I never really liked the center console in my old 94 Ford Ranger, mostly because the cup holders were useless. That being said, I created a new one out of quarter inch clear acrylic. I added more suitable cup holders as well as some auxiliary switches for various add-ons to the truck. Initially I was going to make this out of wood using my traditional woodworking skills and tools. But after a bit of pondering I decided to go with the acrylic and the Glowforge. Once I figured out my measurements I laid it all out in AI.
It’s a fairly simple design but the addition of the switches did complicate it a bit. When I finally decided on the switches I wanted to use, I measured them and created the holes they would seat into. I side lit the switch panel with some strip LEDs to take advantage of their ability to reflect light. The real sucky part is I can’t get the proper glue for acrylic in SoCal so I had to use 2-part epoxy which is messy for this application. When it was finally assembled I had so sand the seams to clean up the glue. After the sanding I painted it all black, except for the switch panel, that I only painted the backside black.
Note: Where you can see my cloth mask, that is a removable box tray.
In addition, I also removed the ash tray from the bottom of the dash and used the Glowforge to make a panel to put in it’s place that would replace the 12v outlet (that was in the ash tray) as well as house a double USB power port, something that wasn’t standard 28 years ago in a truck.
I love custom modification projects! Now you need to get pics pics of them each in place with all the LEDs on, so we can tell how truly awesome and unique your ride now is
I made a similar panel for my ex BIL’s '69 Thunderbird - the front window switch circuit did not work even with new (and very expensive) replacement switches. So I bought a modern type and made a custom panel that fits in a center storage compartment. It has a cover so the vehicle looks stock.
As I used temporary lever connectors, and expected to solder everything up if it works, so I never took a pic. I built in a resettable circuit breaker and a dual USB outlet as well.
I have an F150 with a decent center console, but I did make a trash can holder to go down where you have your console. It isn’t nearly as cool as yours.
I did enjoy it! What a marvelous idea and execution of it! And I’m so curious to know what the bottom three knobs on the right do, as far as your lights? I picture “James Bond!”
