ryukenden

wow so clean!

Superkid2785

hey i wanted to do blue gaugues with white needles, so i just got to paint the bottom of the needles white right? but wat should i use to paint it white? i read above someone used a sharpie, should i do that or paint it with white? what would u think is the better choice

engifineer

If you use blue leds, the needles will actually glow blue if they are painted white. In that case you would place separate leds behind each needle and block out the blue light from that area.

The other alternative is to use all white leds and blue color filter over the portions of the gauge faces that you want blue.

I used the first method I mentioned to do a red on blue scheme on mine. So they are not only painted red but are now backlit red as well.



there are pics of my whole red/blue dash setup in my profile

Superkid2785

thanks engifineer

michaelmayhem

is the only way to get the red needles to not look dull is to put a red led behind them?
and if it is the only way for them to look really red couldnt you just paint the needles white and have a red led behind them? i have the needles painted red with a white led under them and them look so dull and it bothere the heck out of me, but in the day time when the sun hits them they look really bright and vibrant?

engifineer

You could probably go without painting them red if you had red leds behind them. I already had mine painted before I did the extra leds.

I mixed just a tad bit of Apple Barrel Neon red paint in with the regular red when I painted mine. They looked pretty good that way. But a million times better with the extra backlighting. I am supposed to be doing a couple of sets with different backlighting soon, so I can post them and show the differences.

ElDiablo17

So this is not a good idea for people who doing two tone color, correct? I am bad in painting my needles, done everything which I got two tone color white/blue and reverse LCD but just the needles I'm bad with. I got neon blue paint but I want my needles bright blue as hell haha, something like that ya know.

michaelmayhem

where did you get the apple red neon paint and is it an acrylic?

engifineer

Apple Barrel is the brand name. It is an acrylic paint sold in the Wally World crafts section or at Micheals arts and craft supply. I used just a tad of the neon red mixed with the regular red. Too much and it comes out looking pink.

Jamie

Yo guys,

I just re-soldered the leds from amber to blue. now I'm thinkin I wanna have my needles glow green. should I just paint the underside of my needles green? and remove the stock orange? What would be the best way to do this?

Thanks!

Jamie

rcf22

Hi,

I painted my needles blue using the same brand of acrylic paint that was shown in this guide, but have not changed the LED's behind it. Instead of glowing any color, the needle isn't letting any light through it looks like. Before I put them back in though, I held them up to light sources and they showed through fine. Obviously these are much brighter than the LEDs in the dash, but does this mean I did something wrong?

ScionJim23

iTrader: (1)

only paint the bottom part of the needle, and remove the old paint.

rcf22

I did.

engifineer

You didnt paint the clear part that sticks through the bottom of the black base did you? That is how the light shines up into the needle.

But with stock amber lighting and blue paint, you probably wont have the best results color wise either way.

joeyc110892

hey i need some help.....i followed everything you said and i put the needles back in but they do not glow. i tryed to put a thinner coat and they still dont glow...i have no clue what im doing wrong

i even put them in with no paint and they still dont glow i dont get it

O5_TRD_tC

you have picture of what you did?

SquallLHeart

^ read this

also... without paint, there isn't anything the light is going to glow up against. are the gauge lights still working?

Garage1217

iTrader: (5)

^^ what those led guys said And yeah, with the stock dim amber colored leds, the needle will not show up worth a darn.