Tim Gaines wrote:
>
>Martin Secrest wrote:
>>
>>Scrub off the old veneer with a good orbital sander, taking the dash down
>>to the first layer of sub-lattice. (Incidentally, plywood has more
>>strength than a solid piece of wood of the same size.)
>>
>
>>Martin Secrest
>>73 GT6
>>72 TR6
>
>I am sure that plywood is stronger, but I have been toying with the
>idea of planing a piece of mahogany down to proper thickness and making
>my own dash. Just what is the proper thickness, and would it be
>foolhardy to think that solid mahogany (or walnut) at that thickness
>would hold up? Has anyone done this? Also, I have a couple of ideas
>about how to get perfect holes cut for the big instruments, but any
>first hand experience would help a lot.
>
>Tim Gaines
>1980 Spitfire
>1974 TR6
Tim,
I too would have reservations about using a solid piece of wood for
the dash - I just don't think that it would be anywhere near stable enough
to not expand/shrink/warp. You might be able to get away with cutting it
to shape and meticulously sealing the whole thing so that it's air and
water proof (probably using one of the maritime grade finishes floating
around). If you were going to go down this raod, I'd also recommend cutting
it to shape, making the holes, etc, and then letting the wood sit for a few
days/weeks to stablize - bear in mind that you're exposing new wood to the
atmosphere, and you'll have to let it breathe before finishing so you'll
get any final movement happening before you apply the finish.
Also, regarding cutting the holes for the big instruments, you should be
able to get a hole saw with an adjustable arm (instead of the standard saw
blade bent round into a circle). These have a head that you insert into the
drill chuck which has a horizontal bar through it, and an adjustable cutting
head is attached to this. You'd have to use a drill press though, as there's
no way you'd be able to hold it steady enough using a hand electric drill.
Another option would be to make a circular template and use a plunge router
to cut the holes. Both these options are only useful for the inside diameter
of the holes - remember they also have a lip for the gauge bezels to sit in.
To do this you should be able to get a bearing guided router bit which will
give you a close match to the original lip (they usually come with different
bearing sizes available, so you can mix and match bits & bearing to end up
with the correct cut). All of the above of course assumes you have (or are
willing to go out and get) a router or drill press (or both), and are
prepared
to spent a bit to get the right cutting implements. The small instruments
shouldn't be a problem as you'd probably be able to get standard holesaws
the correct size.
Finally, I think someone else asked about stains to get the veneer/solid
wood/whatever the right colour - I think the dashes were finished with
quite a light colour (either a light stain, or none at all) - at least my
TR6's dash was so you could probably get away with using boiled (pale)
linseed oil under a shellac finish. That will give you a nice golden
colour, and highlight interesting features of the wood as well. I did
this to my dash when I re-veneered it, although I used walnut burl, rather
than French walnut, which is darker, but has more interesting features...
Hope this helps,
Frank Biedermann
69 TR6 PI
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