Did the designers of the mkII/riocar fascia ever mount one in a car and look at the display? Maybe it's just my car, but the viewing angle combined with the plastic border clips the first two letters on the top display line. So when the song name is at the top I miss the top half of the first letter and the top third of the second letter. Very annoying.
Has anyone modified their fascia without destroying it, and did it look ok? Better yet does anyone make a better one out of similar plastic, no wood please. Wood belongs in furniture, or better yet, trees; not my car.

This has been discussed a lot. Many people complain that their fascia obscures the display. Hugo says that he tested it, but it appears that he assumed that all cars would have dashes that tilted up, towards the driver. Many cars do not. Mine, in fact, tilts down, and has a significantly bad problem with this. There have been some folks who have created new fasciae, but they have been duplicates in another material. Other folks have proffered some design suggestions, but, to my knowledge, no one has put on a new fascia. Actually, I take that back. Someone with a Porsche Boxster created a new one to mach his dash more closely. Take a look in the Installation forum. But there is not a commercially available replacement fascia that will solve your problem.

There is also some variation in the assembly of the display panels, and the VFD itself might be scooched up a little high.

It is possible to scooch the VFD downwards, bending its mounting pins. But the display panel and the VFD is incredibly fragile and I would not recommend trying it, because if you break it you'll have to pay for its replacement.

Yes, we did.

Rob

Woods the only other material available at the moment, and I doubt plastic ones will ever come about.

Sean

You could design and tool a new fascia for about 25,000 UKP with a soft tool (good for maybe 4000 shots - enough for the installed userbase). Per shot cost in 1000 off would probably be about a tenner for the fascia, screen, knob and buttons (which are shot in three independent cavities). ITO and AR coating would be another six quid.

So, if you made 4000 your cost is 22.25 UKP, and I'd guess you could charge about 35 quid for them. 51,000 profit would make it worth your time - but I don't think there's a chance of actually selling more than 500, pushing the price up and your margin down.

In short - I think you're right - it's not likely to happen!

Rob

It's not *that* dangerous to push the VF down, just do it with a constant, firm pressure on both sides of the top. The legs are unlikely to break unless you push down, up, down, up, etc.

That said, I can't recommend it lest I would get held responsible for warranty returns. But take a look yourself anyway.. I've never broken one by moving the display down a bit.

Hugo

Are some VFD's stuck to the display board with two bits of double-stick foam? Or are they all supposed to float free?

Mine's been stuck down.

They're all stuck down, but you can still move the display.

Hugo

In reply to:

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It is possible to scooch the VFD downwards

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I'm guessing it'd be a lot easier to just scooch yourself down in the seat until you can see the display unhampered.

Okay, new FAQ entry created.

What's wrong with wood? It's soft enough to shave down and modify, and you can paint over it and make it look like plastic if you want.

Calvin

I have no problem with wood, the original poster did, he didn't want to hear about a wood fascia. I think Rob's wood fascias look great! I was hoping to get a aluminum one, even though it was going to be $150. But it looks like that project is on hold for now.

Sean

It's not *that* dangerous to push the VF down, just do it with a constant, firm pressure on both sides of the top.

After trying unsuccessfully two previous times (months ago) to do this, I finally gathered up my courage and did what Hugo said -- and it worked perfectly.

The first two times I didn't know how hard to press, and was afraid to press hard enough to do any good. This time I applied "...a constant firm pressure on both sides of the top" until my thumbs actually hurt quite a lot and the top of the VFD made quite noticeable impressions in them -- and the VFD just moved smoothly downwards as the mounting pins sort of "bent at the knees" where they make a right angle bend coming out of the circuit board.

The difference in-car is wonderful -- now instead of losing all of the first letter and part of the next three, I only lose a bit off the top of the first letter.

tanstaafl.

I always knew you had it in you, Doug.

I'm going to update my FAQ entry with the line about constant firm pressure on both sides.