So I've had a "giant" d20 sitting on my mantle in the game room for some time now. I've always thought, "Man, that'd be cool if I had a gearshift knob like a d20...". Well that day is now. It's done, I now have a d20 gearshift knob. My car can shift into 19th gear.
From the outset, I knew I didn't want to put it with the '20' face up, that's too cheesy. No, in true gamer fashion I opted to roll the die, and drill it accordingly to whatever number came up. Since my brother-in-law was over, and he had my nephew with him, I opted for the little guy to roll. As you can see, the official roll was a 'nat' twenty!
The tools for the job; a power drill, drill bits, "c" clamp, and a big ole' d20We didn't really know what were going to find once we started drilling. Safety goggles were a must, we didn't know if this thing would fragment, explode, splinter, or what. It turns out it had a solid core, was all plastic, and as long as you're drilling straight, you're good to go. As you can see from the tape, d20 dust was coming off of it in great amounts. We wore safety goggles, but not masks, so yes, I was breathing in this dust. Essentially, I can say that the very spirit of the d20 flows through my veins...literally. Not many can claim as such!
We used ascending drill sizes. It was tedious, sure, but we only had one shot at this at I didn't want to risk cracking the whole thing in half because our drill bit was too mondo. The towel is here just to keep the sides from getting marred by the "c" clamp.
No comments on how dusty the inside of my car is please!
I prefer straight shift vehicles to automatics, so luckily my gearshift knob was just threaded on. It was incredibly easy to take off, just unscrew it by hand. Now I didn't just stick the d20 on here and epoxy it. I actually had a threaded, plastic insert that I tapped into the underside, drilled cavity with a hammer. After that I just screwed on the d20, and voila, instant geek gearshift! If you add this to my Lego Dwarf sticker, and my Lego iPod mount you've got, err, I don't know what you've got, but it's fun nonetheless. I must say, after driving with this for a couple of days now, it's incredibly comfortable to use, but can be cold in the morning!
That's hot man... friggin pimp yo!
ReplyDeleteNice to see you again my old compatriot:)
Thanks for sharing, Mik. That was so funny, and so cool. Way to go!
ReplyDeleteThat blows my fuzzy gaming dice out the window.
ReplyDeleteThat's Magnificent
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! I've watched many "ghetto mod" how-to's, but this is by far the most original I've seen. Just don't forget the shift pattern! ("Now where was reverse? Was it up or down? Damn..." :P)
ReplyDeleteHa! THAT'S what you were doing. That's awesome!!
ReplyDeleteDude, how many Geek Points is that worth?!
ReplyDelete@25mm: Dude, where have you been? You occupy two files; the "Where are they now?" file, and the "People I'd game face-to-face with if they lived in my time zone." file.
ReplyDelete@Kobold, GVaughn, and Oz: Thanks!
@ChristophB: Dude, another Chris? I'm inundated with Chris'! 1st - 5th gears are fine, but yeah, reverse can be tricky!
@Andy and Eli: I don't know how many points it's worth, I'm just glad I'm already married!
Hahaha. I was just going to say the same thing (about luckily already getting the girl).
ReplyDeleteKudos for driving the stick shift too
Brilliant! Your car must look awesome!
ReplyDelete"I'm just glad I'm already married!"
ReplyDeleteI don't know; having long since discovered that it's important (for me anyway - YMMV) to have a mate who shares my likes and dislikes, I'd see this as the perfect test for that new girl. If she sees the D20 and says "Cool!" she's a keeper.
Otherwise, well... it's a long walk home honey... :P
Where did you get the threaded plastic insert? I was looking all over the internets for somewhere to buy a d20 gear shift knob - looks like I'll have to make my own. :) Luckily I have a drill press!!
ReplyDelete@Donna: Thanks! My brother-in-law had bought an after-market gearshift knob from a chain auto parts store. In the kit it came with a couple of different threaded inserts, and this was one of the leftovers from that. You could probably just get the threaded inserts from a car parts store I'm guessing.
ReplyDeleteAfter using this for over a month now I must say it is very comfortable and natural to use. Let me know how your conversion works!
Where did you get the large d20? I've looked everywhere!
ReplyDeletegot this one locally years ago at a local game store but you should be able to find one online, look for at least 55mm-60mm size.
DeleteThis is a really old post so you might not even ever see this... but my boyfriend's birthday is coming up and I really want to make him a 55mm D20 gear shift, just like yours. I was wondering if you could answer a few questions because I know not nothing about anything like this. What size drill bit, what size is the threaded plastic insert you used? This is literally the perfect gift for him and I have a little over a month to complete this task.
ReplyDeleteAshley! Sorry it's so late, I hope you get this. Maybe it can be a Halloween present?
DeleteI went to an auto parts store and they make a replacement gear shift insert that obviously is perfect for this. I had to throw away the knob itself but the hardware it came with is perfect. I don't know about the drill bit size, honestly I just used whatever looked about right and then got my (more handy) brother in law to help me, voila!
Hope you get this!
I cannot wait to dig deep and kickoff utilizing resources that I received from you. Your exuberance is refreshing. Brass Dice
ReplyDelete