原创 Choice of analogue meter faceplate for Vetinari clock

Recently, quite a few people have been inquiring about the state of play with regard to my Vetinari Clock project, so I thought this would be a good time to bring everyone up to date.

I did run into a slight problem when I discovered that one of my prize analogue meters intended for use in my Ultra-Macho Prognostication Engine had shrugged off this mortal coil. For a time, I feared that I was going to have to repurpose the main meter from the collection I'd earmarked for the Vetinari Clock. Happily, my chum Rick Curl and one of his colleagues resurrected the meter in question, thereby saving the day.

Another aspect to all of this is the fact that I'm going to need new faceplates for my meters reflecting the data they are intended to represent. In the case of the Vetinari Clock, for example, I intend to have a large meter displaying the hours from 1 to 12, two medium-sized meters displaying the minutes and seconds from 1 to 60, and a small meter oscillating back and forth like a miniature metronome keeping time with the tick-tock sounds we will be generating.

I've been pondering a variety of ways to create new faceplates. The image below is of an AC meter that cannot be used for any of my projects. I discovered that I can capture an accurately-sized representation of the faceplate on my scanner, and then convert this to a vector representation.

I received an email from EETimes community member John Strupat in Canada. John is the president of an engineering company that specializes in creating prototypes and one-off custom projects for its customers. One of the services it offers is the restoration of older equipment. The main points as far as we're concerned are (a) John has access to all sorts of useful equipment and (b) after reading my blogs, he's become interested in creating a Vetinari Clock of his very own.

In his email to me, John said:

I have an idea I'd like to try out if you have a spare meter faceplate and a graphics file to send me. The graphics file should show the mounting screw holes to locate everything correctly. The process I have in mind involves matt polyester film, as the inks used here cannot be printed directly onto aluminum or other metals. I'm confident that the film can be trimmed easily to align with the complex shapes of those old meter faces and to give an impressive result. All color combinations of background and text/graphics are available, including the vintage light yellow/brown aged paint look.

Well, I already had a scan of the faceplate from my AC meter as shown below.

I immediately sucked this image into Visio, generated a vector version of the outline and mounting holes, and threw a test face together that displays things in terms of "Grokles" (whatever they may be). I also added some color, just to see what would happen.

I emailed this graphic up to John. I also dropped the faceplate in the post to him. Sad to relate, the faceplate disappeared into the nether regions of the postal service. Eventually, after more than ten days had gone by, John grew tired of waiting, and simply fabricated a couple of dummy faceplates out of thin aluminum sheet. Yesterday as I pen these words, John emailed me the following image.

According to John:

One part has a powder-coated gloss-white background, while the other has a "yellowed" background using the laminate process. These parts are fabricated by printing on either film laminated to a substrate or directly onto a powder-coated substrate. The printer inks penetrate into the material giving a high-contrast durable result. A more rugged result with UV resistance can be accomplished with a clear spray overcoat or with a protective polycarbonate film.

John went on to say:

In the case of an analogue meter scale, we can work with the original faceplate or create a new part from the outline from a hi-res scan. In either case we need the graphic file to print the new image. There are no restrictions on colors for graphical elements or for the background. We are now testing laminated assemblies printed on transparent substrate for backlit meter scales, windowed areas, and even capacitive touch panels.

John also tells me that his company is now considering offering this capability as a service to other makers. The idea is that folks could email in their desired graphics for the new faceplate. If they also send in existing faceplates, John's company could print on those. Alternatively, it could fabricate a new faceplate from the ground up. John is interested in knowing your thoughts about this -- is this a service you think the maker community would welcome?

As an aside, while I was chatting to John on the phone a few minutes ago, I asked how far away he was from Ohio. He immediately replied, "Six hours to Dayton, Ohio." So I asked if he'd heard of Hamvention, and he responded that he goes every year, so we're planning on meeting up there. (It really is a small world when you come to think about it.)

But we digress … My chum Denis is a Web guru and a graphics expert. Denis's company, CroDesign, specializes in creating mobile-ready responsive websites and apps. When last we spoke, Denis said he will create the graphics for the new faceplates, but that first he needs to know more about the way in which the meters are going to be presented -- not just their relative positioning, as shown below, but also the materials used to create the enclosure.

 

Well, another one of my friends is a master carpenter called Bob. (I tell you, the old saying "It's not what you know, it's who you know," is so true!) A few weeks ago, I was waffling on to Bob about my Vetinari Clock, and he told me that he wants to make the box for it. At that time, Bob mentioned that he had some wood veneer that looked like brushed aluminum with a wood grain. Apparently he had used this some time ago on a dashboard for a sports car for one of his clients, and he still has a bit left over.

To be honest, at that time I wasn’t so sure, but I was passing by Bob's shop yesterday, so I stuck my nose in to say "Hi," and he rooted out a sample of this veneer. OMG -- it looks incredible, as you can see in the image below.

 

Now, this will just be on the front panel -- the rest of the box will be some other color (maybe dark cherry or something). I'm thinking the clock will look amazing with an Art Deco look and feel.

I just sent a bunch of images of this veneer over to Denis in Hawaii. I'll be scanning the faceplates for the meters over the weekend and will get those to him as soon as possible. I cannot wait to see what he comes up with. When he has created his masterpieces, I will share these graphics with you in a future column. Until then, we'll all just have to wait on Denis in dread anticipation. In the meantime, what do you think about the way things are going with regard to this project, such as the choice of veneer?