Replacing damaged glass scales

[Mike Phelan]

Hello all
This might be of use to some of you - it did not take very long to do and did not require too much expense. Only software needed is Windows Paint (Tools/Accessories) and Paintshop Pro 7 (now freeware) for precise sizing.

I'll set the scene - I have an Ekco BPT333 that has damage to the scale - some of the paint has stuck to the underlying plastic cabinet and a lot of the writing has come off.

The first thing was to take a picture of it - then I loaded it up in PSP7 and saved it as a bitmap to get the maximum resolution. It was then cropped to remove all the extraneous stuff.

I have had to change the images on here to JPEGs to reduce the size, so you might see some artefacts that are not really present on the originals.

Quite a lot of the work was done with the lowly Windows Paint - mainly the colour eraser, and magnifier tools.

I test printed the final result on paper so I could get the size to match the original, then printed it on clear waterslide transfer film. After that, a craft knife was used to remove the clear window; the last job was to get the remains of the original off and apply the transfer.

Quite a good result!

[Nickthedentist]

You're a clever man, Mike

[The General]

Wow! I'm impressed!

Excellent work, Mike.

Mark.

[Robert Darwent]

Hello Mike

That's just excellent work, a really super result achieved!

I've restored several glass dials that have either been broken or badly erased using very similar techniques to the ones you have described. I use the software package Micrografx Picture Publisher 8 which is quite old now but still has all the requirements I need so I'm loathed to change to something more up to date.

Attached are a couple of my efforts, 'before' at the top and 'after' at the bottom of the images. The first is a badly erased dial from a Bush BP10, and the second a broken glass from a GEC BC4941.

Regards

[Mike Phelan]

Thank you, everyone - I'll have to sort the rest of it out now, so watch out for a thread in Success Stories!

I quite enjoy doing these sort of things as it transforms the appearance - makes a change from the electronics part as well.

[TimS]

Don't forget the clone tool (*) in the likes of GIMP, Photoshop, etc, etc., which could used to repair backgrounds (generally not text, although it could be worth a try if there's an intact identical letter on your photo/scan).

(*) It does what it says on the tin - clones part of an image using another part. Generally you will be able to set the opacity of the 'new' clone to <100% and/or select a 'fuzzy' brush (no hard edges) so the 'new' bit smoothly blends in with the original without hard edges. Then you select an area to read from and start brushing it on elsewhere. If as I suggest you have selected <100% opacity, just keep going over it until there's enough 'ink' present to look right.

-- Tim.

[Colin]

I'm currently working on a Roberts RT1 that has a damaged scale due to the pointer scraping the paintwork as it sweeps across. This thread has me wondering ... if I scan the dial or get a copy of a good dial, this could be cleaned up and using a waterslide transfer, the legends could be replaced on the plate which has been re-sprayed in the tan background colour. A final coat of clear matt lacquer and the job is complete.

Is this feasable? I don't want to respray the dial if the end product is likely to be worse than the damage to the original, which is very obvious but not catastrophic. Worth the risk?

[Mike Phelan]

I'd have a go, Colin. It might be worth printing two scales on the sheet, and trying a mock-up on some acrylic before destroying the original scale.

[Dave Moll]

Another approach may be to get another piece of glass cut to the right size and keep the original dial glass as it is. That way you're not taking any non-reversible steps with reproduction.

[Robert Darwent]

Originally Posted by Colin

I don't want to respray the dial if the end product is likely to be worse than the damage to the original, which is very obvious but not catastrophic. Worth the risk?

Originally Posted by Dave Moll

Another approach may be to get another piece of glass cut to the right size and keep the original dial glass as it is. That way you're not taking any non-reversible steps with reproduction.

Colin,

I'd agree with Dave's comments there. It's a matter of personal choice of course, but I always prefer to keep the original dial 'as-is' and use it as a guide to make a completely new reproduction rather than try to repair the original in any way. Much better to be safe than sorry!

Regards

[Radio_Dave]

Colin,

A RT1 scale can be downloaded here http://www.pasttimesradio.co.uk/dials/tuningdials.html It seems to be opaque and, I guess, not illuminated so why not keep it simple and just print it out on matt photographic card?

David

[Colin]

The RT1 scale is screenprinted on a dished aluminium base plate. It would be difficult if not impossible to reproduce.

[Nickthedentist]

Originally Posted by Colin

The RT1 scale is screenprinted on a dished aluminium base plate. It would be difficult if not impossible to reproduce.

To reproduce perfectly, yes.

But to make a passable replacement where the original is terrible, maybe not. You could always print it on thick paper as Dave suggests, neatly cut it out the central section, then glue it into the dished section of the original plate, leaving the outer area that sits directly against the Perspex alone (or re-spraying if need be).

N.