Automobile gauge faces made of stainless steel and other metals
AssigneeU.S. Speedo, Inc.
InventorJamie Howton
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A process for creating aftermarket vehicle gauge faces from a metal is disclosed. The process includes the steps of preparing a metal. The process also includes phototooling a phototool and then coating the metal after which an ultraviolet exposure is used. The process then will develop, and etch the metal to create predetermined letters, lines and characters and shapes on the metal gauge face. Next the gauge face is stripped and washed and a final inspection is used to create the aftermarket automobile gauge faces.
Claims20
A process of making vehicle gauge faces, said process including the steps of:
- phototooling a predetermined sized and shaped vehicle gauge face;
- preparing a predetermined size and shape metal;
- coating said metal using a phototool of said vehicle gauge face;
- developing said coating on a surface of said metal vehicle gauge face;
- etching said metal vehicle gauge face on a first and second surface;
- and
- stripping said etched metal vehicle gauge face.
A process of machining vehicle gauge faces from a metal material, said process including the steps of:
- preparing design data of the vehicle gauge face into a digital data of a predetermined file format;
- photo plotting said digital data with a laser onto film to produce a phototool;
- coating a predetermined sized metal vehicle gauge face with a photo resist on both sides of said metal vehicle gauge face;
- exposing said photo resist to an UV light through said phototool;
- developing said photo resist to remove an unexposed area of said photoresist from said metal vehicle gauge face;
- etching said metal vehicle gauge face to remove an exposed area of said photo resist;
- stripping said photo resist with a stripping solution from said metal vehicle gauge face;
- and
- inspecting completed metal vehicle gauge face for compliance with predetermined specifications.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.