Building an analog meter clock. I have some of these retro metere.



They are not lite and I need soe ideas on how I might light them.

I tried a standard LED behind the plate but it was useless. I swear I had a whole bag of bright whites once but I think they ran off somewhere. Don't know if a bright white would do any better.

 

Miniature White Leds will do, at bottom of the dial..you'll need to drill out the back to put in the wires,..


https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-8mm-Mini...992489?hash=item43d302ea69:g:gj8AAMXQatBSblNf

 

I think I'd be tempted to paint the back of the dial with clear UV reactive paint and put some UV leds behind it.... You should get an even matt green/yellow effect, it'll either look cool or it'll look crappy.

 

1) Make the dial from clear plastic, engrave the scale/markings on the plastic, edge light the dial with SMD LEDs?
2) Make the dial from electro-luminescent sheet.

 

Take the scale out
scan it
print it on plain paper
cut it out
stick it to a thin sheet of plastic
cut the plastic out
place the new cutout plastic+paper scale in place of the old one
put an led behind the scale

 

Since it's retro, how about an LED powered miniature version of a billboard lamp:

 

2) Make the dial from electro-luminescent sheet.

This stuff looks interesting.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-A5-Siz...d=291996399296&_trksid=p2385738.c100677.m4598

Once cut is it one sheet per cut? Way more than I need if I need to use 3 sheets ut buying one sheet for 3 meters won't be bad.


Another idea I just had was to cut my panels out of translucent lexan. And if I can find it, print scale on stick on transparency.

 

Tape a flashlight in front of the dial.

 

Miniature White Leds will do, at bottom of the dial..you'll need to drill out the back to put in the wires,..


https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-8mm-Mini...992489?hash=item43d302ea69:g:gj8AAMXQatBSblNf

I'm with Dodgy on this one. To make sure that the LED lights things up evenly, sand it thoroughly with 400 grit sand paper, so as to diffuse its light. Some people chop off the LED's top, which acts as a lens, to diffuse its light even more.

 

Remove the whole thing and just use a backlit color LCD panel to display an artists rendering of an analog meter.

 

Remove the whole thing and just use a backlit color LCD panel to display an artists rendering of an analog meter.

I wish there was a dislike button!

 

There is printable vellum card stock available. I think I will pick some up.

 

Remove the whole thing and just use a backlit color LCD panel to display an artists rendering of an analog meter.

Though an idea for a future project.

 

I wish there was a dislike button!

Hey, call it an out-of-the-box option. Or maybe a box redesign.

 

Building an analog meter clock. I have some of these retro metere.

View attachment 139231

They are not lite and I need soe ideas on how I might light them.

I tried a standard LED behind the plate but it was useless. I swear I had a whole bag of bright whites once but I think they ran off somewhere. Don't know if a bright white would do any better.

I would think a couple of LED's just below the movement would work.
For the proper vintage look I think you'd want a mix of green and yellow.

 

And if I can find it, print scale on stick on transparency.

If you can't find it, you can print in reverse on a sliced-open laminator pouch then iron that on to the lexan.

 

i am pretty sure it would look totally awesome to place el wire inside the meter around the panel... forget nixies...

http://www.everbuying.net/product1025343.html

 

If you can't find it, you can print in reverse on a sliced-open laminator pouch then iron that on to the lexan.

I found 67# vellum WAY more sheets than I need but they have it here locally. And adhesive transparencies do exist. I had some in my hands but the line was so long I figured I would pick it up when I pick up the vellum. All they had was light weight vellum in the store I was in.

 

i am pretty sure it would look totally awesome to place el wire inside the meter around the panel... forget nixies...

http://www.everbuying.net/product1025343.html

How do you determine current limit resistors of this stuff or don't you need to worry about it?

 

no...this is using very little current but requires high voltage, high frequency source - which means use of tiny inverter.