Center Console Template

[lithboy]

Hey guys, a few years ago, I was restoring the interior of my 1972 124 and I had a beautiful console set built by Denise Burchette. A couple years ago, pressure from the short shifter in fifth resulted in the cracking of the shifter plate. Alas, I sent Denise the shifter plate to repair (at my cost, of course) but it seems she's fallen off the face of the earth. I can't get a hold of her to get my center console back, but I have access to a laser cutter, so I've decided to build it myself.

I've taken some measurements of the surrounding dash it'll sit in, but I'd rather use a template image (like in a PDF even) so that I can scale it to measure and feed it to the laser with some precision. I remember seeing old templates years ago when I was in the thick of this project, but can't find them anymore. The shape is pretty much like the below. Any ideas?



And this is my actual dash:

[DieselSpider]

This shot from Midwest Bayless is pretty straight on and may work for your purposes. I have used MicroStation for this type of project in the past but have only plotted out on paper to make patterns for tracing and cutting.

http://www.midwest-bayless.com/p-4738-4 ... pd-u8.aspx

I will be replacing mine as it is made up of a piece of unknown material covered in some kind of black non woven carpeting that was put in when they squeezed in the diesel without using a shift relocator making some interesting bends in the long more pickup truck style shift lever to get it to work. At least its a 5 speed.

[lithboy]

Thanks DieselSpider. The templates that I saw before were to-scale line drawings. I believe they had the various model years too. I can't find it worth a damn anymore, though.

I just got in contact with Denise Burchette who will be sending the shifter plate back to me. I'll just use it as a template for the laser cutter.

Thanks for your help!

[pwilliam]

This is what I would do, and did for my own dash. Take an old console panel (buy a junky one on eBay or see if a member on the forum will give you one for free) and scan it on a flatbed scanner. Save the scan as a jpg and the import the jpg into any cad software. Scale the image in Cad using a measured set of reference points such as the overall length or width of the console. Then trace the scan in cad. Export the cad as a dxf or dwg. Laser cut. Enjoy.

I can do this for free (or donation of small parts if you are feeling generous) for anyone that doesn't know how, just e-mail me your scan and dimensions. You can scan at staples.

[DieselSpider]

This is what I would do, and did for my own dash. Take an old console panel (buy a junky one on eBay or see if a member on the forum will give you one for free) and scan it on a flatbed scanner. Save the scan as a jpg and the import the jpg into any cad software. Scale the image in Cad using a measured set of reference points such as the overall length or width of the console. Then trace the scan in cad. Export the cad as a dxf or dwg. Laser cut. Enjoy.

I can do this for free (or donation of small parts if you are feeling generous) for anyone that doesn't know how, just e-mail me your scan and dimensions. You can scan at staples.

You could also just take the picture of one from a web site and warp it to the 4 corner dimensions in a cad program such as Bentley Microstation.

[RRoller123]

Hey guys, a few years ago, I was restoring the interior of my 1972 124 and I had a beautiful console set built by Denise Burchette. A couple years ago, pressure from the short shifter in fifth resulted in the cracking of the shifter plate. Alas, I sent Denise the shifter plate to repair (at my cost, of course) but it seems she's fallen off the face of the earth. I can't get a hold of her to get my center console back, but I have access to a laser cutter, so I've decided to build it myself.

I've taken some measurements of the surrounding dash it'll sit in, but I'd rather use a template image (like in a PDF even) so that I can scale it to measure and feed it to the laser with some precision. I remember seeing old templates years ago when I was in the thick of this project, but can't find them anymore. The shape is pretty much like the below. Any ideas?



And this is my actual dash:

She is on FaceBook.

[lithboy]

Thanks. I did get a hold of Denise and she made me a new console. Super awesome person!

[pwilliam]

Awesome! Glad it worked out.