Corrado Mk4-Golf-Reverse style white dials (old thread)

[jedi-knight83 0]

what i mean is.... i like the look without the inner ring of digits (which on ours would be kph), obviously i know those are kph :roll:

[Leavon 0]

I think that's because the dials are American and it's unlikely that you would be going anywhere that measures in kph from the states, however in the UK there'e every chance that you might take a trip to the continent where those kph markings might come in very handy, I say keep em stock. My 2p.

[Guest]

oops, i'd forgot about this agin.

 

keep us posted Henry () on the progress of the needles :)

 

no worries if your busy Andi, I think everyone is :)

[Henny 0]

Dave? you can't say anything about silly names...

 

The guy that I was going to get 'em made by has quoted £40 per set for the needles, so I told him to naff off... I'm now looking for a different manufacturer... :roll:

 

Has anyone got a good close up photo of a set of clocks with the red needles (standard ones, not painted!) as I think that these may already be exactly what we need! :roll: :|

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

Are you thinking of an illuminated circle in the centre of the faces that is covered by the needle centres, but illuminates the dials? Do C needles have prisms for this?

[Gaz154 0]

am i right in saying that the silver edging bits don't come with the dials

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

You would be referring to chrome surrounds - and yes, they are not part of the dials, they are part of the instrument binacle.

[Gaz154 0]

would i still be able to get in on this

can't quiet figure out how far along the line you are with ordering and stuff there,s a lot of posts to scan though :shock:

[Henny 0]

Are you thinking of an illuminated circle in the centre of the faces that is covered by the needle centres, but illuminates the dials? Do C needles have prisms for this?

 

That's what I need to know from someone who's got the later red/orange needles... :roll: :wink:

All of the clocks I've got have got white plastic needles on 'em... if VW already made ones that can be used, then it's gonna be a whole shed load easier to take a set of them into a manufacturers to get 'em copied, than to design and manufacture something completely new... :?

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

Gaz154, we're still ironing out problems with lighting and stuff so yes, I can add you to the list :)

[Guest]

Dave? you can't say anything about silly names...

 

The guy that I was going to get 'em made by has quoted £40 per set for the needles, so I told him to naff off... I'm now looking for a different manufacturer... :roll:

 

Has anyone got a good close up photo of a set of clocks with the red needles (standard ones, not painted!) as I think that these may already be exactly what we need! :roll: :|

 

here ya go Henry

 

hope this is close enough, if not i'll take another

[Henny 0]

Hi all...

 

My backlighting needles idea has stalled for a little bit, although I have a set of clocks like in the post above winging their way to me as we speak so I can do some tests on those ones as a possible idea has come to me... ;)

 

In the mean time, I've been playing with the spare white needle'd dash I've got...

 

Have a look at the photos and see what you think.... bear in mind that the blueishness is just 'cos the camera was throwing a wobbler due to the darkness of the room and no flash so it was picking up the UV LED a little bit too well! :roll: You could hardly see the blue/purple by eye... This is a standard set of clocks, with the needle painted orange and a single 3mm UV LED (£1.45 from Maplins!) above the rev counter powered from a 9V battery with a resistor... To the human eye, you can see a very slight tinge of purple on the dial, but the back lighting kit will drown that out... The needle is CLEARLY visible even when the numbers were only just visible (except the redline which was well bright! 8) )

 

This isn't even special UV sensitive paint... It's Plasti-kote enamel in "orange glow" from B&Q! Imagine what a UV sensitive paint will show up like! :wink: 8)

 

I think this may be the way to go now that the UV LEDs are so much cheaper... :D 8)

[jedi-knight83 0]

wow, nice one henny. that looks cool,

 

i know the led is running on a battery at present as its in your room, but when its in the car do you plan to run it from the electrics?

 

cant wait to see it with some backlit dials!!

 

nice work

[Henny 0]

yup, that's the Idea... it's running off a 9V battery at the moment as it's just a test, but it'll be really easy to wire it onto the original lighting circuit so that it dims with the backlights too! 8)

 

I'm gonna get 3 other paints and play with the speedo, temp and petrol needles differently with another 2 leds to show what different effects you can do with it... :)

 

Keep watching! 8)

[jedi-knight83 0]

thats what i was gonna say aswell? surely it would need more than one led? maybe 2 or 3 so it lights them all up properly.

 

cant wait to see it.

[Henny 0]

It needs 3 LEDS to replace the 3 bulbs that came in the clocks as standard... but I wasn't gonna throw another £3 away until I tested one to see if it was viable or not first... 8)

[Ka` 0]

Hello,

 

I take it that the LEDs are concealed enough so that they don't make your various garments glow ominously!

And if they are, that would make my worry of the UV light drying contact lenses to a crisp go away as well.

Mind you, this would happen over a LONG period of time, from such a small light source :)

 

Cheers,

Rica

 

Looking good Henny!

 

Andi, can we still have black by day, black by night dials? Am too lazy to scroll :roll:

[jedi-knight83 0]

NO!!! white by day, black by night! :lol: for those of us who have the beige interior

[Henny 0]

The UV LEDs are hidden just above the lip that normally holds the green filter. You can't see them at all as a source when they're on, and the purple glow is only just visible (bear in mind that the numbers on the dials will be glowing brightly anyway!). The leds only have a 20degree viewing angle, so it's just wide enough to light up the whole of the needle, but not wide enough to shine out and make your white T-shirt glow! ;) :lol:

 

This system will ONLY work on Black background dials where the numbers shine up at night... (so they'd look original in daylight) if they are any colour other than black, the UV will make 'em glow in a 20degree triangle from the LED! :roll: :?

 

I'm gonna see if I can get some different colour blacklight paints today and mess about with the rest of the needles tonight... 8)

[jedi-knight83 0]

shame about having to have black dials :( but the backlighting and glow in dark will make up for it :lol:

 

how do we go about getting the back lighting then? does that all have to be fitted aswell or are there bulbs behind already? i have not taken mine apart to look yet?

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

Andi, can we still have black by day, black by night dials? Am too lazy to scroll

 

Not sure yet - I'm waiting til the needles are sorted, then I'll approach SR. I don't see why not though.

[Leavon 0]

I'm pretty sure that I read on the vortex that the orange/red needles that come as standard on the VR glow under uv light anyway so they wouldn't need painting.

Here's the thread: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1039668 scroll down to Zarmanns post, no paint just UV light.

[Henny 0]

I'm pretty sure that I read on the vortex that the orange/red needles that come as standard on the VR glow under uv light anyway so they wouldn't need painting.

 

I'll be able to confirm or deny that soon as I've bought a set of clocks from Crazymarcel (which should be landing on my matt sometime very soon) to test exactly that! ;) 8)

 

The white needles fitted to earlier cars DON'T glow as standard (as you can see in the first pic above) but there's plenty of paints out there that do glow which are nice and cheap... 8)

[Gaz154 0]

sorry if i'm being a bit dense but if i understand all of the above if you've got red needles you won't need to change them its just the white needles that are a problem cos mine are red

[Henny 0]

sorry if i'm being a bit dense but if i understand all of the above if you've got red needles you won't need to change them its just the white needles that are a problem cos mine are red

 

Yup, that's what I've been told... But I'll confirm this with photos once the dial's I'm getting arrive in the post... 8)