This could be a long post.
I am still onboard, sporadically, and I still have the Crossfire. The design, the look, is relatively close to how AMG E Class gauges looked in the mid/late 2000s. White on black rather than black on white as most other non AMG models used. For me it’s much nicer to look at than the OE gauge face which has too many markings (MPH), is way too green and has a type face from an Antique clock. I eliminated the KPH scale because I didn’t need it, if I go over to Canada I’ll be able to figure out my speed. I also eliminated the PRND2L readout hole because my car is a stick. It’s interesting that cars sold in the non metric US have to have both MPH and KPH while the the rest of the world, which is metric, only have to have KPH.

I worked on the concept of how I wanted it to look for quite a while before I decided it way time to pull the gauge face out of the car and do what had to be done. I had plenty of stuff in mind but there are still a lot of details to consider.
How wide do the white parts need to be? How thick do the black tick marks need to be? How many of them looks best? What type face looks good for the numbers and lettering? How close should the numbers be to the sweeps? Should the red needles (speedo/tach/fuel/temp) go over the white/black of the gauge sweeps or just come to the edge? Two examples: all the tick marks that go into (but not all the way over) the white sweeps of the speedo, tach, fuel, temp (and the end marks of the fuel, temp sweeps) have rounded ends, not square. The type face I settled on is very similar to that on the buttons of the top of the radio.
All the geometry of the increments (tick marks) was easy to figure out, and produce, though I made sure they matched what was on the OE face. Of note is that the end marks of the fuel and temp gauges (and the sweep itself) does not match the radius that the needles travel, I kept it that way. You don’t notice it because the needles are almost always at some other position that at either end and they move very slowly.

It would be a pretty involved project but I had 97% of the process’s and equipment available to make it so I gave it a try. I wasn’t going to happen in a day, or even a week, I wanted to take the cluster off just one time and put it back on with the new gauge face, it mostly worked out that way. Additionally the car would be down for as long as I have the cluster off so it helps to have another car. I worked at a commercial graphic arts company when I made it so I has access to (almost) all the needed hardware and software. I made the actual artwork using Adobe Illustrator.
I even found a file of the correct CROSSFIRE script that an Ad agency had available for use in advertising and such.

I printed the new gauge face on an a very nice commercial EPSON color printer, on a plastic material that is intended to be back lit (have light shine from behind) is use. I laminated that color printed material to 2 additional thin white, semi transparent, plastic material layers. I had that cut precisely to the correct shape. I had all the holes and final shape laser cut at a small Mom&Pop engraving shop as the final step.
Other than the Laser cutting That is essentially different from how production OE gauge faces are made, and what they are made of, mostly.

The OE face was printed to some extent, the same process as on a printing press, the white color you see is printed on black material. Other than that it is made of layers of different colored material. Green material for the everything that is green, red/orange material for the TC symbol, and top of the temp gauge sweep. The red low fuel portion at the bottom of that gauge is backed (by design) by a small black patch. All the layers are then backed by a layer of white material in the very back to control the back lighting. All the green and red/orange layers (other than the fuel gauge part mentioned) are transparent, the black layer (front most layer with all white printing) and white light controlling layer (rear most layer) are opaque. It is stuck to the cluster with a mild adhesive and came off easily.

The material I would be using was semi transparent though it is essentially opaque white before any toner is applied. I could only control how it would appear when lit by toner applied to that material. The two additional layers laminated to the back of it are transparent, though not clear, they’re really there just to add some strength and bulk, nothing is printed on them.

The face black is actually a rich black, meaning all 4 CMYK inks make up that color, 60%, 40%, 40%,100% and they print (stack up on the media) in that order. Printing first, and physically behind all of the CMYK toners, are 3 specific PANTONE colors. Red (coolant/fuel) Orange (TC symbol) and Green( indicator arrows). That means they are a specific color of toner and are not a mix CMYK to create the color. The CMYK toners have knock out (a hole) where the Red (coolant/fuel) are clearly visible. The Orange (TC symbol) and Green( indicator arrows) have a knockout for the CMY toners, though black toner overprints them, it is physically on top of them. I knew that the indicator arrows, and TC symbol, could be a problem potentially because I wanted them to look black but then shine orange/green when lit for their respective functions. This was the only real issue* with finished product.

The gauge face ended up only slightly thicker to the OE piece, they are both about 2mm-3mm thick. It has a very slight pebbly surface finish, as does the OE. It fits perfectly and is colored as you see it, black, white, a little red, a little orange, a little green, on a very, very, very, very, dark gray background. I say that because it is ever so slightly less black (in appearance) that the black of the cluster. That is hard to notice unless you’re looking for it.

All in all it turned out very well, with just 1 real asterisk*. The lighting was somewhat blotchy, behind the black, I cured this with another thin printed layer of just the black (toner on a clear material) precisely aligned, and attached in the back.

asterisk* The indicator arrows, and TC symbol are not bright enough in normal daylight, you really can't see them. I can "see" the TC symbol light up when I watch it as I push the button but the indicator arrows are basically invisible.
At dusk or darker ambient light everything is good and visible.

The End.

 

Breaking News
I found a local place, Metro Detroit, that prints custom gauge faces in the same fashion as the OE gauge face is made. I will get with then to assess the feasibility of getting 1 (or more) made.
I will report back with my findings.

 

Thanks very much for your good detail information. The place your talking about in Detroit sounds like a good possibility for making the faceplate in white. Let us know what you hear from them.

Jim

 

The SLK230 and the SLK200 cluster faces will fit just fine, the only difference being the redline placement on the rev counters of the l4's vs the V6's (6250 vs 6000). Both have 80mph on the vertical as opposed to 90mph on the SLK32 and 100mph on the SRT6 respectively

I butchered the SLK clock window because I needed it lol but for comparison:



HTH

 

.. and failing that, if you really want to push the boat out, you can always have a word with - Heiler - in Germany and pick MB R170 to work with.

Only issue with them is that you don't actually see what ya getting for your money

HTH

 

would you make them?