What's your preference? To me, OEM gages are correct, backlighting is correct, and the needle/gauge is right under the glass. But conversion to sim use can be a problem.
"Brand F" gages are very smooth due to stepper motor use, but that backlighting - ugh!
"Brand "C" gages look great, but are not very smooth because of servo use.
What's your preference?
I have Brand "F" for all my gauges...MIP (including standby) and OH.
I agree that they work smoothly and reliably (well over 10 years old for some of them). Backlighting is reasonably acceptable I think, but I agree that there is room for improvement on that.
Fred K
You didn't mention the DIY route. I designed a simple 3D-printed generic gauge which can be built very cheaply. I wrote about it here:
https://www.cockpitbuilders.com/index.php?topic=7836.msg56228#msg56228
I agree about the backlight issue, but I decided that functional and cheap was a winner. I also noticed from a number of photos and descriptions on the web that most gauges are not backlit. They are front lit. At approximately 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock there are tiny incandescent bulbs that fill the entire needle cavity with light. This lights the needle itself and the decal.
Building a backlit DIY gauge means that you need to place the LEDs carefully, and construct the decal carefully, and choose the correct backing material. You should also light the needle somehow.
This guy has made a nice backlit solution:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb_6pLyaG28
My DIY version is front-lit. On the 60mm gauges I use a single LED shining forwards into the 2mm clear acrylic 'instrument glass'. There is a circle scribed into the back surface of the acrylic which scatters the light backwards into the needle cavity. I'm pretty sure that's how brand 'F' does it, but I don't actually know.
The advantage is that it is cheap and simple to construct, and any decal can be used- it doesn't have to be transparent, and the backing material doesn't have to be translucent.
I really need to do a how-to assembly video, and work on a generic 83mm gauge.
@ame, that's pretty good!
You're right, they are front-lit. And working on jets for so many years, it's hard to get away from that look.
Kev
I'm working on gauges at the moment. I have designed a pcb to utilize a X27 stepper motor and backlight, either LED or OEM bulbs. Not desided yet but I hope I can make a good backlight using leds. Backlight is important!
Attached is two images of design. I have a faceplate sent for printing on clear acrylic using UV print technology.
All gauges will be connected via a 10p IDC. 4-8 wires for stepper and two for backlight.
Anders (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200418/46fd3d3aef20347aac6e8f174bf039bb.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200418/e571697523293178d45e8963ba55f14c.jpg)
Skickat från min LYA-L29 via Tapatalk
Looks good!