[R-390] Panel meters

[Tisha Hayes]

You will probably need to add a blob of something to diffuse the light from
the end of the fiber strand. That is a great idea, less intrusive, to use a
small length of fiber to get illumination back there. After all a single
strand is only 125 micrometers in size (with cladding, 62.5 micrometers when
you bare it down to the glass strand). (most commonly used multimode fiber)

On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 1:59 PM, Curt Nixon <cptcurt at flash.net> wrote:

> Remember those little Christmas trees with a light in the bottom and all
> the branches are plastic fiber?  An LED with a couple of strands of FO on it
> will get into some pretty tight spots.  Makes changing the LED very easy
> also and only tiney holes required, if that, into the meter.
>
> Curt
> KU8L
>
>
>
> rbethman wrote:
>
>> It "may" be very difficult to back light the meters in an R-390A.  The
>> dial face is NOT translucent.
>>
>> Measurements would have to be taken, and then see *IF* there is room at
>> the top, between the dial face and the glass to "squeeze" an LED in that
>> space.  I'm pretty positive that the hard drive style "flat" ones could fit.
>>  It would require a small slot to be cut into the meter body!
>>
>> To keep the LED from being harsh, the surface could be either "etched" or
>> "roughed up" with an abrasive to dim it down.
>>
>> I don't know if a round one would fit.  Then again, I haven't given a lot
>> of thought to lighting them.
>>
>> Most of the meters that have back lighting, have transparent or
>> translucent bodies, AND either the lamp is outside the meter, or the dial
>> face is at "least" translucent, so that the light can come through.
>>
>> Bob - N0DGN
>>
>> On 4/21/2011 1:45 PM, Dennis Wade wrote:
>>
>>
>>> I'd like to hear more about how one would add back lighting to a
>>> meter; not just the '390A meters (hazardous material issues), but
>>> backlighting meters in general.
>>>
>>>             Dennis
>>>
>>> On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 9:21 AM, Tisha Hayes<tisha.hayes at gmail.com>
>>>  wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> This may be blasphemous but I always wanted to change the panel meters
>>>> from
>>>> white on black to black on white with some additional scaling.
>>>>
>>>> We have the JPEG and TIFF renderings of the panel meter faceplates but
>>>> they
>>>> are very grainy looking
>>>>
>>>> I figured it I went with black on white I could laser print it in vellum
>>>> paper and glue it to a translucent bezel. Remove the old, radioactive
>>>> bezels
>>>> and add backlighting to the meters.
>>>>
>>>> Before someone gets all excited about me handling radioactive materials
>>>> I
>>>> used to be licensed to handle radioactive sources (Cobalt 60, Radium
>>>> 226,
>>>> Cesium 137, Americium 241, Polonium 210), including those that posed a
>>>> threat of airborne contamination so I know the right steps, have the
>>>> proper
>>>> clothing and respiratory protection and have the equipment to monitor
>>>> for
>>>> external contamination (alpha, beta,gamma).
>>>>
>>>> Definitely not something I would want to (or legally could) do for
>>>> someone
>>>> else. The freaking NRC would be all over me if I went into the home
>>>> business
>>>> of retrofitting radioactive panel meters or dial knobs.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Ms. Tisha Hayes/ AA4HA
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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>
>


-- 
Ms. Tisha Hayes/ AA4HA
-
*“If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their
feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?”
Steven Wright

***