lamp sockets factory instrument panel

[Raider L]

@squarelyfe,

If you're interested in what I'm making here follow the pics. I did say I'd have to see where this leads with the cutting that box out. It gave me more ideas. If I need more remote lights at least I'll have this idea even if it doesn't work for them. You never know.

Looking at the hole in the box and the space I have behind the instrument panel it looks like I would have to whittle that box down to about the diameter of the hole in the box. I had planned on cutting the corners of the box off and then take some of the straight flat pieces from the instrument case, I got from the wrecking yard yesterday, and glue them on what's left of the box. I realized all I really wanted is the hole in the box so that I can lock the bulb socket into it to hold the bulb in place.

Since that's all I really need, and what would comprise the "hood" for the light I've decided to not use the box at all, except for the hole, so I can lock the bulb. But in looking at things that lights are in, they are mostly some sort of a tube. Partly for the small size, and secondly for the fact that it directs the light in some direction. So since I know how to do that sort of thing, we made stuff like that from time to time when I worked on aircraft, I've made a tube to put the light in by using the hole so I can lock the bulb socket in it, and the size of the tube will be minimum size in a restricted space anyway.

 

[Raider L]

Pics. of how I made a tube based on what I learned when I worked on aircraft. I have to give credit to a chief master sargent from the Airforce who was over the airlines sheet metal shop who taught me all I know.

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It just so happened that I had a wood dowel the size I needed that was just larger than the size around the hole which would give what I would need. First find the center of the dowel, or whatever you are using. Then mark it. Next lay the line down on the edge of the sheet you are using.

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Roll the piece down the sheet until the starting mark comes back around, and that's the circumference of the dowel. Add a little bit because I want it to overlap with enough so that there will be extra edge to put a rivet into, without it being to close to the edge of the sheet.

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This is just an example to show how to roll the sheet. Place the dowel into a vice with the sheet in between as in the photo. You don't have to use the line anymore, you just need the size of the dowle or whatever it is size you want your piece to end up being.

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In this case the sheet I'm using is thin enough to push around the dowel. You go as far as you can then release the dowel and roll the sheet back to as far as it bent and clamp it again and push it some more over the dowel. When you get all the way around keep the beginning edge down against the dowel, clamp it and push the rest of the sheet over the beginning edge. Then you can take it out of the vice and you have the beginning of the tube.

 

[Raider L]

Next steps.

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In this pic you can see how much over lap I allowed, about a 1/4". Allow whatever edge you need over the length after rolling the dowel when cutting the sheet metal for the tube. You don't want the sheet metal you measure, when rolling the dowel to be exactly the diameter of the dowel unless you're making a tube from thicker sheet and you plan on welding the edges together to make a seam. You want a over lap.

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Set the over lap you want and clamp it with whatever you can use that will hold clamping force. I used a pair of small vise grip needle nose pliers. I drilled the appropriate size hole and in this case I use a....

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3/32" pop rivet. I had to special order these when I was doing computer mods because it's what the computer case makers used to make the cases. I would disassemble the case, make mods, and then pop rivet the case back together. It looked factory. These work well for small work like this.

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Drill hole, the size drill for a 3/32" pop rivet is a #41 or a .096". A 3/32" drill measures .093" but you want some wiggle room. When doing pop rivets you want the hole to be as close to the size of the rivet as you can get. The reason being is you don't want the two pieces to move after it's riveted together. This makes for a bad joint. Drill to make sure you aren't to close to the edge and that you aren't to close to the edge on the inside either, center the hole in the over lap.

 

[Raider L]

Next.

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This is what size I want the tube to be.

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Now that I'm kinda finished pop riveting the tube, meaning I may have to either put some more rivets in it, depending on how far this tube will be up in where it will shine on the gear indicator will determine how much of this tube I keep. It will be sized and then the excess will be cut off. You notice how far I put the first rivet from the end of the tube, it was so there would be room for the socket to go up into the tube and not run into a rivet.

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Place the tube over the hole. I've already put the dowel over the hole to see if it was going to be large enough, or to large, then I'd need to look for something else. But in this case I had something I could use that would be just right. And made the tube the same size.

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Peering down the tube to make sure I'm over the middle of the hole and that there is equal space around the hole. I marked where I'm going to cut out the hole, and made notes as to where to cut on the side so I end up with a usable piece.

 

[Raider L]

Next

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I didn't know how thin this sheet metal was so I put a vernier scale on it and it's .014" thick. It's some galvanized sheet metal I had. Pretty thin.

Next I will cut the hole out and J.B. Weld it into the tube end. I'll take pics on how to prep the metal for using J.B. Weld. You don't just slap it on there and expect it to work.

Also to, If it's to tight up in there where I need to put the tube, this sheet metal tube is thin enough to mash it down a bit if it needs it. The light will shine out of it just fine. You'll see.

 

[Raider L]

@squarelyfe,

Is that what all that brown around where the bulbs went? I just figured it was from years of use. It did come from a '88 Suburban. The vehicle was in really good shape to. You know sometimes I wonder how a nice looking vehicle could end up in a wrecking yard. I wasn't doing any kind of detailed inspection of the vehicle but at a glance I didn't notice it being wrecked. No busted windows or anything like that either. And it had a real plush interior to. If a Suburban didn't weigh a million pounds I wouldn't mind having one. I drove a brand new one years ago when I drove out to L.A. with a friend of mine who's dad owned the local Chevy dearlership. He wanted to drive out to L.A. and wanted to drive a nice vehicle so his dad let him take a demo car and it was a new Suburban with a 454 in it. It drove so nice I couldn't believe it. Of course it was new, but still. And it got pretty good gas mileage to. It wasn't like we were stopping at every other gas station. This was back in '77. My friend was a Class III firearms dealer who sold machine guns to the police dept.s, and we went out to the Great Western Gun and Knife Exhibit in L.A.. It was a overall great experience. And it was a great experience in how comfortable a big vehicle like that can be.

When we were coming back we hooked up with a convoy of eight tractor rigs. We were doing 90-95 miles per hour from Bakersfield all the way to right outside of Dallas in one shot. Those truckers were talking about all these special transmissions they had built with 20 gears and all this speed stuff they had. It was so cool. We stopped one time for gas somewhere in Arizona and it looked like a Indy pit stop! We couldn't have been there for ten minutes. We had to do 110 miles per hour to catch up with the convoy. I guess it took us about fifteen minutes to catch up they were that far ahead in that short of time. If we hadn't had that big block in that sucker I doubt we could have ever caught up with them that night. Boy I'll tell you, they had everybody on the look out for "smokies" as the state cops were called back then. We were flying!! What fun. We were crawling over each other to switch drivers out every couple of hours without even stopping. We just kept the "pedal to the metal"!

 

[Raider L]

Continue with pics of tube.

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Start with first corner, it doesn't matter which one. You notice my note on the side that tells me not to cut there, that it's right on the edge of the box.

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I had a pic of this but I clicked this pic before I saw it was a little blurred. You get the idea. I've stepped back some from the hole because where those locks are for the socket are thick and I sure didn't want to cut them.

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You can see even as far back as I was it's close to the back side of the hole.

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The 80 grit sanding drum doing it's work. You can see the piece is thick there on the left side and that's going to be the finished thickness. That shredded stuff is melted plastic, and in the pic before this one around the sides is melted plastic. What I discovered long ago is after a few seconds it hardens back up, and it will fleck right off cleanly. Wear eye protection because you don't want to get a piece of plastic that's hot enough to melt pop you in the eye. Ask me how I know. I know I needed to have put this precaution out at the beginning of this build, but I presume we're experienced people who know to wear eye protection when needed especially around high speed tools. You'll injure or loose a eye before you know what happened.

 

[Raider L]

More.

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Now to make it round. I didn't show that I was creeping down to my drawn lines though.

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This is the finished size. This pic is of the back side or rather the inside of the hole where the locking takes place.

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Check the fitment, looks okay even though there are a couple of slight gaps around the piece which is good because it will allow some J.B. Weld to get on the sides and that will make sure the stuff is all around when I put the piece in for the last time.

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Pic of what it looks like with the bulb and socket in the hole. When it's ready to test in the truck it looks like there may be quite a lot to cut off probably at least half of this tube.

 

[Raider L]

And more pics.

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Time to prep the inside. This is necessary in order for the JB to stick good to this sheet metal. This is what I was saying about most people won't take the time to do this stuff right. They think it will just stick no matter what. It may but it sticks better if you follow the directions. It says to scuff the area and that's what you do with whatever you have, sandpaper, file, or something like a "flapper wheel" which is a type of sanding drum that has small sheets of sandpaper fixed to a central drum. As the drill spins this drum the individual sheets of sandpaper "flap" past the object being sanded and that's what does the sanding. In this case I used my trusty 80 grit sanding drum.

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Well, you can see I just scuffed the end about the thickness of the hole piece I'm putting in. The scuffed area will allow the JB something to latch onto better than just the slick factory surface.

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JB

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After a person gains enough experience to find out what makes a "hot" mix, which is a mix that will cause the JB to harden faster reducing working time, then you can do it any way you find that works best for you. But for those who haven't used this stuff a lot, go by the directions when it says, "equal parts of resin and hardener", like the above pic. I've used it on motorcycles, carburetors, even vehicle engine heads. I just like mixing it in equal parts. I'm in no hurry.
Remember the amount you put down first is only half of what you'll end up with so go sparingly because when you put down the second part you'll have twice as much. I'm saying this for those younger guys and gals who haven't used JB much. Don't waste it.

 

[Raider L]

And lastly.

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Begin mixing the amount on a suitable surface, in this case I used a small piece of cardboard. Don't use your wifes good china, or the dinning room table. Use something you can throw away like a paper plate works okay. Have a light solvent handy so you can wipe off any that gets on your fingers, or hands. Try to keep it off your skin, out of your hair, or your clothes. It's especially difficult to get it out of clothing. Use a solvent, outside to get it out of your shirt sleeve or whatever.

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When it's thoroughly mixed it will have a uniform dark gray color.

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I scoopped some up and wiped it on that scuffed place inside the tube so the hole will push into it when I put the hole into the end of the tube. I was careful not to put to much so it wouldn't get into the grove for the locking part. That would be bad if that got filled and I couldn't lock the socket in. I'd have to start all over again. I took a red rag with some solvent on it and gently wiped around the edge of the JB just down from the end of of the tube so there wouldn't be a ragged edge on it. I didn't want to wipe all of it off flush with the end of the tube because I want some of the JB to be on the edge of the hole. I didn't put the hole all the way in either, but left a tiny bit outside the edge of the tube so the JB would be all around the piece, inside, around the edge of the hole just inside the tube, and outside the end of the tube on the hole. That way the JB has got a hold of the hole all over. I'll leave it for a couple of days so it can harden good. I've got it outside in my shop. I'll probably bring it inside later tonight so the stable temp in the house can harden it better.

 

[squarelyfe]

@squarelyfe,

Is that what all that brown around where the bulbs went? I just figured it was from years of use. It did come from a '88 Suburban. The vehicle was in really good shape to. You know sometimes I wonder how a nice looking vehicle could end up in a wrecking yard. I wasn't doing any kind of detailed inspection of the vehicle but at a glance I didn't notice it being wrecked. No busted windows or anything like that either. And it had a real plush interior to. If a Suburban didn't weigh a million pounds I wouldn't mind having one. I drove a brand new one years ago when I drove out to L.A. with a friend of mine who's dad owned the local Chevy dearlership. He wanted to drive out to L.A. and wanted to drive a nice vehicle so his dad let him take a demo car and it was a new Suburban with a 454 in it. It drove so nice I couldn't believe it. Of course it was new, but still. And it got pretty good gas mileage to. It wasn't like we were stopping at every other gas station. This was back in '77. My friend was a Class III firearms dealer who sold machine guns to the police dept.s, and we went out to the Great Western Gun and Knife Exhibit in L.A.. It was a overall great experience.

When we were coming back we hooked up with a convoy of eight tractor rigs. We were doing 90-95 miles and hour from Bakersfield all the way to right outside of Dallas in one shot. Those truckers were talking about all these special transmissions they had built with 20 gears and all this speed stuff they had. It was so cool. We stopped one time for gas somewhere in Arizona and it looked like a Indy pit stop! We couldn't have been there for ten minutes. We had to do 110 miles per hour to catch up with the convoy. I guess it took us about fifteen minutes to catch up they were that far ahead in that short of time. If we hadn't had that big block in that sucker I doubt we could have ever caught up with them that night. Boy I'll tell you, they had everybody on the look out for "smokies" as the state cops were called back then. We were flying!! What fun. We were crawling over each other to switch drivers out every couple of hours without even stopping. We just kept the "pedal to the metal"!

I agree if the suburban was a little lighter and better on gas I'd probably own one too. I've seen a few mint ones go dirt cheap locally lately yet on eBay the price is rising.

 

[Raider L]

And here's the finished tube.

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The JB is hard now and it doesn't look any different than it did before I put the JB Weld on it but believe me it's hard as a rock now. I need now to determine where to cut the excess metal off.

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Here's where I'll probably cut it off. Just behind this rivet.

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This is about where the end of the bulb is. I looked in the tube to see where the end of the bulb actually was.

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I might put one more rivet about here to tighten up the end of the tube.

 

[Raider L]

@squarelyfe,

I don't know how much one in the shape this one was in, you know it's been rifled through, but I priced a mini truck one time from this wrecking yard, a '85 Misubishi, the tiniest truck you've ever seen. I think it would fit in the bed of my truck it was so small. I was going to make sort of a "bucket T" out of it, put a 231 V6 in it, chop the bed short with some big a** tires on it and that thing would have been fine! So I ask them, "How much do you want for that little truck?" I told them which one I wanted, and they said, "$500". I figured, it's in a wrecking yard how much could it be? So I asked them, "Why so much?" They said, "Well, it's got doors on it, interior pieces, windshield, knobs, and we make money on every bit of it." I said, "Well I see your point." The dang Suburban would be no telling what if that's the case. It had a full interior, all the panels, etc., etc., you know? Heck, I'd be paying used car prices for it they've gotten so much higher since I priced that little truck, and that was at least fifteen or twenty years ago.

 

[Raider L]

More tube pics.

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Here's the look down the tube. The end of the bulb isn't quite to the first rivet.

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Placing the socket at the end of the tube you can see about the place that's closest to the end of the bulb. So I placed the tape that will help me cut a straight line. The tape looks crooked in the pic above, but don't think I left it that way. I had to adjust it two or three times to get it straight. Times in the past where something didn't turn out as straight as I had wished, I'd give anything to have a belt sander. I have to do everything by hand. I've got disc sanders but I miss having access to a large shop like when I worked for the airlines. If I needed to do something that took real equipment I could go out to the airport and go in the hanger where we had all the shops and do whatever I needed to do. Press suspension bushings, do some tig welding, whatever. Fun.

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Cutting. I like this thin blade. At 25,000 rpm it just slides right through this thin sheet. I like the new tools Dremel has come out with. To change this cutting disc just pull that collar back, just behind the disc, and the clip things release the disc. Easy. No more having to undo nuts and washers on a threaded shaft, then if you got it to tight putting it back on it could crack the disc. Ever had one come apart at 25,000 rpm? You look for blood.

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And the piece on the left is what I'll be using.

 

[Raider L]

More.

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Use the sanding drum to clean up any burrs. Do the inside and a little bit on the outside edge.

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And here's the finished product ready to go into the truck. As soon as this weather clears up I'll get the truck in the drive, so I'm not walking back and forth to the street. You know how it is, it starts out as this little nothing job and before you know it you've got every tool in the whole tool box out!

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This is what's left and I'm sure at some time in the future I'll need a tube like this. You never know.