The work with the gauges continues, today I've made a light indicator. This is just a test piece as the final one will need some additional work. It started with a bar stock which I've threaded to 9/16 18.
I did 4 of those as I will need them later.
In the next step I've a made a holder, so I can machine the pieces from the opposite side without damaging the threads and to have enough clearance for the cutting tools.
Below I'm boring the opening for the glass dome cabochons.
I went for real glass, it looks better then plastic not expensive either,$0.50 each.
Nice fit, had to use a bent piece of wire to push the glass from behind.
The outside side dimensions are machined.
Picture below kind of shows why I did a test first. In order to "set" the glass I needed to crimp the outside wall. To do this, I've used a bearing mounted in a tool post of the lathe and gently pushed against the outer rim. Too much pressure and the glass would break.
Here's the test piece, it came out OK. Few modification that I have to do to make it better is to polish inside as the drill markings are visible and distracting, same thing to the bore under the glass. In addition I may add some knurling or dimples to the outside ring to ease screwing in to the panel. I plan to make a small panel similar to factory one with 3 lights, power-on, high beam and neutral.
Few pictures with different light bulbs.
Incandescent
White LED
Blue LED
Red LED
And my favorite incandescent bulb with half voltage to mimic Edison bulb