How to restore the instrument board face on a Commander- 32?

[thgo2315]

Hi,

Does anyone know how to restore the instrument board face on a Commander - 32?

Shall it be crome plated, nickel plated or painted? If painted, which colour? What about the horizontal thin lines , shall they be black and how to do that?

I appreciate any ideas how to do these.

Thanks

Goran:confused:

[studeq]

Open cars in that era generally had the instrument panel painted body color. I assume your car is an open car, like a convertible sedan?

[studerex]

Open cars in that era generally had the instrument panel painted body color. I assume your car is an open car, like a convertible sedan?

Dick, I think Goran is refering to the oval plate surrounding the gauges. The dash is painted body color but the oval plate has more detail. Do you have a factory photo to help Goran?

[studeq]

President and Commander the same except the President also had the clock.

[Gary_Ash]

I bought a set of those gauges for my Indy car project, haven't restored them yet, think they are 1932 but I'm not sure. The thin, flat, oval sheet may be embossed, nickel-plated brass. I say that because the lines are shiny metallic and seem to be raised from the painted/lacquered areas. I can just feel the lines with the edge of my fingernail. Maybe they stamped the sheet and nickel plated it. I suspect they may have used photosensitive material to make a pattern over the lines, spray painted, and removed the masking. Restoring it like that will be tricky because it can't be sanded without destroying the lines. If it was embossed, the back side should show indentations where the lines are. If there are no indentations, then they etched the metal with the photoresist protecting the lines, then painted. The paint or lacquer was a very thin layer, looks "greige". Sorry, I haven't disassembled mine yet.

The hood over the gauges appears to be thin, nickel-plated steel, crimped on to the plain steel back housing. It seems to be plated all over, though mine has that "patina" of age that makes it hard to distinguish rust from something else brown.

Edited January 21, 2014 by Gary_Ash (see edit history)

[studerex]

Goran, when looking at Dicks factory photo, don't be mislead. Open cars had the dash painted body color and closed cars were wood grained with two different patterns.

[thgo2315]

Hi

Thanks for all the information. Now I know how it should look like. The question is how to restore it so it looks like it did when the car left the factory.

If anyone has an idea how to do it, please let me know.

Thanks

Goran:)

[Gary_Ash]

Plan A:

I'd place the flat sheet on a scanner to get a high-quality JPG image. This might have to be done in two shots, or go to an Office Depot where they have a big scanner. Use a known resolution, something like 300 dpi.

Then, bring the JPG file(s) into a CAD program or Adobe Illustrator/CorelDraw, set the image size to equal the actual part, and trace over it.

Take the artwork file (.AI or .DXF) to a good sign shop with a vinyl cutter and have them cut a thin, peelable mask.

Assuming you have the part already re-plated over its full surface, very carefully strip the mask areas that will be painted and apply the masking over the lines. Alignment will be a challenge. Use lots of little rosewood manicure sticks and plastic tweezers, etc. to be able to massage the mask into place and rub it down gently all over.

Spray the paint and let dry a few hours. Strip the masking before the paint gets really hard.

I think I'd get a couple of masks cut and practice this on a dummy metal sheet first. If you do screw up the painting, you'll know when the strip the mask and there will be a little time left to remove all of the paint with solvent and start over.

Plan B: Make a new plate. Once you create the lines in the CAD or Illustrator file, invert the lines to make them transparent, fill the open areas with a brownish color (if that's what the original is/was). Save a JPG image at high resolution, say 300 dpi. Send the file to a company that prints durable photos on anodized aluminum. You might find someone to print on a plate where you have already machined the holes for the gauges, otherwise you'll have to get it machined afterwards. Walgreen's will print a 16"x20" panel for $49.99

Plan C: There are some materials that are directly laser engravable. It's shiny metal, aluminum or stainless, with a layer of paint on top. I'm not sure if the brownish color is available. The laser burns the paint off, exposing the shiny metal. Chuck Collins at www.studebakerparts.com has a laser engraver and could do this for you once you have the computer file. Here's a photo of two versions of a Nagel gas gauge face that Chuck engraved for me. One has a black background with metal lines, the other is metal background with black lines. I had re-created the artwork from the old, faded gauge face.