dashboard renovation

hi,can anyone advise on best way to restore dashboard on an elf,my veneer is bubbling in places and it could do with a refinish?

Depending on your budget, the best route is to employ a professional restorer. These people will re-veneer and lacquer the entire dash and the end result will be at least as good but often better than the original. Rough cost £200 to £250.
If your budget can't stretch that far, keep an eye out on eBay as good secondhand ones come up from time to time but as they are in demand, often go for £100+.
Finally, if the veneer is still intact and adhered to the plywood base, remove the entire dash and all the fittings and carefully remove all the damaged area with very fine wet and dry paper (start with 500 grit and move up to 1000). Once you have a good and sound surface, buy a large aerosol can of lacquer from Halfords etc and spray the clean and prepared surfaces. Several light coats are better than one thick coat. After each coat, wait for it to dry then rub down with the wet and dry paper to get a smooth flat finish. Once you have several layers and a good even finish, use some good quality car wax and this will polish up the surface to leave a very acceptable end product.

Hope this helps.

Andrew

Does anyone know if the old Rokee dashes were the same as the Elf dash or just a close copy? I've seen several Rokees for sale at different times and wondered if they would be a suitable replacement.

Rokee Dash:

The Rokees will fit but you'll need the central instrument binnacle/pod as the centre piece is designed to be place over the pod. i had a set on my Elf once but went back to the original.

Elf Service wrote:Depending on your budget, the best route is to employ a professional restorer. These people will re-veneer and lacquer the entire dash and the end result will be at least as good but often better than the original. Rough cost £200 to £250.
If your budget can't stretch that far, keep an eye out on eBay as good secondhand ones come up from time to time but as they are in demand, often go for £100+.
Finally, if the veneer is still intact and adhered to the plywood base, remove the entire dash and all the fittings and carefully remove all the damaged area with very fine wet and dry paper (start with 500 grit and move up to 1000). Once you have a good and sound surface, buy a large aerosol can of lacquer from Halfords etc and spray the clean and prepared surfaces. Several light coats are better than one thick coat. After each coat, wait for it to dry then rub down with the wet and dry paper to get a smooth flat finish. Once you have several layers and a good even finish, use some good quality car wax and this will polish up the surface to leave a very acceptable end product.

Hope this helps.

Andrew

thanks andrew thats a help allright,the dash is pretty good all veneer is there but some of it lifting in bubbles,gonna try and restick those and then relaquer and polish...thanks again...the elf

Make sure you prepare the entire dash as the finish will be different to the original. Suggest rubbing down the entire dash and where the original lacquer has gone, build this area up with serveral coats of spray lacquer, again rubbing down between each coat. With care and patience, you will get a near perfect finish. Make sure you spray the dash in warm dry conditions otherwise you could get a cloudy milky finish.

Good luck

Just don't sand paper the veneer too much as it is extremely thin.
Andy Hamer (another member( has the name of some one who can supply a new veneer, but I'm not sure how much. Intrested in doing that? if so I'll try and ring Andy for you.

TONYELF wrote:Just don't sand paper the veneer too much as it is extremely thin.
Andy Hamer (another member( has the name of some one who can supply a new veneer, but I'm not sure how much. Intrested in doing that? if so I'll try and ring Andy for you.

...yes i would be interested in that....cheers mate

OK . I am expecting him to go back to me some time today.Cheers
Tony

No luck. Andy can't locate the ad. but I have found this
http://www.woodveneeruk.co.uk/
Not sure if it's any help, No harm in asking

They have 98.5"x10" Iron on pre glued sheets from £11.00 to £18.00 which should be enough to cover the Elf Dash ? Might be a bit tight to do the pocket flaps as well but if you had to buy two pieces that's not bad.

TONYELF wrote:No luck. Andy can't locate the ad. but I have found this
http://www.woodveneeruk.co.uk/
Not sure if it's any help, No harm in asking

They have 98.5"x10" Iron on pre glued sheets from £11.00 to £18.00 which should be enough to cover the Elf Dash ? Might be a bit tight to do the pocket flaps as well but if you had to buy two pieces that's not bad.

.....cheers thats excellent,i think thats the direction ill go in....thanks again for your help....the elf

Glad to be of some help. Hope it works out for you.
I'm thinking of trying this out on my original dashboard.

cleck out my local forum http://www.mlni.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=5807

This seems good value

yes i seen that one,but its not a riley elf or hornet dash,its a rokee dash an aftermarket mini dash....but thanks anyway

Sorry didnt realise this was not an original.

With reference to re veneering.

Two years ago I bought the veneer from the company mentioned above and it was an excellent job.

The only problem I had was bending the veneer around the curves on the outer sections where they overlap the clock section as it was not very flexible.

I had to wet this part of the veneer and carefully shape it round the bend, stick it with wood gule, hold it tight with masking tape and let it sit for a few days.

Unfortunately the veneer cracked on drying and I had to do some fine sanding to bring it back in shape.

I then took the dash to a local furniture restorer to get it spray varnished and explained to him the difficulty I had ' going round the bend ' and he told me that if I had taken it to him he could have done it easily using a vacuum machine he had which was specially designed for the job.

This man lives outside Armagh and if you are interested please pm me I can give you his details.

Just found this file lurking in the PC - may be of some help

frosts how too dash boards link

Since I needed to replace my clocks and am fitting a set of Auto Meter electronic gauges, including a tachometer, I decided to build a new dash. I'm reproducing the original Elf dash in 1/2 inch Birch plywood. I've cut all the dash pieces from a single continuous sheet so the grain will match up all across the dash. I haven't decided what color to stain it yet, but will probably not try to recreate the yellow Elm color. Not a huge fan of the Elm, sorry. I'm using chrome trimmed black faced clocks that look almost like the Smiths. I've also come up with a neat no-handles option using magnetic spring loaded cabinet catches. I'll post some pictures later.