[R-390] Meters - Back Lighting (an expensive proposition)

[Gregory W. Moore]

 The question is could R390 meters be backlit--- YES

 Is the process feasable for the average restorer-NO

  reasons" to backlight something, one either has to have the substrate 
of a plastic material, either polycarbonate or plex, have room for lamps 
at the rear, then go thru a multitude of painting and etching steps to 
create the indicia on the meter. While the result is truly outstanding 
to look at, the process is both labor and $ intensive.

Ok, how about edgelit or prismlit lightitng, same problems...one puts 
the lamp (s) at the top, then designs a prism to properly
refract the light over the dial face, and this prism is NOT the dial 
face itself, it resided behind the glass face.  Again, very doable
but also labor and $ intensive for a "one-off" project.  Basically, to 
do either of these options, one would be designing a entirely
new meter (except possibly for the movement), and tooling up for the 
case and all the other goodies from scratch.

Option 3 (Electroluminescent)...same answers, sure, its very doable, and 
one can get EL material in a variety of shapes..but
the cost of getting the indicia on the EL material would be 
prohibitive...(Darn, they look goood though)

    I used to design these things for aircraft use, and , trust me on 
this, you would NOT BELIEVE the pitfalls and  roving groups of 
alligators one finds themselves facing.  Once the design is finalized, 
and you have one working, properly lit, model produced, you have 
expended a huge chunk of capital, invented much project-specific 
tooling, and are on the way to a full blown ulcer.

I hope these comments help... Frankly, I would love to see a well 
backlit meter in either an R390 or R-392, but it
just wouldn't be viable for the quantity we have to work with.

73 de Greg Moore

rbethman@comcast.net wrote:

> Murph,
>
>    I don't think it will work.  I have similar meters from aircraft. 
> The dials/faces are metal.  You'd have to figure a way to cut a slot 
> in the top center of the cylindrical portion and use a buld very 
> similar to the veeder root illumination ones.
>
> Bob N0DGN
>
> MURPH wrote:
>
>> Hi Group
>>     Has anyone  in the group tried to back light the meters?
>> Murph
>>
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>
>
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