Anyone know where I can find a file of the gauges in white so that I can print it off on card stock and replace my gauge faces with cool white ones that would turn green with my cool LED's that light my gauges?

Another question is is there anything that would work better than card stock?

The color of the markings on the gauge face is the result of the color plastic that the light shines through from underneath. The white markings visible in the daytime are translucent. Cardstock would make a poor material because humidity changes will warp and discolor it. Also, sunlight will fade most color inks rapidly.

Well there is a space around the edges of all the gauges that light shines over at them. Right now I have green LED's that shine through the hash marks green (like you said) but the needles also shine green, which is from light coming around the edges.

What would work better than card stock? I can see how warping and fading would be an issue

You might try laminating the cardstock, I'd imagine it would help with the fading and warping

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=78558
If u have more questions just pm me, i used photo paper in my printer lol it epic!
I dont have the file i have misplaced it :( but u can take the existing ones out and scan em :) thats what i did its within 5 kmh accuracy when i did it :)

I never thought about photo paper thanks zzrguy

I don't have a scanner however... I'll need to go find someone with a good one that I can borrow. How did you change the colors and whatever? Photoshop? (which I also don't have)

I never thought about photo paper thanks zzrguy

I don't have a scanner however... I'll need to go find someone with a good one that I can borrow. How did you change the colors and whatever? Photoshop? (which I also don't have)

Nope problem :) yeah i mean photopaper is already fade resistant so it works well. And yeah anything over 300dpi should be fine which isnt hard to find mines like 1200 lol and yeah photoshopped it for a while :)
U can get a 30 day trial of photoshop from adobe for free

There's also GIMP.

I might do that 30 day trial once I get my ducks in a row and get everything scanned and actually go about doing this. Then I can just take the file to Target or Walgreen's and print them there for a couple dollars. Solid. Thanks man.

I'll look into the scanner thing when I go home for break. I think my dad might have one, but I honestly know nothing about it.

Will it be the same size when I print it as it was when I scanned it?

Yeah it will print out the same size as you scan :)

I never thought about photo paper thanks zzrguy

I don't have a scanner however... I'll need to go find someone with a good one that I can borrow. How did you change the colors and whatever? Photoshop? (which I also don't have)

http://www.getpaint.net/ It's not photoshop but it gets the job done for free.

Yah getpaint.net is a great choice for a free picture editor. I love it compared to gimp.

instead of using photo paper,what about having it printed on a transparency sheet for an overhead projector , But leave the numbers blank so it can be illuminated from the rear.



Edit :
although i'm not sure how well white would work.

ill be redooing my gauges next winter when i paint my bike and i plan on making alot better ones! with multiple layers and transparency paper ill post it in a years time :P

Oops...sorry

http://www.ebay.com/itm/08-Up-Kawasaki-Ninja-250-EX250-Gauge-Gauges-Speedo-Tach-/380420657223?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5892d69047&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-11-12-Kawasaki-Ninja-EX250-250-R-Gauge-Cluster-Speedometer-Instruments-LOW-MI-/200749578456?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2ebd9b78d8&vxp=mtr

this is the pregen forum.

hmmm, not sure how well transparency paper would work though...

zzrguy, show us how it goes! at the moment, I'm thinking about using photo paper, white backs, and black numbers/marks. Maybe toss some cool ninja 250R logos on there and be done with it.

But that will come later in the summer, if I ever get around to taking it all apart, as that will mean I cannot ride until it's done :p

But that will come later in the summer, if I ever get around to taking it all apart, as that will mean I cannot ride until it's done :p


Who says you can't ride with out the gauge cluster?

So how are you planning on making all the numbers and dashes on the gauges?


Why not just paint the gauges? The stock gauges are clear and are just painted black and that black paint scratches off.

I think everything else would just look tacky.

I would paint them white then get someone to make vinyl numbers and dashes.

Who says you can't ride with out the gauge cluster?
uh me. I don't want to get pulled over for too much speed.

So how are you planning on making all the numbers and dashes on the gauges?


Why not just paint the gauges? The stock gauges are clear and are just painted black and that black paint scratches off.

I think everything else would just look tacky.

I would paint them white then get someone to make vinyl numbers and dashes.

The plan so far is to scan the stock gauges, and then use a photoshop type program to tinker with them, print them out on photo paper and cut them out, and put them in the gauges. Light comes around the edges of the gauges and *should* light the face pretty well.

uh me. I don't want to get pulled over for too much speed.



The plan so far is to scan the stock gauges, and then use a photoshop type program to tinker with them, print them out on photo paper and cut them out, and put them in the gauges. Light comes around the edges of the gauges and *should* light the face pretty well.


It is just a 250! :p Just use a GPS in the mean time.


Mmhm. Well should be interesting.

I never thought of that. That's an option I can use. The tach isn't important if I'm just using the bike without gauges for a day or two.

I found a new option!!! Look what I just bought!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1988-2007-Kawasaki-Ninja-250-White-Face-Gauges-250r-88-07-06-05-04-03-02-01-00-/190717322960?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c67a366d0&vxp=mtr#ht_2541wt_1185

I'll get these bad boys installed over thanksgiving break. Hopefully it's not too hard to get them installed and whatnot. This will look sick with my green led gauge lights. Maybe I should switch to blacklight LED's :) it will be a trippy deep purple/blue color

zzrguy

If you ever redesign them, could you throw up a tutorial or a file we could use to make our own?

Poor gimp, does everything photoshop does and no one ever remembers it. ITS FREE PEOPLE, LEARN IT.

When I went riding with eddiekay a few weeks ago we swapped bikes for awhile. He's got the newer, white faces…

Frankly, they're awful. Makes the gauges hard to read at a glance.

Yeah I thought about that a little. Right now, my bike has black faces, white dashes, and white needles. I just got my sweet white faces delivered. They have black dashes. I think when I have the needles off, I'll just paint them black, and that should keep the same level of contrast as the stock setup did, so it should be ok for reading quickly.

Side note, the guy who made these must have based them off a newer bike than I have. My gauges read up to 16k, and the red-line section covers the pie-slice from 14k-16k. The new white faces read up to 15k, and the red-line section covers the pie-slice from 13k-15k. And my rev-limiter doesn't cut in until 14,500 rpm :lol: I guess I'll just look really badass on film when I go clear up to the end of the red section.

I guess I'll just look really badass on film when I go clear up to the end of the red section.


Hey man, ever do any wheelies on that thing?:happy60:

yeah bro, lots of em. Just gotta kinda go Yuh ughhh!

Those look purty cool, Chris. If I still had stock gauges I'd definitely rock the white.

They look pretty good in person. I cant wait to get them installed and see what they look like :)

Bump on this thread because I finally got around to installing my white gauge faces and painting the needles bright orange for contrast. I really like how they turned out!

I got the idea for the orange needles because they would blend in with the white background too much if they were white. The needles in my Tahoe are orange, so I liked that idea.

here they are in light:
http://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=893&pictureid=9920

and here they are in the dark. They light up well in the dark, and my green LED back lighting makes them glow green!! :D
http://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=893&pictureid=9918

Unintended side-effect: these are based on the newer pregens that have a lower redline. My EFI still has a rev limiter at 14,300, so it will look really impressive in video when I go nearly to the top of the gauge, which stops at 15,000 :lol:

Sweet you can say there isn't a rev limiter;)

Nice Chone! Those look pretty cool! Normally I think I'd say no to orange needles because it reminds me of the 70's... but that looks really good!

I'm digging the orange. It stands out from the white. I'll let you know how hard it is to actually see once I get the chance to ride in the spring time. :lol:

Here's another dark picture from when I was playing with my headlight in my garage:
http://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=893&pictureid=9923

It should be easier to see. That looks like the same color paint they use for gun sights to give you better lowlight usability without getting into the fancy fibre optics they have now.

I actually really like it though! But I think I'd probably do a darker green. Not much, just a tad. lol

Lookin' good!! :thumbup:


If I ever go back to stock gauges I will definitely buy that white gauge face.

Your best bet would be to laser print onto white acetate.

No ink run in humidity, and the acetate will be unaffected by moisture, and it'll look crisp and like stock.

So, I finalized this. I was having trouble with the temp gauge. The picture was rubbing on the needle, and it was stuck. No bueno. Took it out. Now I have white tach, white speedo, and black temp gauges. All still have orange needles. I'll take pictures once I find my camera.

Right now it reminds me of the CBR 600 F3 that my buddy owns. I dig it better with the black temp gauge.

Excited to have a functional temp gauge again.

Those look awesome! Great job on the install too. That's too bad about the temp gauge but i'm sure you'd rather have a functional gauge than a pretty one :cool:

It's still pretty. :)

Sorry to resurrect the thread, but better here than in a new one.

How'd you get the needles off and what did you use to paint them? I'm very interested.