Making tachometers and speedometers

[tonyfoale]

If you have some basic electronic skills it is easy to make your own speedo and/or tacho. All modern cars and bikes with analog instruments use tiny stepper motors to drive the needle and these are much more robust than the meter movements found in many after market offerings.

I have just made a tacho for my race bike and I wanted something that looked like 1960/70s Italian race tacho. I got my son to 3D print the housing but that could easily be turned out of aluminium bar. I designed the dial in photopaint and printed it onto sticky backed label paper which I stuck to a thin aluminium backing disc, then I sprayed it with clear lacquer.

To process the input pulses to drive the stepper motor I use an Arduino Nano, because of its small size. If you are interested I am quite happy to pass on full details and my software.