Repair Parts for Backlit Round Gauges

I've had a number of gauges in my vehicles suffer damage over the years from UV light degrading the plastic ring behind the glass cover. This results in the glass becoming loose and rattling around as well as chunks of broken plastic getting into the meter movement.

I designed this series of parts to allow for printing replacement rings to the exact dimensions required. Using a translucent filament allows for back light to pass around the gauge face and illuminate the dial. Using different color filaments allows for changing the back light color, if desired. This is useful in situations where it may not be possible to change the light bulb color.

For cases where the gauge face is translucent, the bulb diffuser allows for changing the color of the back light where bulb color can't be changed. On one pair of gauges I repaired, that used a non-standard bulb, I had to size the diffuser to be a press fit into the hold holder.

In order to assist in re-crimping the bezel on the gauge, after repair, there is a holder that can be used to hold the face of the gauge, for example in a lathe. I made up a roller tool to fit my lathe as well as a centering pusher that fit my live center to hold the gauge to the holder. Setting the bearing face at about 20° seems to be a good angle for rolling the bezel over. You'll both feed the tool in on the cross slide at the beginning to start the rolling. Then, feed the tool into with the carriage to finish rolling it flat. The tool holder and pusher are not included in the model files as they would need to made to fit your setup.

Inspiration for the Bezel crimping tool came from this thread: https://forums.g503.com/viewtopic.php?t=307741

More options on this thread: https://www.accessnorton.com/NortonCommando/installing-smith-instrument-bezel.6934/

Photos: Gauge under repair with diffuser ring and bulb diffuser Pair of pressure gauges with sun damaged plastic rings Gauge with bulb diffuser inserting into bulb socket (to change the white bulb to green) Using crimping roller in lathe to crimp the bezel back on the gauge Top view of crimping roller, uses a 1" thick scrap of aluminum, M10x50 bolt and a 10mm ID roller bearing Back view of crimping roller, fitted into a quick change tool holder, side cut down to 1/2" x 1/2" to fit the holder Crimped bezel on repaired gauge Finished gauges with tinted backlight

Instead of this tool, you can use a flat blade screwdriver to crimp down the back side of the bezel. See the series of videos on YouTube for detailed explanations.

Series of gauge repair videos

https://youtu.be/hASPw_oc4RQ

https://youtu.be/veK5DXtNLok

https://youtu.be/dJHGZ8sLx-I

https://youtu.be/skLn4LWy00k

https://youtu.be/ic_w_yr4CtQ

Category: Automotive