Gauge housing

[jkp2240]

Does anyone reproduce housings for either meter?

[markb]

This is the only ones I know of.  Not cheap, but Yamiya's been good quality for what I've purchased.
http://www.yamiya750e.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=37_98&products_id=460
Mark

[Riccardo]

I've purchased 2 of this set but never mount on my bikes, i've evere restored the original.

This set needs a lot of work to appears the same of original.

There are 4 great differences from the original housing:

1)the housing is short respect the original and not cover all the metal frame of the gauge, it's not possible do the same welded lock;
2)the inner housing is not painted with reflective paint and so needs to be paint with "light green" color paint;
3)the housing of the glass do not  have the silver ring base that appears under the original glass;
4)in the fase of assembling the housing do not have the step where the metal frame remains locked to leave the exact space, under the glass, from face to the glass.

I will post some photos ASAP.

[jkp2240]

Mark
Thanks! I was looking in face section, did not look in electrical section. I need to study his catalog as there are MANY items needed.
John

[CB750faces.com (Lecram)]

I have also found these on the internet, but the reproduction is not perfect.

http://benzboy.com/parts2/index.php?action=listingview&listingID=100

[Riccardo]

http://benzboy.com/parts2/index.php?action=listingview&listingID=100

They are poor quality.

The best are Yamiya but needs work to apper like the originals.

[ashimotok0]

I looked into tooling up to make these but the tooling costs were way too high, as there are two separate pieces to make (black body and clear lens). Problem is nobody is likely to commit to buy until they have seen the finished article and I was not prepared to risk many thousands of pounds as a gamble. I would imagine the outer surface texture of the black part would be hard to reproduce exactly and not sure how the clear is bonded to the black piece. I imagine today it would be done with ultrasonic welding or perhaps ultra clear adhesive and vacuumed to remove any air. Not sure how it was done back in '69 though.  

What is the silver ring like Riccardo ?

One thing which I reckon would work would be to use the glass from a later gauge in place of the plastic. The contour is the same (as on the the K7 glass lenses  I have  anyway) and so is the diameter. I have never had a scrap K0 plastic cover to try this on,  however.

One thing that could be done though is to make silicone tooling from an original. I have had this done on previous projects and the process will reproduce a fingerprint in the original. The tooling will only last for around 20 pieces maximum though and the finished black part would be a resin material and not a thermoplastic like the original.

This is the company I used  (Also our local University (University of Hull) offers a similar service)

http://www.theproductworkshop.co.uk/

I used to work for a company where I designed a starter solenoid switch and during the development,  my MD told me that in the early 70's he went  for a factory tour around the Nippon Denso factory in Japan and left totally despondant. The whole factory was run by a handful of people and the production techniques were way ahead of anything in Europe.

Cheers! AshD

[jkp2240]

Well one of mine is almost cracked in half and other has a crack starting at the base and I would not like to reuse if possible. I find it hard to believe this question was not asked at an earlier date!
John

[Steve Swan]

No one but Yamiya makes the gauge cases and lenses.  They've been available for quite some time, it's been common knowledge, so probably no need to mention them until you asked, John.  Other than what Riccardo mentioned, really a great item.  I've used several sets over the years.  The 'silver' ring Riccardo refers to is probably because of where and how the clear plastic of the lens around the periphery of the clear plastic reflects light, probably in part due to how the lens is fixed to the black case.

[CB750faces.com (Lecram)]

Today I received 6 sets of Yamiya housings and I found another difference: the surface texture is in reverse mode of the original. I mean: at the original, the texture is IN the surface and at the Yamiya housing ON the surface.

I think that it is no rocket science to bond the lens to the housing. It can be glued with some very small dots at the outer side of the lens. That would be barely visible (in theory)

If someone has connections within the plastic industry in China, it would cost much less than producing these in the US or Europe.
But I am also investigating to produce the jewels and found a small company here in Holland that can do it against reasonable costs. I will ask them what it will cost to produce the housings. It could be risky if nobody wants to buy these.

What kind of glue can be used to bind the housing to the metal body?

[Steve Swan]

i have sealed the entire lens w/o any showing of adhesive which bonds black plastic to clear plastic.   waterproof.

i use another product to adhese steel case to plastic case.  waterproof.

i will list soon these 2 adhesive products (avialable in USA)

[Steve Swan]

To adhese black plastic case to steel frame, "Original Shoo Goo."  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe_Goo

To adhese clear plastic lens to black plastic case, "Barge - All Purpose Cement."  http://www.quabaug.com/barge

These are both products of USA.  Overseas countries must have similar products.

[ashimotok0]

 Lecram quoted "I found another difference: the surface texture is in reverse mode of the original. I mean: at the original, the texture is IN the surface and at the Yamiya housing ON the surface."

This confirms my comment that the texture would be hard to reproduce. I reckon that the mould was probably created using an impression of an original part and hence the surface texture contour is 'reversed'.

Cheers

Ash

[Riccardo]

The housing of the gauges was composed from two parts fused togheter, an outside of black color and an inside of light-green color, clearly necessary to the reflection of the inner light, this part finished exactly under the glass and in contact,  this part was of color silver.

I have tried, with the help of a turner, to extract the green part clearly, but this part is not possible to reuse it in the huising of Yamiya production.

The Yamiya product is, at my advice, the best one on the market.

I proceed so:

1) the black part comes painted to the inside, with a light green varnish, till climbs under the glass.
I give 5/6 hands of varnish in order to cover the black fund well and for giving more body/deep to the varnish;
2)the upper part under the glass, comes covered from a color ring silver that is made with the plotter;
3)at this point can be mounted the glass, having attention to only put the glue on the external edge of the glass, in order to avoid that the glue goes under the glass  and soil all.

There is from noticing a thing, the original housing had in the inside lower part a little one step, where he went to rest the iron frame (look the photo at the tweezers point)

In this way the face/dial did not arrive end under the glass and left to filter the light of the light bulbs in diffuse way.

The housing of Yamiya, obviously, they do not have this little one step and, for this reason, when the inner part is mounted must be made attention to leave the space under the top end ring ring in order to make to pass the light.

[Riccardo]

I’ve also attached some photos of 2 late gauges (with Yamiya faces), ready for my future diecast K0 project (2012-2013).