Paul had a similar problem that he remedied by widening the screw hole on the knob side. If you can't do the same or don't want to, then let me know via PM. I'll replace the tight lens(es).

Do you have a picture of what broke? Were you also getting a bind on the up/down buttons? I've already had the cad updated based on Paul's comments. I can also increase the space around the buttons in the next batch.

Yes I was having a binding problem with the up and down buttons. No, I don't have a picture on me but can get one later on. It's just the bottom left corner between the down button and left button. No big deal as you can't see it and the buttons now work fine. I did try drilling the whole above the knob and that helped some and then I trimmed aound the down button with some small wire cutters very successfully on the first lens (dark smoke). I didn't feel like looking for the small wire cutters I used on that lens so used some large ones on the light smoke lens and accidentally broke the corner and it worked so well I just broke the corner off of the green one without thinking twice about it. Pretty simple fix for the impatient.

Indeed, someone (robricc?) had a similar complaint about a lens he got in Cincinnati.

I popped a bronze in my player while I was there and there's no binding, but it may be luck of the draw.

I had a little binding problem initially with the green lens. I just losened the bolts a bit shuffled the lens and it works ok now. It did take a couple of attempts and a broken fingernail

thanks for the trick, it worked just fine. At first i thought you meant to break a small piece of the corner off, then I realized you mean the entire corner. It is a little sloppy but a quick fix.

...then I realized you mean the entire corner.

INDEED!

. It is a little sloppy but a quick fix.

Don't worry about the "sloppy" part, I won't tell anyone. That particular corner is totally unnessary anyway...

Here's a pic of my quick fix... No tools required!

Aww man, don't do that.

Send that back to me and I'll get you another one. I'll PM you the address. Let me know if the others bind also.

It looks good enough to me...

I also ordered a set of lenses and had trouble with the buttons binding on both of our empegs, I used a dremel to elongate the screw holes on the knob side (the screw holes were too close together left to right). The stock lens works fine in my CRX, but in my wife's Element, the empeg is up near the top of the dash and is very exposed. Any bright day totally washes out the stock lens. She now has the bronze lens and that works great! I wanted to use the red lens in my CRX, but the red one is just too dim (I could only see it well in my garage or at night), I am suprised anyone is able to use it in a car environment. I now use the smoke one. It is very bright and I can use it in my wife's car (when I can get it away from her). Thanks again for a great job!

Mach, something that you should consider;

In every lense that I've seen (stock, Darkstorm, and yours from the photos), the hole for the knob is a strange size. While it is much bigger than truly necessary for the knob shaft to pass through, it is too small to be optimal for LED backlighting. Although in practice the lens doesn't appear to tint the backlighting effect (with smoke anyway...), it must be reducing the light output.
I wonder if it's worth enlarging this hole so that it doesn't block as much. Note that this hole doesn't usually sit perfectly concentrically around the knob shaft, so you wouldn't want to overdo it.

Good point, a couple of questions though (My player is off to get the glow now so I can't measure it myself.)

How much should it change? If anyone can post pictures with a lens installed without the fascia with a ruler next to it we can try to adjust the sizing and the position to make it glow friendly. (Don't over tighten the screws)

My other concern/question is with 303's new fascia. The knob and corresponding fascia around the knob appears to be smaller than the original knob and fascia. Is anyone running an illumination setup with a new fascia?

Yep,

and I'm pretty sure that I'm not alone. IIRC there were a couple of other guys at the european meet with 303 fascias and illumination.

I'll grab some snaps tomorroww. Here are some measuremnts;

diameter/width of the part encircling the knob - 21 mm
diameter knob - 16 mm
width of left part (edge of display area to handle cut out) - 34 mm
width of rightmost part - 2 mm
width of cut out on the right at the height of knob axis - ~16 mm
height of display opening - ~40.5 mm

/Michael

Standard Mk2a knob is 19mm in diameter. I assume that the Mk2 is the same. Surrounding plastic is 24mm.
Standard and Darkstorm cutouts are 11.5mm in diameter.



If I understood Michael's measurements and how they relate to the photo above, then increasing the cutout diameter to 18mm would leave 1.5mm hidden material all around when used with a 303 face or 3mm all around with the original face. That should be enough for concentric tolerance. I suppose you could go to 17mm instead which gives 2mm and 3.5mm respectively.

Improvement in unobstructed knob area would be 168% for the standard knob/face (18mm) or 139% (17mm). 303 face gains a 112% improvement regardless of new cutout diameter as it is limited to a 16mm aperture anyway.

Actually, looking at that photograph again, someone needs to check that the 303 face doesn't allow the lens to flex backwards too much. I know that the standard face doesn't. (If it does then the edge of the cutout could become exposed if the tolerance of the cutout to the surround is too close),

Would one of those be me? j/k
If they haven't gone out yet could you make the screw holes slightly larger on mine?

Thanks,
Robert

No problem. I'll let you know when they go out.

Thanks Michael and genixia that's what I needed. Since we're tweaking the CAD anyway, I'll ask if this could be done also.

Hey all. I currently have all the lenses I need, bought from DarkStorm. I wouldn't mind a green that matches my dash better (between Darkstorm Dark Green and Neon Green, but not Smoke).

So, are these new lenses any different?
How do they compare to the Darkstorm ones with the raised mid section?
Is the binding problem fixed for the new shipments?

Thanks.

New shipments haven't gone out yet. Beta lenses were cut yesterday and sent to a couple of folks for testing. Once they've ok'd them, the new web page will be posted and orders/shipments can begin again.

Any news on the lenses?

I got the last response on the new lenses back today. The fit looks good. If you're waiting on a lens order, they should go out shortly. For those of you who are waiting to order, I'll put a new post in the For Sale forum to explain how you can order.