Speedo Glass Lens, Fixed my odometer today Options

[solex]

Hello,

Have not posted in a while been busy but have made some progress on a few fronts. Today I removed my speedo to fix the odometer. I would like to replace the plastic lens with one made from glass, pelican does not stock these anymore can I simply get some cut from glass or does anyone have a source?

Also, is there a simply way to increase the lumonisty of the guage bulbs?

Thanks,
Dan

[bd1308]

1st off: polish the inside of the guage housing, that improves things from what I hear

and secondly i would think a glass section of same thickness shoudl do the trick....i dont see why not...

[Tobra]

There is a plastic polish that is used for airplane windshields of all things that works better than anything else I have seen for plastic. Of course, I can't remember what it is called. If you know how thick it needs to be, you could have a glass shop cut one out for you. Problem is, you probably need metric, and they will likely have standard.

[bd1308]

psssh....

take them the plastic one, and just have them run a magic marker around the ring of the old one and cut it....

[markb]

I think the glass lenses are slightly thicker than the plastic ones. I remember trying to replace the plastic in one & I couldn't get the housing back together because of the thickness. Try polishing the plastic with some good polish, that should help.

[solex]

I use brasso on my acrylic watches, and used it on the lens it came out nice but there are some micro cracks in the lens and it scratches too easily, hence the though of replacing it with glass. I'll check around some local glass shops.

Thank you for the suggestions. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smile.gif) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smile.gif)

[eric914]

I went to a stained glass shop; one where they sell supplies for artists and gave them the plastic originals. She cut me replacements from anti-glair glass. She also rounded the edges of them on some sort of grinding wheel. They fit nice and look like new (or at least what I imagine new was).

Eric

If you have the gauges compleatly apart check to see if the green and red filters that are taped to the back side are faded. Mine were. A photographer friend of mine had some gels that were close. I cut a new piece and taped it in place.

[bd1308]

yeah get them to bevel the edges....that'll help the fitting issue...

[bperry]

Hmmm. My '74 speedo lens is/was glass.
But years ago, 15+, I did replace the lens in my tach which was plastic.
It was warped convave in and was causing the tach to stick
by rubbing on the silver button in the middle.

I called around to several art & glass supply shops asking if they could
cut a circular piece of glass. Finally found an art supply shop that
said they could.
I brought in the tack and the plastic lens to their shop and watched
them attempt to cut the glass. It was truely a sad sight.
Their tool used a compass type device with a suction cup in the middle
and a nicely marked and high precision adjuster. The
girl could not figure out how to get from diameter to radius
which is what the cutter measured in. After 2 attempts which
created perfectly round glass but not even close to the right size.
I asked if I could run the tool and she allowed me to.
I measured the diameter and marked it on a piece of paper
then folded the paper in half and used that to set the compass.
(Metric, Standard, who cares.....)
I then scored the glass, and snapped it with their plyers and
in less than 5 minutes had my new glass for my tach.
Cost me all of $2.00. [but that was 15 years ago]

If you can find a place that can cut the glass, I'd go with
glass over the plastic. There are different thicknesses of glass
and you should be able to get close enough to work.
That anti glare glass described in the previous post sounds great, thats
what I go for now if I had to do it again.

And if its a tiny bit loose, a tiny dab of silicone sealer will hold it
in place.

Good luck.

--- bill

[bperry]

Oh, one other word of caution as you re-assemble your speedo.
Be VERY careful not to shake the speedo around too much as you
bend the trim ring to re-install the lens.
If you do, that little post will chip off the paint on the end of the
needle and you will have remove the ring and take it all apart again
just to repaint the needle.
(Ask me how I know).
I also know that the the orange glow enamel paint made by testors
is nearly an exact match of the original needle color.
And if you do repaint the needle, make sure you let the needle
really fully dry otherwise, it will stick to the post and you can
take the speedo apart yet again to fix this.....

--- bill

[Tobra]

Also, if you are repainting, don't put it on too thick, or it can be thrown off as well

[pfierb]

The plastic cleaner & scratch remover is called Plexus used on aircraft etc. works wonders,I bought it at the racers supply shop at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut a couple of years ago.

Paul F.