Countach Air Con Controller

[Linlor]

Graeme;

I have contacted Theo but he has not returned my emails or pms on the UK site.  One of the reasons I have been continuing with this route.

Digibeam;
I haven't looked at the inside rear off the faceplate yet to see if the buttons have been inset.  One of the small details I have been thinking of.  If I end up doing a flat plate at the back the buttons would need to be inset.  No big deal at all on thru original prototype here.  I just downloaded google sketchup as that looks like what String used for this first prototype for us.

Is it possible to do a run on the face plate only?  I am not sure what we will end up doing on the rear container yet but it would be great to see what rye face plate itself looks like.

Thanks all
Don

[Graeme Stebbing]

Hi Don, I found these 5 pics up on Theo's site,http://www.siennacountach.net/gallery/aircon/promo, looks like he made a lot of progress at the time, it was a few years ago through.Have you recontacted Theo at all, maybe it might help reduce the r&d.
Hang in there as i'm finding 3d cad is not as easy as you might think, in fact its really hard, I am finding that out for my self with my chassis, its definitely a lot harder than it appears, thanks for your efforts String, with a bit of luck we will get a Panel that looks every bit as good as the original, unfortunately Don my cad skills are not good enough to help.
regards
Graeme

[Digibeam]

if that looks about right, i could give it a try to print out and see what it looks like,  also, Don isnt that far away from where i live, so if it works out ok then its easy to go back and forth,  also, the display part is not too much of an issue.

[Linlor]

Thanks so much String;

I have been reading up on 3D in CAD and looking at online docs and tutorials as well.  I have ProgeCAD which is very close to AutoCAD but not nearly as expensive.  I used it when I was designing Data Centres so never really needed to get into the 3D side of the product.

I will take this model you have so graciously provided and keep going on the additional items I think need to be put in to get the proper face plate.

I have found an LCD screen that changes from F to C and is Green and pretty close to the same dimensions as what looks like the oem version is.

I will adjust this model to include the LCD dims and see what it looks like.

Thanks again for this excellent starting point.

Cheers
Don

[String]

Ok String......  I have been trying to relearn Cad for the past several days.  I can get the 2d image set up more or less but 3d is currently alluding me.....

Any tutorials you know of to help me out on the 3d in CAD part??

Much appreciated.. 
Merry Christmas to everyone
Don

Hi, not sure where to start with a tutorial , but I do rely on construction lines to add depth and an extra plane to work on.
To make things easier I have attached a mockup part based on dimensions given so far , this is as close as I can estimate so far but by all means develop this model or use it as a reference to update measurements .This part looks perfect for 3D printing and developing the part/s should yield a suitable model , as such does a suitable LCD screen already exist ?

[Linlor]

Ok String......  I have been trying to relearn Cad for the past several days.  I can get the 2d image set up more or less but 3d is currently alluding me.....

Any tutorials you know of to help me out on the 3d in CAD part??

Much appreciated.. 

Merry Christmas to everyone
Don

[Digibeam]

Vector will work for me also, i will have to convert them, but knowing the required dimensions it can all be worked out

[Linlor]

I might have access to some Vector art images of the face plate and buttons.  Will those work or is a CAD file better?

[Digibeam]

Hey Don,  thats right we are very close, other than the boat ride...haha

if i can get a hold of the files i can see what sort of time and material it will take to build the unit and we can go from there, but in honesty, its better to print one unit then make a mould and cast the rest,  printing some things like the Reventon fuel assembly takes 13 hours at a time.
casting would only take an hour or so with the type of materials i use.

[Graeme Stebbing]

Hi Don, Thanks for that, found it i'm also known as Lambo on that site,  I have  been on there for years, lots of good info, this is dc supercars facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/DC-Supercars/221756524611048
lots of good info also, like his rebuild of the BMW v12 etc, it will be good once you get the OEM switch then you can make heaps of progress, did you see the Prova manual Chris posted a few days ago really helpful for me as my shell is basically a Prova copy, if only I can find a prova chassis plan. http://lamboclone.com/index.php?topic=1719.0
Best regards
Graeme

[Linlor]

Graeme;

If you go to lamboreplica dot co dot uk and go to Countach, you will see a couple of my posts.  The one you are interested in is the HVAC measurements post.  DC Supercars is a company in the UK that builds Diablo and Countach replicas.  I think the owner's name is Clive.  He has taken oem Lambo HVAC units and installed them into his projects so he took measurements from one of his units and posted a reply for me.

He also has a website but not sure what that may be.  I haven't started doing the math yet to see how big the buttons are but from his measurements I think I can get pretty close to real size at least so it is realistic for our purposes.

Cheers
Don

[Graeme Stebbing]

Hi Don , Good news, Is that a scaled up measurement or a actual measurement, I went to dcsupercars.com but cant find the pic you have , did find a facebook page in boston though with a 4 turbo bmw I have been doing some digging also and this is a pic of one of the switches it appears when you blow it up that it has an insert in the front that would have the desired logo printed from behind so that the light shines through, based on your measurements that means the individual switches would be about 18mm each not the 24.83 that String found, if you used his measurement the whole panel would have been  about 170mm wide and that's two big to fit in the console.
Regards
Graeme

[Linlor]

Wow,  You guys have been busy over the past day or so....  And so have I....  I really love these communities that get together to help each other out.

I have measurements from DC Supercars off the UK site for the controller plate.  Pics attached.

I also have a switch from Lambostuff on its way.  Way more than the $10 String has up above.....  I planned on getting how it is lighted and its overall shape to make a CAD of the button and then I assume the images are printed on plastic and cut out to fit on the buttons.  I will know more of how the button tops are shaped when I get the button for reference. I will take pics and get them up here as well.

We are progressing very nicely.

DigiBeam.  You are over in Vancouver are you not?  This is Don from Victoria BC.  We had chatted before.  How much would the 3d printing cost once we get the CAD complete?

Now I have another project to do over Christmas in between staining the new shelves I recently built and finishing off the 308 replica...  Nothing like several projects on the go to help fill the voids while stuff is drying....

[String]

The switch 816/N is 24.83mm ( a fraction over 1inch) wide x 13.2mm (just over 1/2 inch ) high.
Has a depth of 24.25mm and have no idea if it the right size but seems as if it should be .
If 10 were ordered as per a control unit then they would work out at about $12.94 each delivered , 20+ would bring them down to about $9.98 each.

[Graeme Stebbing]

Thanks Digibeam, Seems strange to call themselves exotic WHOLESALE  and then sell Retail did not find a price list will have to have another look.  ahhgg pays to scroll down,  it says to call for a sharp price, maybe they have a couple of hundred of them and are going to virtually give them away lol , you never know
Regards
Graeme