[simpits-tech] Using real instruments

[Justin Messenger]

Chris, 
you voiced my thoughts too. Between the F-4 and a DC-8
I need a lot of guages and cost is a huge problem.
Justin

--------------------------
 I'll tell you what I think and what I have done as a
guide to my
thoughts.
I have worked on servo driven gauges for quite a while
now. 
Finally I have a design that a few have used and I've
been happy with.
They work well. 
They are very much a DIY style and can be made with a
great deal of
accuracy depending on how much time the individual
wants to put into
them. 
Admittedly servo gauges have some draw backs, but for
what most of "us"
are wanting to do with gauges they are fine. The good
part is that the
cost is what I feel is reasonable or acceptable. To 
make them all you
need is some sort of interface to drive the servo,
there are various
forms on the market most are either serial port or USB
and come for a
price of anything from $50 to $100. This will drive
usually up to 8
servos. Once you have the interface I have found that
a single pointer
servo gauge can be fabricated for as little as about
$25. A dual pointer
for around $40. The more you build in a single session
the price drops a
little more.
Obviously the complexity can become an issue for some
instruments but
with a bit of thought most of them are possible (that
is for gauges that
do not rotate continously at least). 
 So, with the pit I'm building I can create 8 single
pointer instruments
for around $250 to $300. I think this is a reasonable
price. I
personally would pay a little more if I went out and
bought them off the
shelf as a plug and play solution.
So, the short answer for me is that I'd pay anything
upto say $40-$60
each for plug and play type stuff, anything more than
that and I'd do it
myself and save the money. At the end of the day I
figure if I wanted to
have the instruments bad enough and couldn’t make them
myself, then I'd
buy them other might feel differently of course.
 If the price if more like $100 per instrument, then I
think your going
to limit your market. Most of us are building on a
shoe string budget
and if the price gets too high then others will make
the call to do it
themselves as I have. I went down this path because
there was no other
alternative when I started looking. Now there is but
just because there
is one it doesn’t automatically mean people will buy
them. Price is a
big factor.

Hope I didn’t bore you to death here. JM2CW

Cheers
Chris. 


__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com