Rodney Gold
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
- Messages
- 200
- Location
- South Africa
- Corvette
- 1986 White l98 coupe, 1995 LT1 coupe
Hiya , I have many laser cutters and engravers in my factory and am making a dash dress up kit for myself , in doing so I have removed the instrument panels and centre console cover so that we can match up all holes , legends etc. I did so cos my horn button wasnt working and needed access to the "theft" fuse (stupid place to put any fuses imho) and 1/2 my left hand (trip.odo switches) info centre wasnt lighting up (the bulb might or might not be blown).
Problem is , I am not in Amerika and need to replace the bulb and am not sure of what the bulb specs are - 12v - how many watts?
Getting a GM part is a major mission here,
Can I take out the seatbelt warning bulb from the other side of the info centre and use it - or is it lower wattage.
The bulb in the info switch centre panel has 161 and H5 S (the h5 is written vertically) on it , the seatbelt one has nothing written on the bulb.
The 161 bulb acttually does NOT look blown when inspected under a loupe - the filament seems ok ??
Im doing a full dash dress up (For a 1986 AUTO coupe)- not sure what to use , its being laser cut in Formica (countertop material) - I have about 6 different woodgrains and some other stuff like granite - matt black , brushed aluminium , engine turned ally , black marble etc - My car is white with a black interior - not too keen on using metallics as they are shiny and scratch easily - looking at a dark mahogany or matt brushed black. The formica is dirt cheap - wont cost me more than $10 in materials so I have my staff cutting me one set of each and will decide what to use then.
The set consists of a main dash cover , a centre cover (radio/aircon/info centre) , a gearshift consol cover , a flip up ashtray cover , a drop in cover for the seat adjustment well in the centre gearshift console , door shelf sills with corvette logos , drivers side "knee bumper" dress uo strip , pass side knee bumper strip (small strip under the cushion thing).
I was thinking of doing door lock/handle inserts and speaker covers but I think that may be over the top.
I am almost finished with the CAD drawings in Coreldraw. If anyone is interested , I can post these drawings in Acad and Corel format so that you can have your own done at your local laser engraving shop - all they need is a small 25-50w laser
There are many other materials also suited to laser cutting , however most materials other than formica are plastic and wont wear.
One could also use these drawings for anyone with a CnC engraver , but would have to compensate for tip width - lasers cut with hairwidth thin kerfs.
Problem is , I am not in Amerika and need to replace the bulb and am not sure of what the bulb specs are - 12v - how many watts?
Getting a GM part is a major mission here,
Can I take out the seatbelt warning bulb from the other side of the info centre and use it - or is it lower wattage.
The bulb in the info switch centre panel has 161 and H5 S (the h5 is written vertically) on it , the seatbelt one has nothing written on the bulb.
The 161 bulb acttually does NOT look blown when inspected under a loupe - the filament seems ok ??
Im doing a full dash dress up (For a 1986 AUTO coupe)- not sure what to use , its being laser cut in Formica (countertop material) - I have about 6 different woodgrains and some other stuff like granite - matt black , brushed aluminium , engine turned ally , black marble etc - My car is white with a black interior - not too keen on using metallics as they are shiny and scratch easily - looking at a dark mahogany or matt brushed black. The formica is dirt cheap - wont cost me more than $10 in materials so I have my staff cutting me one set of each and will decide what to use then.
The set consists of a main dash cover , a centre cover (radio/aircon/info centre) , a gearshift consol cover , a flip up ashtray cover , a drop in cover for the seat adjustment well in the centre gearshift console , door shelf sills with corvette logos , drivers side "knee bumper" dress uo strip , pass side knee bumper strip (small strip under the cushion thing).
I was thinking of doing door lock/handle inserts and speaker covers but I think that may be over the top.
I am almost finished with the CAD drawings in Coreldraw. If anyone is interested , I can post these drawings in Acad and Corel format so that you can have your own done at your local laser engraving shop - all they need is a small 25-50w laser
There are many other materials also suited to laser cutting , however most materials other than formica are plastic and wont wear.
One could also use these drawings for anyone with a CnC engraver , but would have to compensate for tip width - lasers cut with hairwidth thin kerfs.
