Thread: how to: make a factory bezel

I attach this by cleaning both side edges (left & right), then very thin double sided tape to hold everything in alignment, you can see the thin red tape backing sticking out from the top in one of the shots... this is so I can slide my insert into possition without the tape sticking to it, then pull the red backing out & attach in the correct spot... I then epoxy from the rear.. I haven't completed this last epoxy step yet, so I left the last post for those pictures... I might be able to finish this tommorow...

the 2 materials used..

10/10

Looks amazing, so the 2 bezels are epoxy glued at the back? You should make a tab/screw system to make it removable.

yeah, that makes a lot of sense, & is what I originally planned, but me & the owner discussed both options, & in the end it was decided that this wasn't necissary, as he has no plans to do any further modifications to this piece, & refinishing it if necissary as an assembly isn't a problem if the need arose...

also, I am adding 2 more ccfl's to this screen & a touchscreen, & it'll be more stury & the whole assy will be more stiff if bonded,,,,

the main reason to do them as seperate pieces was so that I wouldn'ty harm my factory bezel in the process, but once done, there aren't to many drawbacks to it all being one piece like vertually all other bezels would be anyway....

honestly, if it was mine, it would be removable, but that's cause I'm always tinkering & changing things around, this is more designed for drop in & forget it...

ic ic nice work! I only read about 80% of your posts but why did you go with polished black as apposed to the texture grey? Is it to hard to get it a perfect match? It still looks OEM with the black tho.

it looks more oem being black than if I matched the grey really, it matches the instrament bezel... it looks the best really in black to me... the other alternative was to match the silver down low, but we decided on the black for the low key factory look...

First of all, super write-up, it's answered a whole ton of questions I had about the fabrication I plan to do.

One question though.

The LCD I got is an 8.4 that didn't come in any plastic case, meaning no trim piece to use as the base for my fabrication like you did. Any suggestions on how to reproduce this piece, or should I just look to cannibalize some other 8.4 screen?

Thanks!

this lcd that I used is also just an open frame design, I used any old bezel just for the opening precut & perfect, but it doesn't make mounting the screen any easier....

if I didn't have anything, then I'd have to create my opening... that can be a *****, but I've done it before... the best advice I could give to do something like this is it's easier to form your opening with 4 straight edges rather than trying to cut a perfect opening.. the last one I did, I used 4 stainless steel thin rulers, this adds some problems because instead of trying to get perfectly mitered edges to match up, your better off overlapping... then this is cool because the stainless steel edge is what you sand to, it is easier to start with something that has your opening though....


in your case it should be easy enough, just order a spare lilliput housing for an 8.4... I think they have them in the store, & there cheap enough, & if your really lucky it may even help you with mounting too..., I have to order one too now that I think of this... , I'm doing an 8.4 in my car overhead...

I know someone sells the dynatron on ebay, any bodyshop supply house should have it too... & the 3m stuff....