[racerx]

I ordered my 5" classic gauges from Tri state, and I have a blank dash. I am wondering, how did you cut your holes in the dash?
Thanks,
RacerX

 

[JerryH]

I've only been working with a temporary masonite dash but I used a Rotozip with a circle cutter attachment. Hope it works beter on the aluminum than the masonite. It wanted to walk on the masonite.

[ April 01, 2002, 04:52 PM: Message edited by: JerryH ]

 

[cobra427man]

Been there and done that. Forget the rotozip on aluminum! It walks and if you can get it to cut straight, your bit won't last. A good hole saw is the only way to go.

 

[ToyoKogyo12aTurbo]

We've got the same problem. We pratice cutting holes with a hole-saw in some scarp aluminum. We even made a scale print of the dash layout on AutoCAD to make sure the holes were straight. No luck. We're taking it to some one who wont mess it up.

 

[Bill]

Go with a good hole saw. I know they are big bucks, but they work the best.

 

[gordont]

I spent more time sweating this than actually doing the work. I used one of those adjustable beam type hole / wheel cutters. Bought it from Sears for about $30. Only use in drill press and at very slow speeds. Replaced the set screws with hex bolts from NAPA. Clamp the dash and use scrap wood under the aluminum. Use cutting oil and a center punch. Perfect dash in about an hour. I'd show you mine if I could post. I'll e-mail to someone if they can post.

Tom

 

[chad e coen]

I don't know about a dash but I've had really good luck drilling holes by clamping your piece to be drilled between two pieces of wood. If you sandwich the dash really well it will stop the bits from walking and leave you with a clean hole. Have had best results using a drill press with the wood sandwich clamped to the surface of the drill press. *DISCLAIMER* I've only tried this on materials like formica, rare or expensive woods, and a steel Jeep dash. The Jeep dash was drilled to put in a factory clock and tach (old CJ7)and it worked really well.

Chad

 

[John / My427SC]

$15 from Home Depot. Like Tom said, clamp it down, take it nice and slow.

 

[cobrashoch]

I have always drilled a hole in a scape piece of thick wood first, then used that hole as a template to drill out the holes. That way you can loose the pilot drill and the wood will keep things going in strait. The hardest part of this method is achoring the jig to the aluminum. I have had good luck with clear packing tape as well as the usial clamps, etc. Also using this method you can use a cheap hole saw and sometimes with soft aluminum I run the hole saw in a counter rotation to to get clean cuts. GO SLOW !

Cobrashoch