Dead Guages on 83 300 SD

While driving home last night I noticed my guages were all dead. Temp, Oil, Battery, and speedo were all in their resting position as if the ignition was turned off. A few minutes later when I got home and turned the ignition off, I turned the ignition back on and off a few times and the guages came back. Now, I get in it this morning and the guages aren't working again. Car starts and drives fine although I'm "flying blind".

My original thought was that this might be something in the ignition switch causing the problem. Now that I can't get the guages back by cycling the ignition I'm wondering if it's something else, perhaps a fuse? Anybody have any suggestions as to the most logical things to look for?

I looked at the fuse box during my lunch hour and found the problem. The fuse was blown. Strangely, the wire connecting the ends of the fuse looked like it was broken. When I rotated the fuse in the holder the guages actually started working again. I would have thought the fuse portion would have looked melted rather than broken. Either way, it created a bad connection. I replaced the fuse and all is well.