More dash...

 This weekend has been all about the dash. It had meant to be engine servicing time, but since I had everything all over the bonnet I wasn't able to actually get to the engine!

Anyhow... first was cutting the wood for the bezels;

That was fairly easy, although yet again they didn't line up with the gauges once they were in the dash. I don't exactly know how it can become misaligned, but at least this time I was able to creep up on the edge to get it in the right place. 

Now to the curve. After failing miserably at printing, I did find that the plywood would delaminate... into a load of unusable splinters! So then I went back to the basic idea, hot water and a vice;

And it actually worked quite well!! I need maybe 90 degrees of total angle, and this was the first step before I got this particular piece to around 120 degrees of curve. All I need to do is chop out the best sections and glue them to the ends of the dash.

So, back to the dashboard blank, and the main reason why I'm in this predicament. The lower radius for IVA. The wood profile I got was 20mm and is pretty rigid. Given that other builders use pool noodles and PVC piping I don't think I'll have an issue with the profile itself. What I will have issue with is gluing it to the edge (more on that later).

This is the edge glued to the bottom edge;

It feels rigid but won't survive an inspectors 'percussion test'. On to the end though. A slice of curved wood and a shorter length of profile got me here;

I need to shape the profile to suit the curve, but it went together well. I needed to glue the profile on when it was in the car, to make sure the curve matched the body.

I'm happy with the end result though;

It needs trimming either end, then painting/varnishing to seal, then the leather can go on.

Back to the percussion test. The general opinion is that the inspector will give things a bit of a thump, and this won't survive. Well, the dash would, as it's got GRP behind it. But the profile may snap off. I've also got to figure out a way of permanently fixing the dash. Even while I'm typing this I'm having some ideas!!

So, bottom edge. I reckon some bent angle iron to go from the back of the profile to the back of the GRP will work. I can bond it to the GRP and it'll become a rigid fixing for the profile. I reckon maybe three brackets of 2-3 inches wide will do the trick well. 

The sides I'm not bothered about, I'm happy that they can be decorative and they're actually reinforced already;

They wouldn't survive person impact but then the next thing the person will be hitting is the aluminium behind!

Then along the top I need some fixings. One idea is to countersink M6 screws into the wood, then use wing nuts to fix it from behind. The problem I have is that I wanted to keep things thin, so the wood is only 3.5mm thick. That wouldn't leave very much space for countersinking. 

The other option is to use visible fixings, screws in from the front that go to nuts/rivnuts in the back. But I can't do that, because I have the support brace back there. However, that same support brace will work for me this time. All I need to do is drill one size smaller then use a tap to create small threaded sections for the dash. It's not thick material (I wouldn't want to hang a seatbelt off it!), but given that I could use 6-8 fixings evenly spaced along the top it wouldn't need to be thick material. 

So that's the next steps;

1. Print the bezels in ABS and fix glass to them.
2. Trim the two ends.
3. Shape the lower profile where it meets the curved plywood
4. Create brackets for the lower edge.
5. Drill and tap holes for the upper edge.
6. Cover the dash.

Oh, I forgot point 5.5. I still need some warning lights, not many but they need to sit above the steering wheel so that they're visible and not tested for protrusions. I need to double check the regs to make sure I have the right number and colour of lights, as well as a method of labelling them. 

Oh, for covering I'm not doing anything clever, just spray adhesive and one layer of leather. I will need to fold over the top and side edge, but the bottom edge just wraps round the profile. It's more about 'where' to do that, I need a large clean area where I can spray adhesive. My office is a large clean area but not suitable for adhesive, whereas the garage is good for adhesive but not so clean. 

Productive weekend? Meh, I spent a lot of it waiting for glue to dry. Still, I have made a decent amount of progress on the dash, maybe one or two weekdays (at least for the printing) should have it finished.