emay
Full Access Member
I'm mid way through a switch panel project and came into the forum today to see what others with added electronics have done in the past. I was surprised to see some pretty awful concepts and final results on a few. I understand some are limited with budget, skills, and knowledge, but riding around daily with a hacked dash isn't for me and my pride and joy.
I'm not one to write how to's, so best I got is an overview and a few shots to date.
So here was my plan - I migrated to my Avic Z3 I had from my Avalanche which rendered the changer useless. My last Denali I put a 10" screen there, but it's not necessary with the Avic on board. Changer location was the perfect spot so that's what I went with.
I started off with a 1/4" thick piece of plexi glass and took my measurements. Cut it to size on my table saw and ended up with this (light blue protective coating left in place throughout my cutting processes):
Next I had to decide just how many accessories I wanted to run off this panel. I decided on 5 potential items and went with that, chose 1" led confirmed on switches and plunged my holes on the drill press:
Test fit:
The next few shots are as I progressed to finishing cosmetically, but I'll have to explain because I didn't stop to take pics at every step. I chose plexi glass because you can back light it, pure and simple. Problem is getting a finish that looks decent in your dash. I elected to speak with a vinyl shop I routinely do business with and see if they could drum up a flat black overlay for the panel and cut out wording so it would light as desired. We had to get creative because vinyl cutting is limited when doing text as to sizing. It simply can't do tiny intricate work. So abbreviatations and positioning was an issue. Switches from left to right are - Strobe lamp, Pattern change, Ambient lighting, and then two auxillary for some items I have to get pieces for yet. Here's the results of our abbreviations to the above:
On to the wiring plan. All my accessories are running with relays in line, so my switch panel isn't carrying any load. This makes for a cleaner wiring job at the panel in that you can daisy chain your positive and negative at the panel and carry your hot outbound accessory wire quite simply to the panel.
I also pocket drilled the led holes on the drill press, and used hot glue to secure them in their locations. Not easily seen in the pic, I scuffed the back side to frost it so that the leds would light better through the cut out areas:
That's it for that. To secure it to my console panel I used dabs of JB weld in several locations. I did so because engaging the switches requires some pressure, epoxy may give way. JB weld will not. I don't have any shots of this yet, but may get some up later. End result once cured was this:
I should have some installed and lit pics sometime over the weekend. Turned out fairly well. I'm not 100% in love with the abbreviations and text size. Might entertain making another and getting with an engraver to allow smaller font and whole wording. Not sure yet.
So there you have it, looks clean, goes good with the interior. Additionally with a dremel you can cut the JB weld and put it back to stock in short time if necessary or you change plans.
I'm not one to write how to's, so best I got is an overview and a few shots to date.
So here was my plan - I migrated to my Avic Z3 I had from my Avalanche which rendered the changer useless. My last Denali I put a 10" screen there, but it's not necessary with the Avic on board. Changer location was the perfect spot so that's what I went with.
I started off with a 1/4" thick piece of plexi glass and took my measurements. Cut it to size on my table saw and ended up with this (light blue protective coating left in place throughout my cutting processes):
Next I had to decide just how many accessories I wanted to run off this panel. I decided on 5 potential items and went with that, chose 1" led confirmed on switches and plunged my holes on the drill press:
Test fit:
The next few shots are as I progressed to finishing cosmetically, but I'll have to explain because I didn't stop to take pics at every step. I chose plexi glass because you can back light it, pure and simple. Problem is getting a finish that looks decent in your dash. I elected to speak with a vinyl shop I routinely do business with and see if they could drum up a flat black overlay for the panel and cut out wording so it would light as desired. We had to get creative because vinyl cutting is limited when doing text as to sizing. It simply can't do tiny intricate work. So abbreviatations and positioning was an issue. Switches from left to right are - Strobe lamp, Pattern change, Ambient lighting, and then two auxillary for some items I have to get pieces for yet. Here's the results of our abbreviations to the above:
On to the wiring plan. All my accessories are running with relays in line, so my switch panel isn't carrying any load. This makes for a cleaner wiring job at the panel in that you can daisy chain your positive and negative at the panel and carry your hot outbound accessory wire quite simply to the panel.
I also pocket drilled the led holes on the drill press, and used hot glue to secure them in their locations. Not easily seen in the pic, I scuffed the back side to frost it so that the leds would light better through the cut out areas:
That's it for that. To secure it to my console panel I used dabs of JB weld in several locations. I did so because engaging the switches requires some pressure, epoxy may give way. JB weld will not. I don't have any shots of this yet, but may get some up later. End result once cured was this:
I should have some installed and lit pics sometime over the weekend. Turned out fairly well. I'm not 100% in love with the abbreviations and text size. Might entertain making another and getting with an engraver to allow smaller font and whole wording. Not sure yet.
So there you have it, looks clean, goes good with the interior. Additionally with a dremel you can cut the JB weld and put it back to stock in short time if necessary or you change plans.
