WD40. About 2 seconds on each pull of the handle.

Happy with the results now.



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Looks good ,pulling my dash insert tomorrow..Whats your address David?

 

That's COOL

 

Looks Great !

 

I’ve been following since the start.

I see a big difference in this one!!!!

It’s looks really nice!!!
Good work!!!!


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