Projects Have You Ever made something just to take your mind off Winter?

I can list many reasons why I'm not too fond of Winter. Every year I eagerly anticipate the arrival of Spring. For those of us living in cold weather climates, Winter can begin to feel as if it's never going to end. Several weeks ago we had some mild weather so I took the opportunity to put together an aluminum dash. Several years ago a friend cut some panels for me, since this one was hanging on my dash rack, I thought I would bring it to life. I designed this dash which is modeled after the old Stewart Warner Navigator 5 panel.



I found a set of gauge bezels that I though would compliment the dash and gauges.


After polishing the dash I placed it in my drill press for some engine turning




I bought a bag of allen head bolts and gave them a good buff and polish.


This took far too long, but they sure turned out nice.


After some prep I was able to get the bezels painted.




After drilling far too many holes, it was beginning to take shape...


Then it was time to put some threads on the toggle switch guards


Old Man Winter was nice enough to drop 12" of snow on us and dip the temps into the single digits. The good news is I was nearing final assembly so I could work on it at the kitchen table while the wife was at work.

 

Wow! Looks great...

 

That looks mint, I struggle with winter down here and it generally only gets as cold as zero Celsius

 

Nice dash! How did the engine turning go around the gauge holes? We used to engine turn the panels then drill the gauge holes. Really like the U bolts around the toggle switches. Bob

 

Well executed automotive jewelry!
Most impressive!

 

Awesome!





Bones

 

That's way cooler than the shirts and stickers I'm working on. Lol

Long live engined turned anything!

 

That’s beautiful work !
Real craftsmanship in that assembly,,,,,,better than store bought !

Tommy

 

First, real fine work!
Second, every time I get down about the cold weather we have, you folks bring me back to reality and I get a bit of motivation to go into the shop when it’s 40 outside.

 

Time well spent..."turned" out real nice.

 

Nice work. I stay on projects all year, if you can take the chill off in the garage it's OK, doesn't need to be 70.

Little bit of shop time clears the head.

Or. You can stay inside and watch "The Shining" over and over......

 

All I made was a snowman, nice job.

 

Great job!!

 

WOW, very nice work!

 

Nice! I bought a 70 yr old bandsaw and gave it a rebuild with a custom paint job to keep my mind and hands busy.

 

post pics.

 

Beautiful! I would not want to pay to have that done, paying by the hour.

Ben

 

Great work, love making something out of nothing! Always seems to make winter up north better.

 

Thank you everyone for all the positive comments. I listed it for sale because well....you can't keep all of them.

With aluminum such as this dash, it can get pretty tricky as the sharp edges around the gauge holes really mar the Cratex stick. This causes your swirls that are near your gauge holes to look rough as the stick mars when it catches the sharp edge of the hole. Also, because aluminum is so darn soft, you can only allow the Cratex stick to contact the aluminum for about 1 second at most. Otherwise you run the risk of creating a rough looking swirl. Because I used gauge bezels on this dash, I had a little fudge room and didnt have to run the Cratex stick against the holes.

I find that stainless steel and copper are really friendly to Cratex sticks and you don't typically run into that problem.

If you have access to a Water Jet, CNC machine, or laser cutter, I wonder if it would be best to engine turn a sheet of material first, then let the machine cut out the dash and holes. I think that would be best when using aluminum.

 

Made a shelter for my 1940 diamond t van.
Had a fire and jack honey..it was great
.

 

Thank you @firstinsteele for acknowledging that. Having a machine shop cut you a custom dash is not cheap. After materials, set-up, writing the CAD, and time/labor you have a small fortune into a project. When you receive your dash, it's in raw form. It then needs to be polished, engine-turned, and then turned into a custom piece with additions such as gauge bezels, jewel lights, switches, gauges, etc. It's easy to understand why many can or would not invest the time and money into something like this. I do it simply because it's fun and I get enjoyment out of it. I have a friend that has access to a laser cutter and we've traded work for work, so I have an "in" and he is a great guy. But I can see how a project like this can be difficult to justify...unless you have connections..and are willing to do it simply because you enjoy the work.

Maybe its like when mountain climbers are asked why they climb mountains and the only response they can think of is, "Because it was there"

 

During my productive years at the Fire Dept. I worked with a lot of aluminum, drilling , tapping, machining, etc. I discovered that normal lubricants didn’t work good on aluminum, it tended to guald. While at my supply house, I discovered an aluminum tapping lubricant, while buying some “ Rapid Tap”. I used this stuff a lot after that! It makes working with aluminum a whole lot easier. Not sure if it would help in your case, as I don’t recall ever using it with abrasives. Just a thought!
Again, outstanding work! I fell in love with engine turning, the first time I saw it as a kid and yours looks great!






Bones

 

Today I am waiting for my Cratex engine turning kit to arrive. I did some experimenting with scotchbrite and valve grinding compound, but the small Cratex points reversed in the chuck worked the best, and are really nice on stainless. This is a sample on aluminum and then a view of the instrument panel mocked up in MDF. The stainless is cut out, but since I'm using the CNC to do the engine turning, I think I will do the entire panel and then saw pr machine the cutouts for the instruments.
I assembled a drill program for the mill that uses a depth of .015" to create the swirl and then moves the 50% for the next one. I don't have to stand there, but I just do, and marvel of what someone thought up.
The question came up for protection. Raw, or Clear coat?

 

"Have You Ever made something just to take your mind off Winter?" .....Yea! Made a fire in the pit and a warm drink.
I'm not a Jack-man so I had rum and hot cider after an ice storm here in Texas. Power was out for 3-ish hours.
The streets and highways didn't ice up because the ground is above freezing. But trees and power lines took a hit. They're not used to ice so we learned where all the "weakest links" were.

 

I just got it going tonight so these pics are a week or so old. It works great and was a delight to work on!

 

I've been messing with LED lights, mainly to make low cost lighting for various shops. Did a prototype last year and it's been working great, gathering pieces to do 20 more.

I may do permanent install LED soffit lights = white in the summer = Christmas lights in the winter.

 

That's very nice!

 

That saw is hot rodded out Pete! Awesome!