Who does the laminated tear drop dash knobs now? Night prowlers does not appear to show them any more, we only need 4 blue ones. Some rooster on the gay bay sells them but won't sell New Zealand, that's ok as they are too spendy anyway. Have done an alliance search , but perhaps I missed a vendor, any help appreciated.thanks .
Hey Brian, there was a tech post before the big reorganisation on how to make them yourself. Basically layers of perspex fused together and then basic shape cut out sand to final shape and polish as you would anything else ...finer and finer grades of sandpaper.
damn.... yeah it's me again, found it ..... here it is from 2004 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/interior-laminated-dash-knobs.8377/
And if you make your own, you can epoxy in a threaded metal insert (I took them from wall anchors, about 1/2" long, cylinder shaped, with a female thread inside), it will save you splitting the knobs when you try to drill and tap the acrylic
Had a look at kool rides website , but the poorly photo copied scanned Pdf need a lot of imagination to think what a particular part really looks like. Have found a couple of suppliers of plastic sheeting so will most likely go that way. Now need to source some suitable threaded inserts to fit before we trim and shape. No band saw , so it might be 40 grit paper.
I machine the knobs down in the lathe, until I get the rough shape, then finish the shape off by hand on a disc sander (the round flat glue -on type which mounts straight on to the electric motor shaft). I start with a block of glued together acrylic, with the threaded insert epoxied in, which lets you screw in a bolt so the whole thing can be put in to a lathe, or drill press. I go and raid the local plastic stores off cut bin, and get a bag for a couple of bucks.
I shaped mine for the '51 on a cheap wood lathe. Two shades of blue and a white, turned same as original knobs. A band saw and belt sander would work fine on teardrops. Then finer sandpaper. They were a typical high school shop cl*** project in the 1960's. As previous posts say, it is an easy enough job, and plastic is readily available in almost all colors.
Go to the NZ post website and open up yourself a You Shop account. Basically its a NZ post drop off point in Oregon that you can get your US purchases sent to if the seller wont ship out of the US. You get your own personal US postal address/delivery point. I get most of my stuff sent there even if the seller will ship direct because the shipping rates are way cheaper and are also in NZ$. I'll see you at the Palmy swap meet if you need anymore info. Cheers Peter
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