5/16" or 8mm O.D. Steam gauge face?

[lab-dad]

I am puttering along on the 1/16th Shay.
Once I accomplish something worth sharing I will do so.

In the mean time I need to create the artwork for the steam gauge face.
It needs to be 5/16" or 8mm (5/16 is preferred).
Searching the 'net provided no good images.
I also know printing it out on my home printer is not good enough.
I was thinking of printing a photograph scaled to the right size to keep the quality up.
I hate to buy a set of decals for one gauge

Any suggestions, ideas or a good image and how to use it?

-Marty

[5thwheel]

Marty, I have had good luck with drawing the item several times oversize and then reducing it to scale on my printer.  Print on low gloss photo paper.

[Barney]

Try the Gn15 Tome -issue 6 - May 2007      http://tome.gn15.info/06_May_07.pdf
lots of nice gauge faces
Barney

[lab-dad]

Barney,
Thanks! Those are great
But unfotunately they look like crap when i print them.
I even tried at 50%...?
Marty

[Terry Harper]

Hello Marty,

I am a lurker and have been following your Shay project with great interest. A couple of years ago I etched a full size gauge face for a Lombard Log Hauler. This was an exact copy of an original. Other than the Lombard text this is a typical Ashcroft locomotive etc. gauge face and measure 6-13/16" O.D. I created the artwork in AutoCAD. It would be very easy for me to modify it to be a "generic" gauge face and scale it to meet your needs if you think it would work for you.

If your interested I can send you a PDF or JPEG.

Best regards,

Terry

Here is the finished etched gauge face:

[Terry Harper]

And..... here is the art work cleaned-up so its a generic locomotive gauge face.

The original I had to go-by was un-finished brass but I have seen quite a few that were silvered brass (like a clock face) with black letters. Based on the size of the original plate scaling it to 1/16 would make it about 7/16" O.D. That little bit of increased size might help with the printing.

I hope this helps!

Best regards,

Terry

[Ray Dunakin]

Marty, what resolution is the image you're using? What kind of resolution can you print at?

When I have to print out a very small, detailed image, I make a copy of the original image and reduce it so that it retains the highest possible resolution. (This takes some fiddling with the options.) Then I print as if I were making a photographic-style print, with the printer set for "best quality".

Of course there are still limits to how well a cheap printer such as mine can reproduce something very tiny.

[lab-dad]

TERRY!!!!!!!!!!!

THAT IS GREAT!

I was initially thinking you did the gauge in scale (not 1:1)
I guess I need to mess with my printer instructions....

Mr. Potato Head is working on a decal for me so may be this will work for him, and save him some trouble!

Thanks a lot!

-Marty

[Terry Harper]

No problem Marty,

If you go the decal route you could also do a real silvered face if your gauge body is brass. Its a simple process that involves rubbing on a solution which leaves a microscopic layer of electroplated silver.

http://www.jaxchemicals.com/jaxshop/shopexd.asp?id=76

Here is a motometer face I etched and silvered a while back.

[Barney]

Bin your printer - something wrong - I only have a Cannon Pixma iP4700 printer and reducing the size of the large face to 5mm across is still readable !
Barney

[finescalerr]

The printer is only half of the equation. The other half is the paper. In some cases ink also is a factor (like with decals). -- Russ

[Mr Potato Head]

I can print them, as far as the black type and white face that's easy, for the brass face I can lay down gold first then print black, but I think it would work better if the decal was clear and put over a brass disk, oh well he'll have to play with it, it's the details he's good at
MPH