This is my first post since introduction. Hopefully I'm in the appropriate sub for this.
The main theme here is about changing my dash lights from the stock white-ish green to red backlighting, but more specifically dealing with the stock radio lighting. The first time I saw an airliner cockpit all lit up red for a night flight I've been kind of obsessed with red dash lighting and I've done it in almost every vehicle I've owned. I started replacing the dash lighting in my LJ quite a while ago, but I skipped a couple of things like the radio, afraid I might lose or break something inside.
I'd like to back up a bit here. What kind of started all this recent work was buying a Kilby OBA kit a year ago (I installed one in my YJ and loved it). The plan was to install it this last summer, but I sat on it. It was either too cold, and then too warm to work on it. In the mean time I was doing some small things to prepare for installing, like looking for a switch. I'm a bit of a switch nut also. I like the way the factory switches look, so I started looking for factory style ones, and found plenty of options. So I looked for ways to expand the switch panel and found a 7-switch position panel that was 3d scanned and printed. Very stock looking. But still not enough switch positions available. Then I had the idea of grafting my original switch panel onto the new one, expanding the panel to 10-positions. And still keeping fairly stock-looking.
Anyway, I found with a little work it was possible to back-light all these new switches. And since I was installing lights into all these switches I thought I would finally tackle the radio lighting. To insert here, I really like my stock radio with it's in-dash 6 CD changer. Back when I bought my LJ that was a really nice feature. Like I said, I was reluctant to crack open the radio. Disassembling something like that I worry I'll break or lose some tiny critical part, but it came apart relatively easy. The face-plate lights are incandescent that had little rubber balloon like blue-ish green filters over them. Rather than trying to put LED's in, I decided to just change the filters. It was actually kind of easy to find and order some red ones.
On the other hand, the display itself is florescent. A filter was the only way to really go. I placed a red filter over it and seemed to work ok until replacing the radio faceplate. The faceplate has a dark tint to it that barely allowed any red light getting through. At first I thought I might get a piece of clear or red plexiglass and sand it into shape, but as soon as I removed the tinted lens it was obvious it was too complex a shape to simply replace with a flat piece of plastic. Thinking about different possible solutions I decided that making a mold for a replacement was the way to go. (In hindsight, if I knew I was going to make a mold I wouldn't have bothered with the display filter, the red lens casting would have been sufficient.)
Many years ago I made a silicone mold for another project, so I was pretty sure I could do this. Making the mold wasn't very hard, but getting a good casting of the mold was something else. Being a clear piece, having any bubbles was an issue and the first casting was literally full of bubbles. The second came out about as good as I could have expected. Unfortunately it was colorless and really stood out when placed on the radio face. I had ordered some red dye from the same manufacturer of the epoxy resin when I was gathering supplies, but it was over a week out. I got impatient though and went around town and found some red dye in a local art shop. Then I made some more castings with increasing amounts of dye. All of them had some small bubbles, but the last two, the bubbles didn't stand out unless closely inspected. I decided the last casting was just a touch too red. In sunlight the display was almost too dim to see. So I went with casting number five. Although I really wanted a 'perfect' casting.
At this point I started to make them hoping it would at least be better than the previous one. In for a penny, in for a pound, I went all out. First I ordered a vacuum chamber. Meanwhile, later than I was expecting, the red dye that I ordered came in. This dye looks like a higher quality of dye, and after a new casting it showed the previous castings looked purple-ish in comparison. I also went and got a pressure pot. Then decided to make a new mold; the first mold obviously had bubbles in it, which made it incompatible with the pressure pot. Even if the surface looks smooth, the pressure will push the resin into the bubbles creating dimples, and little balls, on the surface of the casting.
Finally, with all the changes and additions, I think I got my near perfect result.
Sorry about being kind of a mega-post.
The main theme here is about changing my dash lights from the stock white-ish green to red backlighting, but more specifically dealing with the stock radio lighting. The first time I saw an airliner cockpit all lit up red for a night flight I've been kind of obsessed with red dash lighting and I've done it in almost every vehicle I've owned. I started replacing the dash lighting in my LJ quite a while ago, but I skipped a couple of things like the radio, afraid I might lose or break something inside.
I'd like to back up a bit here. What kind of started all this recent work was buying a Kilby OBA kit a year ago (I installed one in my YJ and loved it). The plan was to install it this last summer, but I sat on it. It was either too cold, and then too warm to work on it. In the mean time I was doing some small things to prepare for installing, like looking for a switch. I'm a bit of a switch nut also. I like the way the factory switches look, so I started looking for factory style ones, and found plenty of options. So I looked for ways to expand the switch panel and found a 7-switch position panel that was 3d scanned and printed. Very stock looking. But still not enough switch positions available. Then I had the idea of grafting my original switch panel onto the new one, expanding the panel to 10-positions. And still keeping fairly stock-looking.
Anyway, I found with a little work it was possible to back-light all these new switches. And since I was installing lights into all these switches I thought I would finally tackle the radio lighting. To insert here, I really like my stock radio with it's in-dash 6 CD changer. Back when I bought my LJ that was a really nice feature. Like I said, I was reluctant to crack open the radio. Disassembling something like that I worry I'll break or lose some tiny critical part, but it came apart relatively easy. The face-plate lights are incandescent that had little rubber balloon like blue-ish green filters over them. Rather than trying to put LED's in, I decided to just change the filters. It was actually kind of easy to find and order some red ones.
On the other hand, the display itself is florescent. A filter was the only way to really go. I placed a red filter over it and seemed to work ok until replacing the radio faceplate. The faceplate has a dark tint to it that barely allowed any red light getting through. At first I thought I might get a piece of clear or red plexiglass and sand it into shape, but as soon as I removed the tinted lens it was obvious it was too complex a shape to simply replace with a flat piece of plastic. Thinking about different possible solutions I decided that making a mold for a replacement was the way to go. (In hindsight, if I knew I was going to make a mold I wouldn't have bothered with the display filter, the red lens casting would have been sufficient.)
Many years ago I made a silicone mold for another project, so I was pretty sure I could do this. Making the mold wasn't very hard, but getting a good casting of the mold was something else. Being a clear piece, having any bubbles was an issue and the first casting was literally full of bubbles. The second came out about as good as I could have expected. Unfortunately it was colorless and really stood out when placed on the radio face. I had ordered some red dye from the same manufacturer of the epoxy resin when I was gathering supplies, but it was over a week out. I got impatient though and went around town and found some red dye in a local art shop. Then I made some more castings with increasing amounts of dye. All of them had some small bubbles, but the last two, the bubbles didn't stand out unless closely inspected. I decided the last casting was just a touch too red. In sunlight the display was almost too dim to see. So I went with casting number five. Although I really wanted a 'perfect' casting.
At this point I started to make them hoping it would at least be better than the previous one. In for a penny, in for a pound, I went all out. First I ordered a vacuum chamber. Meanwhile, later than I was expecting, the red dye that I ordered came in. This dye looks like a higher quality of dye, and after a new casting it showed the previous castings looked purple-ish in comparison. I also went and got a pressure pot. Then decided to make a new mold; the first mold obviously had bubbles in it, which made it incompatible with the pressure pot. Even if the surface looks smooth, the pressure will push the resin into the bubbles creating dimples, and little balls, on the surface of the casting.
Finally, with all the changes and additions, I think I got my near perfect result.
Sorry about being kind of a mega-post.
