Thought about this the other day and saw another request for it tonight in another post...ever any thoughts to producing a clear front panel? The color panels are great but I think that the natural color of the VFD shining through would be cool too. The "lightning white" of the VFD would look great at night time I think and kinda high-tech...any one else's thoughts on this? John

Technoweenie
12 GB Blue / Red MK2

I think it would look great as long as you dont mind seeing the components on the display board.
The colour panels tend to hide them a little

____________________
Murray 06000047

Actually, there was a discussion back a while ago about this. It need not be clear, more likely a neutral grey or smoke color that would not change the color of the display, but would obscure the board behind it. See this for more information. I would personally like to see these as well - I think it would match my dash better, but I haven't heard anything more lately.

Paul G.
SN# 090000587 (40GB Green)

I did a smoke one here with a CNC about a year ago. I was not concerned about hiding the components (this was the time of the iMAC), but I have to confess, it looked crap. The intensity on a Mk1 was just far too bright at night; I went back to my original blue and have stuck with it. YMMV.

One of the few remaining Mk1 owners... #00015

Wow! I would just love to have a smoked panel for my car...It would match the overall theme perfectly...Maybe we could make some sort of arrangement to have a MK2 panel made (if you were interested?) John

Technoweenie
12 GB Blue / Red MK2

Hmmm... well, all I did was went out and bought a piece of GM smoked perpex from the local hardware store, took the face plate off Emma and passed it to a mate in Eindhoven who just so happens to be the main programmer/operator of one of the most accurate CNC machines installed in the Netherlands (MEGA bucks). It's smart; he just clamped the old face plate in place, it scanned it, worked out the milling trajectory for itself after scanning the outline, then it cut a new panel in about one minute flat. Perfect fit, first time. The wonders of modern technology (he's done me a set of bike pegs as well )

I don't have a Mk2 and although I know what the panel's like, I haven't cut one, neither do I have a sacrificial lamb to get one made from. Surely there must be a milling shop near you that could do the same? I know the idea of batching up sets of plates and selling them is attractive, but this one was a personal favour over lunchtime; to get a batch done would mean commissioning the machine shop, a mimimum size batch, and the costs to match, which on this particular machine would NOT BE CHEAP, believe me. Additionally, these days I only do stuff cash up front after getting stung for a batch of circuit boards that ?everybody wanted?, but nobody wanted to pay for when they were made. Ignition synchroniser board, anybody?

One of the few remaining Mk1 owners... #00015

Ignition synchroniser board, anybody?

Well, I can't remember having my ignition synchronized lately. Sounds like a cool board. Tell more...

Frank van Gestel

...and bought a piece of GM smoked perpex from the local hardware store

And then when you turned on the empeg, birds fell out of the sky with their feathers on fire, and the entire Netherlands Nuclear Missile Defense System went on red alert because of all the unfiltered RF energy leaking through that non-screened AR face plate.

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

And then... birds fell out of the sky with their feathers on fire, and the entire Netherlands Nuclear Missile
Defense System went on red alert because of all the unfiltered RF energy leaking

Nothing that serious: only his ignition needed re-synchronizing!

Henno
mk2 6 nr 6

In reply to:

---

Thought about this the other day and saw another request for it tonight in another post...

---

It may have been in the thread I started about custom coloured displays. I mentioned Empeg/SonicBlue might like to offer some colourless AR & Conductive coated screens but there probably wouldn't be enough demand for them to make it financially viable (as was pointed out by someone else). So unfortunately I don't think it's going to happen any time soon.
My Empeg's got a Blue/Magenta/Orange/Yellow screen at the moment and (IMHO) it makes the standard Blue look very boring indeed.

beaker
12 gig blue

I work at a sign company operating a CNC router and have made a clear faceplate for my Mark 1 because the VFD's color by itself matches the display's in my Lincoln Mark VII LSC better than the blue does.
I might be possbily inclined to make more if people were to make it worth my time (possibly not definitely).
I included a picture attachment so you all can see how it looks.

Steve

Edited by DarkStorm on 28/04/01 12:07 AM.

Try the attachment again. It has to be smaller than 100k, and I think it has to be a GIF or a JPEG....

___________
Tony Fabris

Well I tries to include a picture but it didn't work.
It must have been too big. I'll try again.

Steve

Cool picture. But you blaspheme with the "AutoPC" logo.

___________
Tony Fabris

Aww. I thought it was cool. Anyway I'm still experimenting with what I want to use for a logo.

Well that all depends on the price.

Fly me to the moon...

I would be interested for one for the Mark 2. One question I have, though, for the folks@empeg: I know the internal coating is there for a reason. Can you comment on this idea???

Paul G.
SN# 090000587 (40GB Green)

Unfortunately I don't have a Mark II fascia to use for a template.

If the lens is a seperate piece from the rest of the fascia (I know it's probably installed as one piece) meaning that it could be seperated from the rest of the fascia and reattached then maybe if someone let's me borrow one to use as a pattern to go by I could make the same offer to Mark II/Rio owners also.

But unless that happens you guys are out of luck. At least with me.

Steve

The MkII facia is two pieces, the colour screen and the darker plastic bezel. this is how the colour is so easy to change. Simply unscrew the same screws ( in exactly the same place as the MK1) and slip on the new colour. The shape of the buttons would be the more difficult part to mill but is entirely possible

____________________
Murray 06000047

I might be possbily inclined to make more if people were to make it worth my time (possibly not definitely).

OK, what'd make it worth it?

/Michael - definately interested

You would invalidate the FCC / CE approval, and the unit would radiate quite a lot of RF. In practice this shouldn't be such a problem, but if you did interfere with local TV reception or somesuch, you would be responsible for that.

I don't think that's very likely though.

Rob

No, with the machine that my company bought it is impossible because they didn't opt for the 3d software to let machine mill in a z-stroke. Only xy.

Buttons would be up to you guys.

All I could offer is the smoke or clear lens itself.

I think he was referring to the cutout that accommodates the buttons. It probably doesn't need to be as complex a shape as the original - we matched the profile of the buttons as closely as possible because of the EMC coating, but you won't have a coating so it doesn't matter..

Rob

I, for one, would gladly shell out for your time and effort to make this reality...I really would like to have a smoke or clear panel because it would match my car's theme....I would also be willing to offer up a MKII panel to be used as a template if required....:)


Technoweenie
12 GB Blue / Red MK2

Greetings!

Well, if it is just RF, I get enough exposure to that in the local machine room!!! As long as it doesn't cause sterility (i.e., police with radar guns) or make me glow in the dark... What kind of coating is used? Is it something that could be self applied?

I would be interested in both a clear and smoke. I also have a spare faceplate available as a template if needed.



Paul G.
SN# 090000587 (40GB Green)

The coating is ITO, which is a specialist process (and which increases the cost of the panel by about 400%). It probably isn't practical in very small quantities.

Rob

Hi all,
I've measured my faceplate & drawn it up. If anyone's interested you'll find both AutoCAD .dwg & .dxf files here. The dimensions may not be as per the original Empeg drawing (which of course I don't have) but they do correspond to the dimensions of my faceplate, so should be near enough. Anyone who has access to a CNC milling machine should be able to read either the dwg or the dxf file into their CAM software to produce a cutter path. I do actually work for a company (http://www.dawson-shanahan.co.uk) with mostly CNC machinery but it's not always easy getting stuff made on the quiet.

Rob & Hugo et al: If you have a problem with me reverse engineering this and making the drawings available please let me know and I will remove them immediately.

best of luck...


beaker
12 gig blue

BTW I've now added a Coreldraw 5.0 file to the link in my last post for printing your own coloured screens.


beaker
12 gig blue/magenta/orange/yellow (at the moment :-))

Ok guys, how does $20 US a piece sound plus mailing cost.

"ineedcolor", you were the first to offer up a Mark 2 for a template so I'd give you a discount.

Steve

You shouldn't need a template - that's why I did the drawing. Anyone with access to a CNC milling machine or router will probably have access to some CAM software that can read in the geometry from either the DXF or the DWG file. At a pinch it could even be programmed manually. That would be a bit laborious on the button cut-outs though.

beaker
12 gig blue/magenta/orange/yellow (at the moment :-))