I made a place to store the Garmin GPS inside the instrument cover, it is a pain every time I park the van to take the GPS off the windshield and hide it somewhere so that it doesn't get stolen.
It was easy to make, I cut out an opening on the top of the right hand side of the instrument cover, then I made a frame from a piece of aluminium strip and glued and pop riveted it onto a piano hinge. Next was to cut out a lid of a spare cover so that it fits nicely in the opening and glued it on top of the alu frame. If you have no spare cover to cut it out off you will end up with slightly wider seams, which is OK.
Then I glued and pop riveted the hinge to the instrument cover and glued a small strip of material in so that the lid rests on it when it is closed. I then made a push button that will pop the lid up a 1/2 " so that I can grab it and open it up all the way.
To keep it open, I pop riveted a small arm on the bottom of the alu frame and put some industrial Velcro on it.
There is a small opening on the bottom to route the power wire through, I also drilled 6 small holes in the lid to let the sound out.
The glue that I have used is for repairing plastic bumpers, it sticks really well, the push button is made out of a Hilti concrete screw, it has a plastic liner that guides it, in the end of the screw, I have cut a small groove with the hacksaw and wrapped a thin copper wire around it to keep it from falling out.
The GPS is held in place with some Velcro strips on the back.
Now when I park the van, I just flip it down and it is out of sight.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
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