In this galaxy filled with meters, there is a hero that flies with sparks. And lets sparks fly. This is G. Rinder (or G for friends). This is his adventure where he encounters a rusty old meter in need of assistance.
Here we have our rusty old meter. And it is in bad shape, it bowels are in a horrible condition and it’s plate is covered in rust blood. Time for G to step in.
As you can see, G is a wild hero. Whilst working with a wire-wheel sharp steel wires fly around. Make sure you wear protective gear and have either a thick skin or long sleeves whilst being around when G is doing it’s things. After some time all the rust is gone from the housing. The original moving bowels cannot be recovered, they are gutted. A modern replacement is found using HDLO-3416 displays and a node MCU. To add some extra I/O for driving the display an MCP23017 proved mighty useful. Find the code on GitHub as usual.
Dr. Weller helps out to create a more permanent solution, and with half of h expect MCP23017, the displays and the nodeMCU on a perf board it is time to do a test. Wait, that can’t be right….
Dr. Weller frantically searches for the problem, and some smoke and cussin’ later, the text is finally readable. Time to provide the meter a proper house to settle in. Oak boards are cut and treated to a rabbet with a router table. A couple of band clamps fix the first four sides together with the help of some glue.
Time for a test fit including the front and the housing. Good enough for sanding. However, just oak is not only boring and light, but also weak. G doesn’t like weak, so he switches to a cutting disc, and feverishly starts cutting angle iron…
After cutting 45 degrees angles in pieces of angle iron, the clamp family comes out to help. With sparks flying from the welder, the first corner is fused. Using a bit of water on the wood from preventing it to char too much.
Some more welding and cutting ensues, and slowly but surely the new house of the meter is covered in steel. G does a quick touch up on the corners, look at those sparks fly!
A coat of dark stain finishes of the outside of the housing. Mr Jiggy saw also comes to say hello to his new neighbor, and helps out by cutting a cover for the displays. It also goes through the stain treatment.
Adding a USB cable covered in a hollow brown shoelace nice vintage cable to match the housing, the textmeter is assembled and tested. Working like a charm, making G proud and satisfied.
The End