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Main => General Discussion Board. => Topic started by: kattz on April 24, 2020, 03:27:53 PM
If you must strip an OEM gauge and convert it to something usable, is it best to use steppers and hidden hard stop pins, or RC servos?
Thanks.
Kev
The answer is, of course, 'it depends'.
It seems to me that the car speedometer stepper motors (Switec and clones) are ideal.
The interfaces for a stepper or a servo are quite different, so that might influence your decision too.
A question regarding stepper motors, if I may. I am attempting building some gauges for the first time. I have 3D printed the gauge, printed the gauge face on label paper and purchased some small stepper motors (SG90 9G micro servo) From what I can find online it looks like I am going to need a board with a stepper motor driver (I am using Leo Bodnar boards for the flight controls, etc.).
Question 1. Does each gauge require a separate driver board or is there some solution where you can wire multiple gauges to a single board?
Question 2. What software do you use to calibrate the gauge and connect it to P3D or X-plane.
Thanks for any assistance you can provide.
Steve (N4208T)
Steve,
The motors you've bought are not stepper motors, they are servo motors and yes you will need a driver board. Open Cockpits sell one that I believe will handle more than one servo, but I'm guessing you will need some help with the script needed to run it.
https://www.opencockpits.com/catalog/servo-motors-card-p-42.html?cPath=21_32
Another option is to use an interface like Mobiflight in conjunction with an Arduino card.
There are plenty of people more knowledgeable that I am in this area. And I'm sure a few will chime in with a more concise answer for you.
Until them you could check out some of the videos on YouTube, or have a read on the Mobiflight Forum.
https://www.mobiflight.com/forum.html
https://www.mobiflight.com/en/tutorials/servo-motor-flaps-gauge.html
The second link shows exactly what you are looking for.
Hope that helps.
Joe.
My bad. I meant servo. Thank you Joe. Making dummy gauges is easy. Working ones ... I guess we will see. I will check out open cockpits.
Steve
I wrote about making your own here:
https://www.cockpitbuilders.com/index.php?topic=7836.msg56161#msg56161