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Volt meter project

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Johnny4428:
Neat work there Dave, that’s going to blend nicely. I had a temporary one fitted after replacing my rectifier on my 550K3 just to monitor charging. Removed it after a few runs as it was not quite blending.😜

exvalvesetdabbler:
Machining the base today out of a piece of 316 stainless, not the nicest stuff to machine and one 3mm drill bit broke. It's tough stuff and you need really sharp tools.

Components for the base and cable entry.
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The underside

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Test fit onto bracket.  I amazed myself, screw holes on all 3 pieces line up. I did make a template for the screw holes to use for the drilling pattern. Holes are on a 32mm pcd.

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The jury is still out on fasteners
Dome nuts or countersunk screws ?

Components for cable termination. Couldn't find any brass eyelets in the junk box so I machined a couple from the shank of an old woodscrew. This is needed to anchor the thick incoming wires to the very thin wires that attach to the led module.
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Cable termination PCB fitted into housing. There is a step in the housing to stop the board going in too far and the black plastic ring gets sandwiched when the whole thing gets screwed together.

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Just waiting for paint to dry on the bracket and housing upper part.

Regards
Dave

K2-K6:
Nice work on the project.

I'd use countersunk screws given free choice.

Could you turn a small half circle depth groove in the face of aluminium to allow for a seal against the stainless  ?  Then squeeze silicone sealant around there to assemble, which would form, effectively, a "O-ring" weatherseal between the two.

exvalvesetdabbler:

--- Quote from: K2-K6 on August 09, 2025, 07:19:37 PM ---
Could you turn a small half circle depth groove in the face of aluminium to allow for a seal against the stainless  ?  Then squeeze silicone sealant around there to assemble, which would form, effectively, a "O-ring" weatherseal between the two.

--- End quote ---

That would be ideal but there was no way my lathe was going to cut an o ring groove in that  stainless using a rounded tool without a lot of tool chatter. I had already settled on a smear of gadget goo on each face or if it comes to the worst a paper gasget impregnated with some grease.  If I was making a housing for submersible sensors I would normally put in a groove and use a silicone o ring, but to do it's job it would need  to be on the inside or outside of the threaded holes.

When I was a kid our old lawn mower with a Villiers 2 stroke engine survived years with a base gasget made from a paper hoover bag smeared with red Hematite.

Regards
Dave

K2-K6:
I didn't realise that the stainless was smaller in dia than the alloy, so was looking at that flat outside the three holes. I can now see your view of it.

Yep, stainless is really resistant to cutting isn't it. We were taught to use a lot of rake on top face of tool to minimise the cut shear distance in apprenticeship. Swarf came of in long continuous ribbon with razor blade sharpness as a lethal to fingers byproduct   :)

Its good to play around with engineering and design to get something you want.

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