XSeries-forum

Grant,
You have a PM.

Lez

Best I get busy & finsh working on these asap then.

I'd certainly be interested. Like to see a design/image/photo if poss?

Cheers
Smee

+1

Likewise, get some pics up and likely interested

Gear Knob Illuminations update.

As I have some excellent quality 3D printers & print a lot of the Plastic Spare parts for my X5, incl the Wing to Bumper clips that are £26+vat from the Stealership etc...

I printed a trial part this  afternoon for this gear stick... AND to keep the style, color schemes & feel of the X5 as original as possible..  I came up with the following...

The Illuminated part is now to be an Add-On to the existing Stick, so the colours remain as original as possible in keeping with the car interior.
I printed a part that wraps around the rear part of the stick center insert, the wood or silver effect part between the leather side cheeks. It is contoured to precisely fit the insert shape & is about 70mm long x 20mm wide & raised above the stick by about 8mm.

The LED portion is 50mm long flat surface.
I laser cut a 50mm x 18mm piece of smoked 3mm Perspex, screen printed the rear legends so they appear deep in the part from the front view, & some white diffuser sheet behind. Will probably secure the surface mount LEDs by flooding the rear of the part with epoxy to secure the ribbon cable & the LEDs... right now its just blobs of super glue to prove the concept & light tightness of the screen printing... whick needs more layers to stop light bleed through..

I've also tried Acetone coating the Printed part, & it came up looking as if it was a moulded plastic part... I was quite pleased with it.

I'm hoping the completed part can be secured with 3M double sided body tape to the original stick center insert, but the user will have to take the center insert from their gear stick & drill a slot in it by making 2 x 5mm holes side by side for the ribbon cable & plugs to pass.

I have found some connectors (dupont connectors) that have good length pins, that will potentially allow for connection into the Rear of the existing loom plugs - but its just theory for now, as I'm still playing with the CAD files for the best looking printed part for the shiny Perspex insert to be located.

I just ordered a gear stick assembly from ebay to properly test all the bits next week when it arrives, as I don't want holes in the bits in my car just yet lol.

It will be quite time intensive to make these, so will likely only do a batch of them for our colleagues here.

I would want to test it properly on my own car for a couple of weeks to try & break it before I send any out.
Images to follow soon.

get them images up and stop teasing us  Grant ,

Can some one fwd me the links / methods of getting an image on here plz ?

I will pop a sketch of the fitment & where it goes & what it will look like, & submit the finished item once it's done, so it does not get shredded with criticism before it's presentable... as it is still a work in progress that's changed several times already.

Use the little 'image' icon under the reply box, pick a pic, upload, add link to post et voila....

And here's the night view 

very cool  :drive:

[quote="X5-D-Sport Salisbury"]
I've been pondering & tinkering this pretty Gear-Knob concept for a while, as an addition to my D-Sport too.

Question... If I produced a part that fits to the EXISTING gear knob of the E53, that incorporates the legends, Illuminates them in RED/Orange, but has a Green illumination for the appropriate gear selection...
Would any one be interested at about £58 UK delivered ?

I've been quietly tinkering with Epoxy Castings that directly replaces either the WOOD or SILVER PLASTIC center insert on the E53 Auto gear knob.

This plastic/wooden piece is easy to remove & be replaced by the resin repro-part with the illuminations & wiring ribbon cable fitted, to simply plug into the Illumination loom for the Gear-Stick base surround... literally Plug & Play.... there isn't even the need to remove the existing Gear Knob, just ping off the center trim, Lift the plastic base surround for access to the wiring harness - plug new loom ribbon cable in situ & re-assemble as before - literally a 5 minute job

I've got the casting & mould tool pretty much sorted & reliably fitting to the existing Gear-Knob, & the right colour density in the moulded part, also had reasonable success with the illumination... I just need to get an LED set that I consider reliable, bright enough & similar Orange colour to the vehicles original Dash Colour... or maybe simply go RED/GREEN for the knob illuminations..

Penny for your opinions...
I was originally just going to make a few for me and a couple of friends, but if there is enough interest, I will put more work into it & make the part much prettier & make available to our venerable crowd here...

Any interest ?

Grant B
[/quote]

Any more news on this ?

Smee

[quote="X5-MK"]
And here's the night view 


[/quote]

Is this gear knob longer then the original e53 knob? Cause from the pictures it looks longer