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This one is especially for planecrazy..
I Had to move the guts of a good guage, with a cracked case, into a new case. This will also work for accessing the guage to put screws back into the guage face. *ahem*planecrazy*ahem*
The first step is to seperate the crystal from the body of the guage. Most people have suggested prying the metal away from the case. I can't see a satisfactory method of this. Especially crimping it back in place.
I took a dremmel cutting disk, and arbor, and placed them in my drill press. I set the depth to be about 1/8" above the metal ring surrounding the crystal.
And here's what you get. If you cut slowly, and don't use much pressure, the plastic won't melt, and you will get this beautifully smooth cut.
Putting the guage back togother is fairly simple. The cutting disk is thin so the thickness of material removed doesn't seem to make a difference. I used five minute epoxy to put the guage back togother. Be very carefull just to get epoxy on the joining surfaces. Some will squeeze out when you join the sides, so don't overdo it!
Due to the time pressed nature of using epoxy, I don't have pictures of applying the epoxy and smashing the two sides togother.
Now we have a problem. Two prefectly smooth mating surfaces with a liquid between them. they are going to want to slide and moosh. And generally get into bad alignment. However we have a solution. Electrical tape.
Wrap the tape fairly loosely. Just make sure there are no wrinkles and you will have perfect tension.
Looks pretty? We considdered leaving the tape there. But I got curious. After waiting fifteen minutes for the glue to set well.
The epoxy doesn't bond to the adhesive on the back of the tape. So it leaves you with a wonderfully smooth surface.
Sorry about some of the foggy images, but my camera doesn't work so well in the low light conditions I like to live and work in.
I Had to move the guts of a good guage, with a cracked case, into a new case. This will also work for accessing the guage to put screws back into the guage face. *ahem*planecrazy*ahem*
The first step is to seperate the crystal from the body of the guage. Most people have suggested prying the metal away from the case. I can't see a satisfactory method of this. Especially crimping it back in place.
I took a dremmel cutting disk, and arbor, and placed them in my drill press. I set the depth to be about 1/8" above the metal ring surrounding the crystal.
And here's what you get. If you cut slowly, and don't use much pressure, the plastic won't melt, and you will get this beautifully smooth cut.
Putting the guage back togother is fairly simple. The cutting disk is thin so the thickness of material removed doesn't seem to make a difference. I used five minute epoxy to put the guage back togother. Be very carefull just to get epoxy on the joining surfaces. Some will squeeze out when you join the sides, so don't overdo it!
Due to the time pressed nature of using epoxy, I don't have pictures of applying the epoxy and smashing the two sides togother.
Now we have a problem. Two prefectly smooth mating surfaces with a liquid between them. they are going to want to slide and moosh. And generally get into bad alignment. However we have a solution. Electrical tape.
Wrap the tape fairly loosely. Just make sure there are no wrinkles and you will have perfect tension.
Looks pretty? We considdered leaving the tape there. But I got curious. After waiting fifteen minutes for the glue to set well.
The epoxy doesn't bond to the adhesive on the back of the tape. So it leaves you with a wonderfully smooth surface.
Sorry about some of the foggy images, but my camera doesn't work so well in the low light conditions I like to live and work in.
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