CAD drawing of the dash bezel wood grain decal

[snipescastle2]

Hello everyone! I would like to know if anyone has (or can make a CAD drawing of the dash bezel wood grain decal for me? My plan is to use the cad drawing to use in having a Black "Mother of Pearl" decal for both my dash bezel and glove box, but the people I have been talking to about having it cut out say they need a cad drawing to ensure everything is spot on.....so, if anyone has any experience in the field of CAD drawings and can help me out here, I'd really appreciate it. The Drum Wrap material I bought is kind of pricey, at $60.00, I can't afford to screw this up...... any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Ben Smith

[davischevy]

When I need something like that, I take a template to the sign company and they copy and cut it.

[snipescastle2]

Yeah, I already approached a graphics place, they said if I could supply a cad drawing, it might save me several hours of layout work ( big money) so, I just thought I'd poll everyone here and see if anyone could help me with a CAD drawing of the decal/applique.these folks use a Co2 laser and its pretty precise, they don't want to chance ruining my material.
Thanks,
Ben

[Mac's]

Maybe buy the wood grain decal and give it to them as a pattern?

[snipescastle2]

Yeah, I already have the wood grain decal, I was just hoping someone would chime in and possibly do this for me. I did talk to a local graphics company about this, but it may take a bit of setup time for them to do it, as they have a CNC cutting machine for vinyl graphics, and may take several passes in order to cut it out.
Thanks,
Ben.

[Pick]

I dug up this drawing of a dash bezel.........it would be easy enough to edit the model to be just the decal area but I don't have access to AutoCad currently.

https://grabcad.com/community#/library/instrument-bezel

I'd edit the file and cut a test piece on cheap film to make sure it was correct, then cut the drum wrap after you know you have it right.

Sorry I can't get you closer.

[sameyrasmea72]

There are several different companies making bezels and none of them are exactly the same. so a decal that would fit on one bezel would probably not fit on a different brand.

[b.sharp]

Attached is a 2d image of the bezel that is in the cad system. I alos saved it back to a 2000 version so they should be able to open it with any current software. I hope this will help you out. The graphics guys might want to offset the lines just a tad to give you a little room inside the bezel.

Well, I can't upload a dwg file. post your email or pm me and I will send you the cad file.

[snipescastle2]

Just sent you a PM Mr.Sharp!
Thank you!
Ben Smith

[snipescastle2]

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller....Bueller....Bueller...

Have a great day !
Ben Smith

[Gromit]

How about scanning your existing bezel decal on a flatbed scanner at a high resolution (600 dpi might be enough - but modern scanners go even higher).

And saving the scan into Adobe Acrobat.

Most Kinko's copiers have flatbed scanning ability - and they can save the file to a thumb drive too.

Adobe Acrobat has ability to export or "save as" just about any file format; so save the high resolution scan of the decal as a DWG file; then try cutting (onto scrap at first) from that?

[snipescastle2]

I'll give that a try tonight and see what happens.
Thanks!
Ben

[drfloyd]

Our products require quite a bit of screen printing and decal work. I don't think I've ever had to supply .dwg files for any of the work we've had done. The screen printer converts .pdf into some sort of Apple Cad file format but that's a bit different. I have AutoCad and do quite a bit of electrical drawing work myself but honestly, I don't have time to start a drawing like that from scratch. I think if you take them a .pdf they can use that or they should be able to.

[snipescastle2]

Okay folks, I've got the CAD files for both the Bezel (with Gauges) and the glove box. I have them in both .DWG and .DXF formats, so, I need to email these files because I cannot post these as they come up invalid file format.... if one of the moderators will please send me an email address I can send these to, we can add these to the FAQ's (stickies) for everyone to share. Now, it's off to the laser engravers!!!
Have a good one!
Ben

[kingstrider]

MOTO, aka mother of toilet seat!! I used to use pearl acetate when I was building guitars for neck inlays, awesome stuff. Before you have your part cut I'd suggest a sample using a cheaper material.

[70LonghornCST]

Originally Posted by snipescastle2

Okay folks, I've got the CAD files for both the Bezel (with Gauges) and the glove box. I have them in both .DWG and .DXF formats, so, I need to email these files because I cannot post these as they come up invalid file format.... if one of the moderators will please send me an email address I can send these to, we can add these to the FAQ's (stickies) for everyone to share. Now, it's off to the laser engravers!!!
Have a good one!
Ben

PM sent

[snipescastle2]

kingstrider,
The first set of pearl acetate I got came in a cardboard shipping tube, that UPS decided to "Flatten" like a pan cake, so, needless to say, it has three neat creases in it..... at least I didn't have to pay for it, or returning it. The company I used has sent me another set and It's all good now. I'm going to use that material as a practice run, so the laser engraver can set up his machine.....
Thanks!
Ben Smith

[special-K]

I have an idea for the dash that will require a pattern as well. I figured I'd buy a woodgrain stick-on and go off of that. I'd love to have a pattern for my idea. My first thought, before seeing any pictures, was "this guy must be a musician". Was I wrong?

[snipescastle2]

Musician......well, close. Both of my brother's have been in a band for a very long time, and my little brother who recently passed away (October) was a "drummer" so, this was my idea of a "tribute" to him. not to mention, just wanted to add a special touch to my build..... My other Brother, he's a Guitar player... they always said I was supposed to be "the Missing lead vocalist" they needed, NO Way, I'd scare everyone out of the building.....I'm the Mechanic of the family.....I'll stick to my day job! LOL

Ben

[special-K]

That's a cool tribute, as well as a fine creative touch that is all your own. Sorry to hear your brother recently died.

[snipescastle2]

Thank you for the kind words! I only wish my Little Brother could have got the drive this....I call him my "Little Brother" not just because he was the youngest, but because he was anything but little.....big boy he was.....I'm sure going to miss him.

[70LonghornCST]

Ben,

I converted the CAD files to PDF for others to access easier. I hope this is what you were wanting. Let me know. Great work getting these created.

Richard

[Gromit]

My desktop publishing skills are pretty rudimentary but I tried printing this first PDF that was posted in Adobe with the zoom level (and print properties) set to "Actual Size" and the result is attached.

It ends up printing with the Speedo circles 2-3/4" in diameter (too small).

Another measurement I tried is from the straight part of the notches in the top (since those are the only convenient straight edges to make a reasonably accurate horizontal measurement) and that measurement ends up being 10-3/4" (too small)

The template is still helpful as it is because a sign shop or graphics person should be able to run an Auto-Trace on the black lines and convert the lines in this pdf to vectors which I think would make the image a parametric or scale-able / resize-able object; but that would take some skill - I'm pretty sure Adobe can convert a DWG into a PDF while retaining the actual dimensions of the original DWG.

I'm thinking this may not be the only time people on this forum may wish to exchange CAD files - after all the desktop 3D printers are already here.. So maybe it would be beneficial if the webmaster could take this as an opportunity enable DWG or DXF as document types?

[snipescastle2]

Send me a PM with your email address and I'll email the .DXF AND .DWG files directly...
Ben

[firedemon]

i wouldn't mind a copy of the dxf files if your willing