Making Custom Gauge Faces, Opinions would be great

[KNG SNKE]

Here is a photo using the OEM light bulb in the temp gauge. Minimal bleed through on the black, so minimal that unless your eye is to the gauge you can't notice it. All of the colors show very well, the photos don't do it justice. Just an overall great look.

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[ViperCollector]

This is all you need for any Viper.

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[KNG SNKE]

I'm sure I can work that into one of them lol.

 

[KNG SNKE]

Special thanks to Ted and Austin for helping decide and create a KNG SNKE logo.

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[ZYellow01RT]

Love the black on yellow (obviously, I'm biased), but the font looks like it's out of "The Gunfight at OK Corral". Which would be cool, since I live in the wild West anyway.

Maybe show a few more fonts? I know, the possibilities are endless...and thanks for showing all of us your ideas!

Here you go. Updated temp gauge with different lettering and a yellow with black design. Basically I can put anything on the gauges. Color determines how the light will shine through the gauge as well but I currently am using matte paper with laminate on both sides so it should shine through fine.

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[KNG SNKE]

Oh that font without a doubt will not go on my car. It was just a test to see if I could get the numbers to line up well. I am leaning more towards the style gauge with my logo on it.

 

[KNG SNKE]

Here it is in a gauge. Positives are man they look sharp! Extremely sharp! The camera can't capture how good this gauge is looking. The bad is when light is put behind it you can see a slight outline of the gauges internals. It's not horrible and I need to test it on my car battery to see how bad it is but at the cost of making these it is worth it.

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And something for the Blue and White's. This blue was taken from a direct sunlight photo of a 96. Looks sharp to me.

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[plumcrazy]

logo looks kool !!!

 

[KNG SNKE]

OEM lighting. Using a white LED would make the gauges more yellow. Note that these gauges entirely light up, not just the numbers. I actually like the look of the yellow ones but I think doing all of them like this will be over kill. None the less I will give it a shot.

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[Jance GTS]

I may have missed this, but since they are not an overlay, what are the new designs made of? Are they just printed onto vinyl, that allows the light to shine through? I haven't seen inside of a disassembled gauge so I just thought I would ask lol

I would assume there is some kind of backing plate or something to stick them too?

 

[KNG SNKE]

They are made of matte paper with lamination plastic on each side for durability. In the center of the gauge I use a little bit of model glue to keep them steady but they have tabs to keep the face from moving plus the ring inside sits on the face itself.

 

[KNG SNKE]

I am back on the move for the custom gauge faces. Partsrack offered to send me a set of gauges for FREE but I was able to get a set from a local today who had them laying around his garage. Thanks for the thought though Jon.

I should have a working model hopefully by the end of this weekend of all 6 gauges.

 

[ZYellow01RT]

I'm ready to place my order, King...

 

[KNG SNKE]

Lol. I have received a lot of PM's and emails about the gauges in the past week, a surprising amount. Guess I should give an update. I got the set of gauges from the guy who totaled his car in Coventry. He had a spare set laying around his garage. So I carefully disassembled them and set them up to scan. Took me 40+ test prints to get them to print the size i wanted. PhotoShop editing is in progress. There was one portion that I wanted someone who was more PhotoShop savvy to do since it will be a visible cut so Austin offered to assist. So I am moving right along and took plenty of photos for a good writeup and will show everyone how to make their own or I can print sets.

On a side note if anyone has 2 194 led white bulbs and 1 of the led bulbs used for the smaller gauges let me know. I would really like to test those as well with my gauges.

 

[mattdillon]

I'm ready to place my order, King...

Thats what I was fixin' to say Andrew, King you'd better get ready for some orders, I imagine you'll have some calls. They do look sharp though!

 

[KNG SNKE]

Ok so I know I am wrong for posting these because they make me drool also but here is a full set completed. I am working on the DIY currently so expect it shortly.

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[mattdillon]

Dang King, it just keeps gettin' better-n-better.

 

[KNG SNKE]

Dang King, it just keeps gettin' better-n-better.

There is a DIY posted in the gts section.

 

[ZYellow01RT]

That yellow is awesome...great work!!

Ok so I know I am wrong for posting these because they make me drool also but here is a full set completed. I am working on the DIY currently so expect it shortly.

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[KNG SNKE]

That yellow is awesome...great work!!

Uh, yeah, what Yellow is not awesome! LOL

 

[Phun70]

Ummm, I might have to get you to make me a blue set.

 

[KNG SNKE]

Shoot a pm with what you were thinking as far as colors (shade of blue, background color, number color etc) and I will mock a set up for you to decide on.

 

[Nocturnal]

Wow, great job on the gauges. Wonder if you could take some of the stage lighting films as one of the layers if that would make the color stand out.
Something like the black face with with markings in white as one layer and the blue filter behind it. That way during the day the markings would be
white and blue at night.
Not sure if that would work but great work either way.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

This is all you need for any Viper.

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LOL Agree 100%

 

[Vipuronr]

KNG, wow you have way too much time on your hands! Agree with the above, you're quite the creative dude!

 

[Vipuronr]

I love the yellow gauges, can they be done the same way in red?

 

[KNG SNKE]

I have anything but too much time on my hands. I still have a BAP to install and when I get a set of speakers I am going to make a custom box for the trunk.

I can do the gauges in any form color, font, logo, etc. Just pm your request and I will make a setup and email you a picture if your interested, or you can follow my DIY and create your own. One thing to note as you see in my yellow gauges above at night when the light shines through these gauges you can see the outline of the inside of the gauge. On normal gauges this is remedied by having a darker color behind the front portion of the gauge but on my yellow ones the numbers themselves are black which does not pass light well. Now if I was to do a yellow gauge with white lettering I could put a second printed gauge behind it and make it so at night only the numbers and needle light up. If your looking to do red with black lettering yours will look similiar to my gauges when lit up. If you want red with white lettering you are looking at having a good mix there. Black gauge faces can also be done but with the red the black will contract it pretty hard so the numbers might be hard to see. Shoot me a pm with a couple requests and I will doctor a set up for ya.

Also if anyone has a set of SRT gauges they would like to donate shoot me a PM. With a set of those I can get a working template for them as well.

Please note that I am not a professional editor nor a professional printer. I can offer a pretty sweet looking set of gauges though. With any cheap custom there is a down side and that is the night time viewing of these gauges, the fact that you can see some internal outline but during the daytime they look friggin sweet.

 

[Vipuronr]

KNG, appreciate the honesty! Let me give this some thought and, if interested, I'll shoot you a PM. So, was this one of your training segments in the Navy????

 

[KNG SNKE]

I operate weapons systems and soldering so my background is electronics and computer's. When I get on a project I either learn how to do it or talk to the appropriate people to teach me. In this case I had a good grasp on it and Austin taught me a bit about PhotoShop to make the project more efficient. If you want a set of basic color changed gauges its easy to fab up. If you want different font numbers it takes longer.

The original plan for my car was black face gauges and I am going to mock them up when I get a chance but after printing them in yellow they almost look too good to go and try black with yellow lettering.

 

[KNG SNKE]

Here are 4 mock ups. Here are 2 photos of the yellow tach. The camera (my phone) does weird things with lighting but you get the hint with being able to see behind the gauge a little bit. Keep in mind these are OEM bulbs turned to max brightness. The first picture is blurry but better displays the color of the gauge at night. Also is a quick red and black mock up.

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and a blue with light blue

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