I was just looking for a job at a local sign shop and they had a roll of it on the peg on the wall. I was thinking of using the same thing on my caprice for the dash.
e-mail this guy. Tell him I told you about him. He sells this stuff. jeff@karlskustom.com www.karlskustom.com he is also on here. I think he is trappedinbumkinville or something like that.
Do it yourself. There are several articles here on the HAMB about machine turning or engine turning as some call it. Hardwood dowel or aluminum dowel, can of Clover valve grinding compound, drill press, piece of angle for a fence, couple of clamps and you're in business. I doubt if it would cost more than $5.00 and it'll be real....
Hell Yeah - What C9 said!! I did my gauge cluster for in my 61 using a drill press with a Rolok (sp?) disc on that back of a liberated aluminum street sign. To guide it I used a paint stir stick and 2 small clamps to hold it on the press table and just eyeballed the offsets. Had the thing done and in the dash in about 2 hours.
imitation silver or gold leaf ....engine turned...1/4" try 1-888-498-8276 ask for jamie.....tell him brandon sent ya .....you might ask if he has some smaller pieces...or will sell it by the foot or yard......
Fwiw, here's the whole article. Written about 3.5 years ago. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Machine Turning Machined turned dash panels were quite popular in the 30's lasting clear up to the late 50's. There has been somewhat of a resurgence of interest in this today, as witness the commercially available panels. (if you're not sure what I'm talking about, look at the Auburn Dash Panels in some of the mags - they were usually machine-turned. Stainless looks especially good when done and aluminum does pretty good too. Just experiment on scraps on both and make your choice. There are 2 basic ways of doing this at home: One is to utilize a "Cratex" stick (round, abrasive filled hard rubber) available from MSC (800 645-7270 - for a free catalog that exceeds 3300 pages - thats right, 3300, lots of amazing stuff) The other is the old time way as practiced by machinists from years past. Either way requires either a mill, (small mill-drill works great) or a drill press. The mill allows fast accurate work. The drill press will take more time and care. The mill will be easy, just clamp the material to the table and proceed from there. The drill press will require a fence clamped to the table that will require moving for each row of circles. If you're careful the work on the drill press will look just as good as the work done on the mill. If you are using a pattern with an edge that parallels the circle rows, life will be easy. If not, do the machine turning first and then cut the panel out. Making the long straight cuts on the panel is best done by the shear at your local sheet metal shop. Costs are very reasonable. If the ends of the panel are circular have the shop cut close to the line and finish the cut using a bench mounted disc sander or a file. (wood working combo belt/disc sanders work fine) In any event save cutting out the instrument holes for last - especially if you're using the drill press. Cratex stick method - Clamp the Cratex stick in your chuck (unless you've got a big drill press, you will be limited to 1/2 - 5/8" in diameter. decide which way you want the overlap to run (IE: left or right) and with the press at a fairly fast speed make your first circle. (practice on scrap first). Decide on how much overlap you want and make your next circle there. I find that 1/2 diameter overlaps are about right. Keep the pressure and time the stick contacts the metal the same. Otherwise you get different looking circles. Having spent some time practicing with your scraps I'm sure you burned a few spots. Try to avoid this on the finished piece. The old fashioned way - (taught by my Grandfather who was a mechanic/machinist in the So. Cal oil patch - watched him do many amazing things with just simple tools) Get a can of "Clover" valve lapping compound at your auto parts house. (and I hope you are going to a "real" parts house and not a blister pack store) - (how do you expect to build a hot rod without a good counterman/person/woman/girl - heck I don't know - just be friendly) This valve lapping compound comes in 2 and maybe 3 grades. Usually its packed in a small double ended can with coarse and fine grades. (mechanics used to hand lap the valves in for a very good seal - with the machines and techniques in use today it's probably not required) I find that the coarse works best for me - your choice - one can, using the coarse, was enough to do a stainless steel panel that is about 6" from either end of a 32 Ford dashboard. Get some hardwood dowels at the lumber yard. (I haven't done this, but I suspect if you made your own dowels out of some really hard wood they would last longer than the tyical lumber yard dowels) You have more size options here as you can easily cut down say a 1" dowel to fit a 1/2" chuck. Spread some grinding compound on the metal. Bring your hardwood dowel down and make your first circle. With a mill you've got it made. Drill press users will have to have the metal*****ed up against the fence so as to make straight rows and eyeball the distance to the next circle. After making several circles you will notice the hardwood dowel will get flared and raggedy on the edges. Shut the motor off and clean it off with a rag. Start the motor and use a woodfile and then 100 grit sandpaper (wet/dry works really well) to trim it back to size. After quite a few circles you may want to cut the dowel down so as to expose a fresh surface. Cut as square as you can and final square it with sandpaper - just bring the dowel down to the paper - motor running - and touch lightly. Occasionally wipe off the back of the metal as the compound will get under there and make sliding a little difficult. This can take a while, so don't try to do it all in one day. If you burn a circle with too much pressure or time you're pretty much stuck. Either make a new one or just live with it. Clean up your mill/press really good, use a solvent and clean rags as the compound gets into every nook & cranny of the table. I find that I like the compound method better as it cuts a little deeper and makes a more distinctive pattern that the lighter cuts made by the Cratex stick. Either way the light will really reflect off the circles. (I have heard of using aluminum rod for this. Havn't tried it, but suspect it would work quite well) Now that you have a nicely turned flat panel you can cut your instrument holes - need I say to be careful? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An additional method that came to light after the original posting of this article was to use small stainless steel brushes. Kind of like a small scale cup brush youd stick on the drill motor to clean out carboned up combustion chambers. Used dry on aluminum and stainless. Not sure where you get the brushes, this one was related to me by a guy on the old Roundtable. If youre looking for a larger swirl, it sure looks like Dustys method in the Engine Turned Sheets post is the way to go. I saw an article in a mag a year or two ago where the author stated "Its ok to have some mismatch between swirls as thats how it was done in years past". Bullshit....... there were some serious craftsmen in years past and they strived for accuracy, a well done and finished panel. If youre gonna do a machine turned panel you owe it to yourself as well as these past craftsmen to do the very best job you can. Primer is ok, rust is ok, even dents are ok. Shoddy work. Never..... C9
No doubt! I went to both the Indy museum & Ralph Lauren car collection exhibition this year and stood back in awe at some of the fanstastic vehicles there. At both though, there were numerous examples of turning and many of them did vary. Not hugely & you would need a mike in some cases to quantify it. If you are looking for it though, you can absolutely see that it is not perfect, but man derived. There was an exception though. Last year I got up to Bar Harbor in ME. There is a phenomenal "brass age" car museum there with Stutz, Mercer, Lincolns & Rolls-Royce; about 75 vehicles. The Rolls-Royce were perfect! I took dozens of pictures of hoods as the rivet work was so freakin' excellent it would make you weep! And the turnings looked to be what you'd expect via CNC. I think that really underlines your point. I don't know this but I would have to believe the overall precision might have to do with when in the****embly process of the vehicle the turning was actually done. If it was pre-final****embly it was likely done with jigging & guides. If it was after the part or panel was installed and not in an immediately visible location, done freehand and with less precision. Just a thought.
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