Software to print Analog Meter Scale

[sam42]

Hi, Does anyone know if there is a standard piece of software to generate and print standard analog panel meter scales?

Thanks

[LateLesley]

I did a quick google, and found this. Not sure if it'll be helpful, but thought i'd point you in the direction.

https://meterbuilder.com/mb1/custom-meter-scales.html

http://tonnesoftware.com/meter.html

[sam42]

Thanks, I did do a search but didn't find anything useful.

I was wondering if there is some software everyone uses that just works.

thanks

[TheUnnamedNewbie]

I'd use a piece of vector-graphics software like Inkscape or Illustrator. you can usually use coordinates to design this, to make sure you get stuff in the right place.

[Howardlong]

Not sure if this is to create a physical scale image for a real hardware meter, or for a software on screen meter that looks and behaves like a hardware meter.

If it's the latter, KnobMan does meter faces (and knobs). Not sure how much use it would be for a scale to print out for a hardware meter.

https://www.g200kg.com/knobman/

[KMoffett]

What is it that you need that you aren't finding?

[sam42]

Not sure if this is to create a physical scale image for a real hardware meter, or for a software on screen meter

I'm looking for something to create and print the scale on a real hardware meter. Specifically a couple of tiny 91C4 meters for this project.

Thanks

[Messtechniker]

I use the "Abacom FrontDesigner 3.0" to design and print meter scales.
A trial version is available. Easy to use and make front panels too.

[edpalmer42]

I've used Galva once or twice for this job.  http://www.f5bu.fr/galva-about/

[sam42]

I've used Galva once or twice for this job.  http://www.f5bu.fr/galva-about/

This looks good, however when I tried installing it seems like it's not compatible with newer versions of windows.

[sam42]

I use the "Abacom FrontDesigner 3.0" to design and print meter scales.
A trial version is available. Easy to use and make front panels too.

Thanks, this looks nice, I guess I was hoping for something free, but I understand charging 50 EUR for something very specialized.

[h4x0r]

Only just came across this but will add my 0.05

I have Galva and the Meter (tonne) software used for analog printed meter faces.

Galva is great for standard single range faces in conventional dial packages.

Meter is a very configurable multi-scale setup for panel meters or custom faces.

I used 'meter' to recreate a 2000µA FSD analog VTVM face with multiple scales.

It's not perfect though. the Log scales are limited to 30 marks on the scale, which was not enough for my liking - however the workaround was simply to use the deflection angle and addidional 30 points on a superimposed scale to make up the entire range and deflection.
I did discuss this with the software's developer at the time and he made some changes which helped fix some limitations that I went to him with.
However, it is not a perfect application for many multiple scales on large needle faces, like an RCA VTVM with a 6" FSD.

If the desired outcome is for multiple scales and multiple log scales on large faced meters, then I am not sure either is a 'perfect' candidate, and given that Meter is paid software (and very much worth it) I would not pursue using it for recreating a multi-scale face artwork for something like a VTVM.

If it is multiscale and the scale doesn't need 30 marks, then it's more than adequate, but if you want 50 marks on a log scale for example, then it currently doesn't support that. Linear scales are well supported and banded colour scales are also supported. a Mirror aperture is supported.

the developer is responsive to it, but I think he should move his work over to a git repo and solicit the assistance of others to really further the softwares functionality and remove some of the existing limitations.
Right now I think he's probably happy making money from his little bit of quite specialized software.

[dennislewis]

Just came across this post and had to put my 2 cents worth.

Galva is very capable. I had trouble with everything being in French but eventually overcame that. I use it on Windows 10 without any issues.

My meter with for scales is below ( I hope it is anyway).

Regards, Dennis

[dennislewis]

Sorry about the picture being upside down.

[p.larner]

try this

[MrAl]

Hi, Does anyone know if there is a standard piece of software to generate and print standard analog panel meter scales?

Thanks

Hi,

Do you have to do a lot of meters or just one or two?
If just one or two you could draw it up yourself using a regular Paint program.  You could then print it out.
If the print is not to scale, you can enlarge or make it smaller in the Paint program, then print again.
Use some decent resolution though so you can scale it in the Paint program.

Another fix is to use a digital meter they all come with a built-in scale

[MarkT]

For this sort of thing I might have a look at the matplotlib examples to see if there's any that can label an axis that's circular.

[BeBuLamar]

I found it's much more difficult to put the scale on the meter than to draw the scale. It shouldn't take much time to draw one using a CAD software. Are you going to print it on paper then glue it on the meter face? Would the paper thick enough to hit the pointer? How you get the pointer out of the way when you put on the scale?

[schmitt trigger]

I also used the Galva software. Once that you get the knack out of it, it is straightforward to create.

Unfortunately, on my Canon printer, the scale would be a little off, and I uninstalled it.

[shabaz]

Just to add to the various suggestions; I created a simple "Meter Dial Creater" toolkit, that uses Python to program up how you want the dial to look like (the user needs to write a few lines of Python to construct the dial, but examples are given), using a few functions that will calculate the arcs, ticks, etc., all in SVG format. Then, for final polishing, Inkscape and PowerPoint can be used. Using that procedure, I made the attached dial (at a higher resolution than attached). Also, it can do things like bars, log etc of course, but it's very basic code only tested with the few meter dials I needed at the time.

Full step-by-step instructions are here: https://community.element14.com/technologies/open-source-hardware/b/blog/posts/meter-dial-creator-toolkit

[MarkT]

There really is a Python module for everything!!

[voltsandjolts]

I created a simple "Meter Dial Creater" toolkit, that uses Python to program up how you want the dial to look

Very nice, I like the svg output which can be fettled in inkscape.
I archived a copy of your blog post and code here, just incase it goes missing.
I'll give this a try over the holidays.

[JohanH]

I found it's much more difficult to put the scale on the meter than to draw the scale. It shouldn't take much time to draw one using a CAD software. Are you going to print it on paper then glue it on the meter face? Would the paper thick enough to hit the pointer? How you get the pointer out of the way when you put on the scale?

It depends on the meter, but the meter scales I've modified are originaly printed on a thin aluminium plate (<0.5 mm). I usually remove the plate, scan it on my flatbed scanner in highest dpi and then modify/create a new scale with Gimp. Then print the scale with laser printer on glossy photo paper which is thicker and harder than normal paper. I've also tried transparent stickers on aluminium or copper plate, but this is hard to align correctly. One option I haven't tried yet is aluminium PCB. One issue could be thickness. I've created and ordered nice "PCB" front panels in 1.6 mm aluminium. I see that e.g. PCBWay offers aluminium PCBs down to 0.4 mm thickness, so that could be an option (seems to become very expensive, unless you go with the standard 1.6 mm, though).

[MrAl]

I found it's much more difficult to put the scale on the meter than to draw the scale. It shouldn't take much time to draw one using a CAD software. Are you going to print it on paper then glue it on the meter face? Would the paper thick enough to hit the pointer? How you get the pointer out of the way when you put on the scale?

It depends on the meter, but the meter scales I've modified are originaly printed on a thin aluminium plate (<0.5 mm). I usually remove the plate, scan it on my flatbed scanner in highest dpi and then modify/create a new scale with Gimp. Then print the scale with laser printer on glossy photo paper which is thicker and harder than normal paper. I've also tried transparent stickers on aluminium or copper plate, but this is hard to align correctly. One option I haven't tried yet is aluminium PCB. One issue could be thickness. I've created and ordered nice "PCB" front panels in 1.6 mm aluminium. I see that e.g. PCBWay offers aluminium PCBs down to 0.4 mm thickness, so that could be an option (seems to become very expensive, unless you go with the standard 1.6 mm, though).

Hi,

I think that's a good idea.  As long as you have a face plate to start with, you can just modify the numbers.  Well, that's also if you have the right increment spacing.  On some meters they have unusual scales, like on the AC scale.  That would take some work to produce i think, which may involve actually running the meter with some AC voltage and marking off some of the increment lines and then making them a little longer so they look like actual lines rather than just points.

On a related project, I've made my own rulers this way.  I made a short one about 6 inches long but I've also made a very long one about 40 inches long.
It's not hard at all.  You just get another ruler and mark off the units you want to use, like inches, then subdivide.  If you don't need super accuracy you can just leave it at inches.  Takes about 15 minutes to make a long one like that if you just mark off the inches.  If you are used to subdividing in your head, like you do with some analog meters, you don't even need to mark off the 1/2 inch intervals because you can get pretty close in your head when you go to measure something.
You do need to start with a long piece of wood though unless you glue several shorter sections together to make a long ruler.

I could easily see using a protractor to make a curved scale like you might see on an analog meter, provided the scale is to be linear like many DC volt scales are.  AC scales and resistance scales tend to be more compressed at one end.

[JohanH]

Here's my latest meter scale modification. I scanned an original scale (from a 0 - 100 µA meter) and drew a new one on top in a new layer in Gimp. Printed on transparent sticky film with a laser and attached it onto a thin copper plate that I had cut to the same size as the original aluminium plate. This is a very small meter, the scale is just about 30 mm wide. This is not meant to be a precision meter (original 2.5% class), more like a ballpark indicator, but it's quite accurate if you tune the full scale with a series and parallel resistor circuitry for individual meters.