old rev counter needs a new face

[lotus 30]

10 minutes in paint.net shows with more effort it could be done.
View attachment 465007

Well this forum is amazing as usual that is awesome way beyond me. Had another quote today a bit better only £350 plus the vodka & tonic so it's coming down But TBH with the work that has been done here I would settle for a stick on face for the original brass face most later ones made are Aluminium anyway screen printed what ever that means. Great thread and most interesting many thanks for all the comments. if you are able to make one message me to discuss compensation LOL. Andy

 

[My Old Landy]

Well this forum is amazing as usual that is awesome way beyond me. Had another quote today a bit better only £350 plus the vodka & tonic so it's coming down But TBH with the work that has been done here I would settle for a stick on face for the original brass face most later ones made are Aluminium anyway screen printed what ever that means. Great thread and most interesting many thanks for all the comments. if you are able to make one message me to discuss compensation LOL. Andy

Lets see how it comes out can you confirm the exact diameter of the dial just so I know it will fit

 

[ukracer]

Inspired by @My Old Landy, I took it a bit further in Photoshop. Fixed the out-of-roundness of the perimeter, filled the holes, bumped up the contrast, made a quick attempt to match the original "R.P.M. x 100" font, and rotated the dial just slightly so that the tops of the indicator scale are at the same height. I couldn't read the text above the dial shaft. The dial mounting holes can be punched later in their exact locations after the dial is printed (or whatever process is used to make it).

It can be made more accurate if a direct scan of your original dial is available.

View attachment 465010

If I were making the dial, I'd probably try to duplicate it in a vector program like Adobe Illustrator to obtain maximum image sharpness. As mentioned by others, the trick will be to find the exact font used for the RPM numbers or else modify a closely-matched font. In Illustrator and other apps, fonts can be converted to outlines, making it fairly easy to modify individual characters.

Once you have the artwork file, there are lots of ways to create the dial (acid etching, anodizing, laser etching, etc.). It could even be silk screened, but the sharpness might suffer a bit. Search for "etched data plates" or "aluminum data plates," etc., and you should be able to find a number of companies that will make the plates from your artwork. Some may require a minimum quantity, but some don't.

Sublimation onto white aluminium would be good enough.

 

[Blue Chips]

Sublimation onto white aluminium would be good enough.

Sublimation transfers can produce nice images on white polymer coated alu. If the black is opaque enough and the inks are archival, then it should do a good job.

I personally prefer the acid-etched look, as it's very crisp and leaves the letters raised slightly above the background, although the letters would be aluminium colored instead of the original white(ish) color, which might not be too noticeable, but it might be too much of a compromise for some people. On this original tachometer dial, the letters are raised slightly from the applied paint/ink. With sublimation transfer you could get white letters, but not raised letters. Silk screening can produce raised letters, and looking again at the photo of the original dial, it's possible that it may have been silk screened originally. The only issue I have with silk screening is that (in my experience) it's hard to get the level of sharpness that other processes can produce.

I'm starting to lean toward silk screening for this dial as the preferred method if the most faithful reproduction of the original dial is the objective.

 

[jimbo84]

There's someone on here that makes replacement faceplates for top end hifi equipment that look really good but it cant remember who it is.

I think it’s @julianf (apologies for tagging if it isn’t).

 

[lotus 30]

scan of the face 2.9 inch scanner says 2.88

 

[My Old Landy]

scan of the face 2.9 inch scanner says 2.88View attachment 465118

Brilliant, I will leave out the holes and you can cut them in yourself with a sharp craft knife. Both parts will have a backing sheet and a transfer sheet.
I will put a registration mark in the center of the white layer to help lining it up.

 

[julianf]

I think it’s @julianf (apologies for tagging if it isn’t).

Yep, I do this kind of stuff (for another industry) for work.

Have a look at www.thebeast.co.uk for examples, or my forgotten Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/thebeast.co.uk

Most of it is reproduction work for 1970s audio equipment but I've done all sorts in the past, from medical equipment to yacht control panels.

I ask for a 1:1 scale PDF of the print to be applied, in black and white (technically single bit, or black and "nothing" but black and white is fine) and then the object to be printed.

I use traditional silk screen printing techniques, with 2 part epoxy ink. Most of my work is onto anodized aluminium but I do a fair bit onto 2k paint also. I won't print onto 1k.


If the OP can either find the correct fonts and redraw as a vector OR get a nice high res scan of the original I would be able to reproduce a part that, whilst not on "forgery" level, will be, to all intents and purposes, indistinguishable from the original.

 

[Blue Chips]

Here's the original dial, scanned by @lotus 30, compared to the artwork of my latest version, which I cobbled together in Photoshop from the previously posted images. I have another version with the four mounting holes included.

NOTE: The "RC. 132" text is just a guess, since I can't read all of the numbers. If someone can find the same year and model of this tachometer, maybe those numbers would work.

 

[Blue Chips]

Slightly updated version with temporary model-related numbers. @lotus 30 is researching those numbers. I made "R.P.M. x 100" better match the original and readjusted the big numerals a bit to match the placement of the originals. A few of the small characters (C, H, R, etc.) need a bit of modification, but that won’t be hard to do. By the time this is scaled down to 2.9" diameter, it should be very crisp, so I don't think there will be any need to recreate it as a vector image. More updates coming as the data comes in.

 

[lotus 30]

Slightly updated version with temporary model-related numbers. @lotus 30 is researching those numbers. I made "R.P.M. x 100" better match the original and readjusted the big numerals a bit to match the placement of the originals. A few of the small characters (C, H, R, etc.) need a bit of modification, but that won’t be hard to do. By the time this is scaled down to 2.9" diameter, it should be very crisp, so I don't think there will be any need to recreate it as a vector image. More updates coming as the data comes in.

View attachment 465376

looks fantastic

 

[My Old Landy]

I think that the smaller letters will be problematic cutting in vinyl. I have been out today but will do a trial run tomorrow and post a picture of the result.

 

[My Old Landy]

Sadly a fail on the vinyl front so over to @Blue Chips

 

[Blue Chips]

Sadly a fail on the vinyl front so over to @Blue Chips

It looks like some of the small details were just a little too fine for the cutter resolution. I'll give it a try with a photoresist technique in a few days and see what happens.

 

[lotus 30]

Sadly a fail on the vinyl front so over to @Blue Chips
View attachment 465482

Great effort thank you for giving it a shot

 

[My Old Landy]

Great effort thank you for giving it a shot

It looks like some of the small details were just a little too fine for the cutter resolution. I'll give it a try with a photoresist technique in a few days and see what happens.

It was fun and shows that the Cricut whilst very capable is only so good. I tried the both the 45 and 60 degree cutters.

 

[ukracer]

Sadly a fail on the vinyl front so over to @Blue Chips
View attachment 465482

Send me the file and I will laser print it.. see how that comes out

 

[My Old Landy]

Send me the file and I will laser print it.. see how that comes out

PM sent.

 

[ukracer]

PM sent.

They never photograph well especially when they are not flat.

The colour image was for my grandson to stick on his book.

 

[Blue Chips]

This is a positive film printed from the artwork on special inkjet transparency film. It's reversed so that the emulsion side of the film will be against the photoresist film when exposing the metal plate. It will be a few days before I have a chance to try it out, as some supplies have just been ordered. I plan to make a couple of reproduction data plates for my 1954 Dodge M37 at the same time.