My custom gauge WIP (shaun_king)

[Rallywagon]

Is it possible to maybe hook up the gtp community with the cad file so one could take this to a shop to have them make it? Im a programmer by trade, and by no means an engineer. But when something looks this good... If not, do you have plans to start producing these?

 

[gt5shaun]

The support from you guys and others on different forums recently has been overwhelming and as a result I have to admit that the thought of production has crossed my mind very recently. If it was produced I'd need to do a very thorough business evaluation to start-up a small company to handle it. Also I'd need to do a proper evaluation for the cost of the parts. If it did go ahead I'd personally want it to be quite an affordable unit; market research would be a massive need to ensure I hit the right price point. Potentially a redesign would need to be completed to help get the cost down to this price point. I'm currently thinking of two options:

A full unit with components from symprojects would be £110 with maybe an addition of £25 for an effective working tachometer motor, plus the cost of a case mouldings, needles, LEDs, wires, shipping, labour, etc.

or.....

there is another option, I could design and manufacture an easily self-assembled case & stand so you could take current Symprojects components that you may already own and put them into it with shipping & labour, etc.

Hypothetically it sounds like you would be interested in the second option, I wonder if anyone else would be interested?

I need to produce a working prototype first and then who knows...

 

[mrbasher]

Looks excellent. Ah, the joys of having all those awesome tools at your disposal. That software alone is something along the lines of $60,000. The VMC in the CNC video, probably close to that as well. "Knowing how to use them" is the hard part though and you seem to have that down pat.

We should talk if you decide to produce these and sell them... No reason for you to be paying retail for the electronics portions of it. Certainly not £120+ which is the cost of all the stuff from symprojects. You don't need to be using old gauge steppers either.

 

[Carson79]

Talk to Mr Basher Shaun. I think you two could make a great partnership

 

[Publicsafety]

If you work together and come up with something, let me know

 

[mrbasher]

I'd love to help out however I can as this was something I've been contemplating making myself to sell... Though I never got anywhere NEAR as far along Either way, I'll follow along with interest.

 

[gt5shaun]

Looks excellent. Ah, the joys of having all those awesome tools at your disposal. That software alone is something along the lines of $60,000. The VMC in the CNC video, probably close to that as well. "Knowing how to use them" is the hard part though and you seem to have that down pat.

We should talk if you decide to produce these and sell them... No reason for you to be paying retail for the electronics portions of it. Certainly not £120+ which is the cost of all the stuff from symprojects. You don't need to be using old gauge steppers either.

What would you use instead of stepper motors... My linear jobbies are quite old. I took apart an old VW polo cluster and they use the stepper motors. Se my blog entry here: http://hutchinsonsimulators.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/instrument-panel-breakdown I tried to connect them directly to a power supply but then realised that i needed more equipment and experience to move them about directly. I eventually went for the older fashioned linear motor because they were easier to get results from faster.

If you work together and come up with something, let me know

What do you do Publicsafety?

 

[gt5shaun]

Just me again with a quick update. I've been working mock lighting assembly. Finally finished the speedometer and tachometer assembly. I was a bit worried that the lights would drain power from the linear motors. In an illumination relation topic I posted Cristiano - producer and designer of the revburner PCB's - said that it should be okay so I moved forward with some confidence, however it was a relief to see it all work in the end cos my technical production skills can be flawed at times. I suppose 1AMP was more than enough to push the 12v into the motors and LED’s. I just need to get my hands on the RP cases, shorten the wires and all I need to do is paint the cases and design/fabricate a stand for it. Getting there slowly.

In the new assembly rendering below you can see how the new lighting assembly incorporates onto the main frame of the cluster. Only slight mods were made to the frame to add spacers for the small PCB panel that hold the 12v LED resistors. I’m going to add switches to the back of the rear cover so I can turn the lights on/off. The red dots on the image below shows the location of the switches in the wiring system. Thought a bit of drama could be fun so I bought some covered aircraft aircraft switches. The LED mounting has changed too to help stop light leakage.

 

[gt5shaun]

Got a part back from the work shop. Above is a picture of the front cluster. All is going well in the production of these. They need a bit of finishing because there are small ledges that are created because a short milling bit was used for this one.

The next one is already on the plate and buzzing around. For those who like to watch short videos of repetitive work machines click on the video link to get a 36 second blast of the frame being robotic sculpted from a block of sikatool:

 

[Carson79]

Great updates mate

 

[gt5shaun]

The parts are arriving fast and furious.

The photos show it part assembled with the milling frame still supporting the most recent arrival. I’m a bit worried that the material that I’ve used might be a bit soft at the moment. the whole structure is strengthened by the plastic gauge but if it breaks the breaks the next step is to mill the same part out of a harder sikatool. Just waiting for the rear cover to coming in a then it’s time to prep & paint the surfaces.

 

[Rallywagon]

That is very impressive work man. can't wait to see what the finished rig looks like.

 

[mika haka]

Any videos of the dials working? Awesome that is a piece of art.

 

[Rallywagon]

If you click on one of his videos on the second page, one of the following videos is of this working.

 

[mika haka]

cheers

 

[gt5shaun]

Cheers Rallywagon, and just incase you got lost in my jumbled world of uTube from the 2nd page mika haka -- back by popular demand... The working gauges:



I think it is maybe important to confess once again that I've never calibrated these properly, just bodged them to get something that kinda works ASAP - so maybe my video is not doing the symprojects boards proper justice. I want to spend some time near the end of the gauge build working out the maths to accurately calibrate this gauges

 

[RSwagoneer]

The tools some people can use.... Awesome.

Nice work , seeing the dash coming to reality from drawing/3D rendering is awesome.

 

[gt5shaun]

I'm really enjoying the 2D to 3D transformation too RSwagoneer. S'even got me running into the uni on weekends now that I can see the finish line

Today my toggle switches have arrived- Yay! Extremely excited with these switches for some reason. Think I've reached geek level: 'obsessive'. These two red covered toggle switches will turn the lights on for each revburner dial. Think I need one more to cover the whole electric assembly as a power on/off switch. Oh well, time to bang em onto Alias Automotive to visually check em out with the whole assembly. Think I'll put them on the back of the rear cover to sex up the rear view of the cluster a bit. If it looks too mad I can easily tone it down by using a less flashy switch. When I've done the renderings I'll pop em up to see what you guys think. Still thinking where to put the power switch; maybe somewhere discrete.

 

[gt5shaun]

Managed to bash out a couple of renderings to help visualise the fabulous red covered aircraft/rally style toggle switches that I'm considering using in the rear covers. I'm currently wondering if they are a bit too much. The other option is to use regular switches that are a fair bit more discrete. Mmmmm! decisions decisions eh. I created a poll on my simulator site please feel welcome to vote whether you think covers should be used or not. Click here to go vote: http://hutchinsonsimulators.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/switch-covers-or-not

 

[Carson79]

Personally I love the switch covers, but on a button box. Maybe keep them for a brilliant Shaun designed button box.
Something more discrete and simple that wouldn't take away from the really cool design would work better I think.

 

[gt5shaun]

How about if the switches were in different colours? I've completed a black & metal switch rendering and am putting together a chrome option. please feel free to re-vote later when I have this option up on the poll. A toggle switch is there too so you can see it

 

[Carson79]

The chrome and black one's look great!

 

[gt5shaun]

Yeah... I'm quite taken by the chrome switches to the extent that I ordered a pair yesterday. I think they give the box a touch of quality maybe, and you don't get the feeling that they are button box switches for start or ignitions.

 

[Rallywagon]

I agree that both the black and chrome look far better. But I'd lean to black if your going with the color in the pictures for the rest of the unit. even though you already ordered them, anodized black would have been real nice. All the same, the chrome definitely looks better.

 

[gt5shaun]

I might just try the black too, why not. The covers can be bought separately anyway so I can mix and match.

 

[gt5shaun]

Considering making quick wee stand just in case 'silly rabbits' force me to work on a desktop system. Think this one could be an easy one to make with a CNC machine... mmm! See how things turn out eh.

 

[Caz]

Johnny 5 alive!

Some nice work.

 

[gt5shaun]

Number 5 stupid name... want to be Kevin or Dave! ... awesome film! Folk keep telling me it looks like wall-e too.

 

[Caz]

Younger folks might say wall-e. Us old guys know the truth.

 

[Carson79]

LOL Johnny 5.
The stand looks great mate, and chrome or black covers would look great. Very good idea to get both once you see them fitted you'll know which ones you like best.