Speedo Face printing (240kph / 150mph)

Ok, I think I've nailed it.  Have a look.



As can be seen, it's pretty darn opaque!

I stroked the printer to output more ink.  The image above is of two layers held together.  One layer wasn't quite enough.

So, doing this "in house" will be way less money that using a professional service and I'm confident I can get it looking stock.

Could make up some cool custom stuff too of course.

DG

Just for fun, here's a small-rez copy of my almost-finished project at the time. It was just what *I* wanted, so the style may not have appealed to everyone. /shrug

Another possible issue with the home-made ones (like I had originally done) was cutting them all to the exact size. Like the holes at the bottom for the odometer and stuff. The place I was going to use makes a die cutter so they'll all turn out the same size. It's only the initial setup that's expensive, then it'd be quite cheap to make lots. Perhaps if we revived my old thread on Pennocks, it might get some interest.  /shrug

Also, I could fairly easily modify the tach too, but the setup would make doing it by hand more worthwhile, I think. Not TOO many people want a 7k tach. IIRC, I made one using the Sunbird turbo tach a while ago. Not sure what the guy used to actually MAKE it, but I photoshopped one for him and sent it to him. I'm pretty sure it was 7k.

Ok, just to show everyone that I'm serious....:)

I took a 140 km/h speedo apart tonight and got it running on the bench.  I've got it pretty well figured out.

Here's me fooling the speedo into thinking it's hooked to the car.

Here's with everything powered up but no speed signal:



This is mid scale which was a 49Hz signal:



Here's full scale which was a 98Hz signal:




The minimum amplitude that would drive the speedo was 200mV AC.

So, what does this mean?  It means with a 140 km/h speedo, you need to divide the VSS signal down to 98Hz (cycles per second) to get full scale.  So at 240 km/h, the VSS should be outputing a 168Hz signal.  So a ratio of .583 to 1 would work in this case.

I traced the circuit and realized that you can't reduce the VSS frequency and simply inject it at the connector.  You'll bugger up the odometer, trip meter and the ECM signal.  It has to be done internally to get it right.

Does this take into account there are 2 or 3 different VSS units depending on the tire size of the car?  All I can remember about the VSS signal is that it was measured in pulses per mile.  When my ECM chip was re calibrated he had to change the pulse per mile reading.  (ECM needs to know what speed the car is going to adjust for some tings)  However I don't think the ECM would NEED to know the exact speed, so even if your changes only reflect the speedo dial as long as the ECM understands that you are moving it should be fine.

Oh man I made this post about as confusing as possible didn't I.  

Ok lets try and simplify.

VSS sends out signal is Pulses per Mile.

Yes the ECM needs to know the vehicle speed.

No I don't think it really matters if the speed is dead on perfect.  However with automatic cars some changes might need to be made.

  Err wait, maybe not.  If you don't change the VSS signal all you will need to do is re-route the ECM signal to read direct from the VSS instead of reading from the speedo.

Oh who the heck knows.   I just know there is something that needs to be known, I just don't know what that is.

Well as far as the speedo is concerned, it doesn't care what VSS you have.  It needs a certain signal to read full scale and that's that.

So the goal is to adjust whatever signal is coming from the VSS to accommodate the speedo.

But I'm hoping to build a "calibrator" circuit that will allow fine adjustments.

As far as the ECM goes, I won't be changing anything it cares about.  The plan is to tie in just before the speedo itself.  This is way after the ECM tap and just after the odometer.

Apparently, the speedo takes the 4000 PPM (pulses per mile) and converts it to 2000 PPM before sending it to the ECM.  I could not get this speedo to do that.  It's quite possible that it expects to see some sort of load (the ECM) and if it doesn't, it does nothing.

DG

Capt Fiero wrote: Does this take into account there are 2 or 3 different VSS units depending on the tire size of the car?  All I can remember about the VSS signal is that it was measured in pulses per mile.  When my ECM chip was re calibrated he had to change the pulse per mile reading.  (ECM needs to know what speed the car is going to adjust for some tings)  However I don't think the ECM would NEED to know the exact speed, so even if your changes only reflect the speedo dial as long as the ECM understands that you are moving it should be fine. Oh man I made this post about as confusing as possible didn't I.   Ok lets try and simplify. VSS sends out signal is Pulses per Mile. Yes the ECM needs to know the vehicle speed. No I don't think it really matters if the speed is dead on perfect.  However with automatic cars some changes might need to be made.   Err wait, maybe not.  If you don't change the VSS signal all you will need to do is re-route the ECM signal to read direct from the VSS instead of reading from the speedo. Oh who the heck knows.   I just know there is something that needs to be known, I just don't know what that is.

I would need to generate more volume before going that route I think.  But as you say, it will come.  It's already starting.

Next time we're yacking, I'll share with you some of my ideas.

DG

I know Frontpage pretty good.  Good enough for a simple page.  I have two Domains already.  Nether of them would apply to this.

We'll talk.

DG

Capt Fiero wrote: Do you know how to do basic html?

Kinda reminds me of pong - and that's never a bad thing. Spacing and style-wise, it looks splendid.

My stock tach reads up to 6000RPM, with 5000-5500 being yellow lines, and 5500-6000 being a red area. What I'm looking to do is pretty much "continue" the stock tach around to 7000RPM, and move the yellow and red zones up 1000RPM each. Size and spacing would remain identical however.

And for our American friends........






I think it looks pretty darn factory like.  What do you guys think?

The Dawg