# Help me make gauge needles move



## Just Whisper (Jan 19, 2009)

I want to build a box for my mad scientist lab. It will contain several dials/gauges and lights. I want the lights and gauges to run continuously, but erratically. What could I use to cause this effect so they are not just full on and off, but erratic? And where would I wire it (whatever it is), in reference to my power supply and the actual lights, gauges, etc ? Thanks.


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## QueenRuby2002 (Oct 23, 2011)

Okay this might work but it was what jumped to the front of my mind when reading your post. Magnets. If your needles are medeal figure some way to have magnets moving behind them. that would cause them to move erratically.


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## pshort (May 6, 2008)

Are you using real meters (gauges), or are they fake?


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Ya - and if they're real gauges, what are they? Amps, volts, psi / pressure, temperature, frequency, etc?


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

How about using electric clocks? You can use a timer, or even a blinker button to turn them on and off. 
How many different gauges will there be?


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## Just Whisper (Jan 19, 2009)

Queen...that sounds like a good idea. Thanks.

Thank you everyone who has responded so far. I just found out that the gauges in am being given may not actually work at all. So now I have a new question, since YOU guys brought it up, how could I go about making a gauge or dial myself and THEN making it work?


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## JeffHaas (Sep 7, 2010)

Well, if you have experience with Arduino, you can use one of those to drive a bunch of analog meters. Google will turn up articles on how to do it.

Otherwise, I'd suggest you fake it, and make something that looks like a meter but just lights up from the back. Use plastic from an old CD case for the cover, find a meter background online (there's also software that lets you design your own meter face) and then put a blinking light behind it. There could be a blinking LED flashlight that would do the trick.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

You could make up the faces of the gauges in almost any graphics program, then, if you are using clocks, carefully remove the hands from the clock, and slip the new clock/gauge face over the existing one, and reinstall the hand(s) you wish to have on your clock/gauge. You might visit some flea markets and junk yards for old equipment or gauges from cars, multi meters, etc.


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## GOT (Apr 17, 2007)

Low-tech approach. You can buy a bunch of cylindrical, clear-plastic pill boxes at Hobby Lobby for just a few buck. People use these are used for storing beads but they would make for great gauges. They also sell there clock arms you could use (or make your own out of cardboard. Drill a small hole in the center of the box bottom, run a small wooden dowel through the hole and glue the gauge needle to it. Now, drill a hole through the other end of the dowel, and tie a string with a weight to it. You would probably have to make a top to the box (with a hole) with some plywood to stabilize the wooden dowel. Anyway, you want the swinging of the weight to move the gauge needle back and forth. You then set up a crank motor with a paddle to bat at the weight. You can set up all sorts of weights, mobile-like counter weights, pulleys and such to get different motions, but this approach would let you control a large number of gauges with no programming and only one crank motor. You may need to use an aluminum tube rather than a wooden dowel to reduce the friction (or use a bearing but those are expensive).

Here is a picture of the pill boxes I am talking about. I used them to make elevator lights (those are LEDs sticking out of them).


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## tstraub (Feb 26, 2012)

If you are handy with a soldering iron(or at least willing to learn to be) you could run the gauge needles with servos like these The servos can be controlled with one of Steve's PICaxe boards . I would suggest the EZ-4 controller. Steve has code for that board made to run a 3 axis skull with random head movement. I see no reason that that code could not be edited to run 4 gauges with random needle movement.


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## TheOneAndOnlyKelly (May 7, 2009)

I was thinking maybe an irregularly shaped cam rotating behide the guage face, pushing on the back side of the needle. You can add a spring to add a little force to push the need back towards the 0 point...


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