What's the latest on speedo faces? I have one I want to refresh and I know about the one C77 decal available but I don't really want to use a decal. Seems like ink jet printing has developed to the point where you should be able to just print it directly onto the aluminum face. I know you can print directly onto CD's and DVD's with some home printers now. I was thinking somebody good at photoshop could fix up an image like the one attached (a scan at 300 dpi) and just save the black. The aluminum plate could easily be stripped and painted a nice matte off-white then printed on directly. I don't have a printer that could do it, but I think there are commercial ink jet printers that can. Any thoughts? Or, if anyone has a Nippon Seiki face plate they want to part with, I'm all ears...
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honda305.com Forum
Vintage Honda Owners, Restorers, Riders and Admirers
Speedometer Face
Speedometer Face
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Speedo Decal
48, I have spent some time working on the Fuji face. To get the black to print right on the face seems like it would be a pretty big undertaking. There is probably a way to get the face lined up under the print head of a printer, but that is above my pay grade. I don't see any way to do it in my printer. There are commercial printers who could probably do it, but then you are sending it out and that would seem to defeat the plan you are trying to make.
The answer to the decal question is: it depends on what you want. There was a member (jaberwoke?) who made a bit map file of the Fuji face and it is on this site somewhere. It will work, but does not have the sharp edges on the black graphics that I am trying to achieve. My brother in law used to do some graphic art. He says you need to use a program that makes a vector file to get those sharp edges. I think he has Adobe Illustrator. He took a run at a draft for the Fuji, but it still needs a little work. The idea is to get a black "decal" that is laser cut around all the graphics. It will have adhesive on it and be mounted to a backing sheet. I hope we will be able to have the screw holes cut in the backing to line everything up.
Paint the aluminum face, stick the graphics on it and then overcoat it with UV resistant spray. It is kind of like what you are suggesting, but instead of printing directly on the face, it will be a decal of just the black graphics with adhesive. He says there is a kind of vinyl that will not shrink and I plan to use that.
Not done yet with the Fuji face, but getting close. The same can be done for the Nippon. Hope that helps. Stay tuned. If my plan works out I should have some extras available. Anybody interested?
The answer to the decal question is: it depends on what you want. There was a member (jaberwoke?) who made a bit map file of the Fuji face and it is on this site somewhere. It will work, but does not have the sharp edges on the black graphics that I am trying to achieve. My brother in law used to do some graphic art. He says you need to use a program that makes a vector file to get those sharp edges. I think he has Adobe Illustrator. He took a run at a draft for the Fuji, but it still needs a little work. The idea is to get a black "decal" that is laser cut around all the graphics. It will have adhesive on it and be mounted to a backing sheet. I hope we will be able to have the screw holes cut in the backing to line everything up.
Paint the aluminum face, stick the graphics on it and then overcoat it with UV resistant spray. It is kind of like what you are suggesting, but instead of printing directly on the face, it will be a decal of just the black graphics with adhesive. He says there is a kind of vinyl that will not shrink and I plan to use that.
Not done yet with the Fuji face, but getting close. The same can be done for the Nippon. Hope that helps. Stay tuned. If my plan works out I should have some extras available. Anybody interested?
48
Have you tried just gently cleaning that one with soap and water. It looks to me like it would clean up nicely.
The brown discoloration is just oil that has evaporated from within your speedo. Th clean patch where the needle pivot is shows the potential.
I just use soapy water and the gentle application of a sponge. It will be more authentic, even if it has a few battle scars....
Dont use heavy force or a solvent or that will take the numbers off - don't ask me how I know.....
G
Have you tried just gently cleaning that one with soap and water. It looks to me like it would clean up nicely.
The brown discoloration is just oil that has evaporated from within your speedo. Th clean patch where the needle pivot is shows the potential.
I just use soapy water and the gentle application of a sponge. It will be more authentic, even if it has a few battle scars....
Dont use heavy force or a solvent or that will take the numbers off - don't ask me how I know.....
G
'60 C77 '60 C72 '62 C72 Dream '63 CL72
'61 CB72 '64 CB77 '65 CB160
'66 Matchless 350 '67 CL77
'67 S90 '77 CB400F
'61 CB72 '64 CB77 '65 CB160
'66 Matchless 350 '67 CL77
'67 S90 '77 CB400F
Thanks for the replies;
conbs - I think the decal method as you describe it will work well and I'll wait for your results. In the mean time I'm going to pursue the printing route. You're right on the vector file, it will give sharper edges than the jpg and I'm going to try to find a graphics person here at work (if we haven't laid them all off) to see what a good software package is for that and maybe have them take a stab. The 300dpi jpg I attached is probably good enough though, if you zoom in it's pretty sharp. Then, there has to be a print shop somewhere around here with an owner that likes vintage bikes that could line it up and run it through for cheap. I'll report back on all of that.
G-Man - Thanks for the input, I did try hot soapy water, then WD-40, then a mild solvent, then acetone. That's what made the light spot in the middle and smeared the ink. It actually melted away a layer of paint to reveal the base color. So it's not dirt, it's actually a discoloration of the paint probably from water and or sun (the glass on this one was cracked). I don't think it's possible to clean this one. The others I have are all Fuji and as you probably already know, don't line up quite right with the Nippon guts.
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conbs - I think the decal method as you describe it will work well and I'll wait for your results. In the mean time I'm going to pursue the printing route. You're right on the vector file, it will give sharper edges than the jpg and I'm going to try to find a graphics person here at work (if we haven't laid them all off) to see what a good software package is for that and maybe have them take a stab. The 300dpi jpg I attached is probably good enough though, if you zoom in it's pretty sharp. Then, there has to be a print shop somewhere around here with an owner that likes vintage bikes that could line it up and run it through for cheap. I'll report back on all of that.
G-Man - Thanks for the input, I did try hot soapy water, then WD-40, then a mild solvent, then acetone. That's what made the light spot in the middle and smeared the ink. It actually melted away a layer of paint to reveal the base color. So it's not dirt, it's actually a discoloration of the paint probably from water and or sun (the glass on this one was cracked). I don't think it's possible to clean this one. The others I have are all Fuji and as you probably already know, don't line up quite right with the Nippon guts.
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Paperslammer posted a walk-through of a Dream speedo rebuild in which he includes an email link to someone who sells a $13 decal which looks perfect to me. I'll use that if/when I redo my own speedo.
Mine: '74 CB750 K4 -- Hers: '64 CA78
Had: '75 CB550 K, '79 CT90
Had: '75 CB550 K, '79 CT90
Slowly but surely been working on getting the speedo dial printed. First, I made up a high quality vector graphics file from a 1200 dpi scan. A nice fellow at LogoJet offered to give their direct-to-substrate printer a try for me. I stripped off the old ink and painted it with Rustoleum flat white primer. I sent him a few cardboard blanks along with the aluminum blank and I was impressed with what came back. Before and after scans are attached. My contact at LogoJet is going to send me a list of shops that have the LogoJet "Pro" model if anyone is interested in having this done. The hardest part was creating the vector file, but that's because I'm not a graphic designer...
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That looks really great! Any chance you'd share with the forum the digital file that gets the job done? It would be a long time before I'll get around to overhauling the speedo. But it'd be great to have options for the face. Do you know what material ("ink") they printed onto your blank? It looks fantastic!
Mine: '74 CB750 K4 -- Hers: '64 CA78
Had: '75 CB550 K, '79 CT90
Had: '75 CB550 K, '79 CT90