Dash Panel

A repeat customer reached out a few weeks ago looking for a custom panel to fill a space in the dash of his off road rig. This slot in the dash fell between some of the existing control panels for the vehicle. The intention was to create a panel that accurately filled the outline of the space, with cutouts for some additions that the customer wanted to add to make better use of this previously-empty space.

This customer is located in a different state, so I am not able to measure and record dimensions myself. Instead, I go back and forth with customers on projects like this, asking for measurements for different aspects of the setup as needed, to refine the overall model. In this case, the customer was able to make a very accurate guide for the general shape of the plate out of cardboard and he was able to provide accurate measurements to go with the shape outline. From this, I was able to draw out the exterior shape and place the cutouts that you see above.

Generally, with projects like this, the customer has some idea of what they’re looking for with aspects like the thickness of panels, or at least with characteristics of how they want the part to perform. In this case, rough thicknesses were requested, but the priority was that the part would have some level of flex to it, so it could be slightly compressed to fit tightly into the space. In addition, tabs were added on the back of the face plate so the plate could be fastened to the dash from the inside of the cubby with screws. The cubby had angled interior faces, so the tabs were very slightly angled to match. Fillets were added to the edges where the tabs meet the main panel to add reinforcement and support the intended flex of the material.

Per customer request, the “outward-facing” part of the panel was left flat with a slight texture.

The “inward” facing edges of the panel are filleted to help the panel self-center as it’s placed into the cubby and to give a slight room for dimensional error around the outside edge.

Here’s the final part installed. The largest cutout houses a display, while the hole and smaller cutout hold a potentiometer and switch respectively. Sometimes projects like this require some adjustments after the customer is able to test fit the parts, but things worked great on the first go this time around!