Dash boards

[Wolverine_1987]

Hello guys,

I am opening this new discussion as a head scratch for how to design a dash board. I looked all over the forum but i found nothing that i could start from, we are planning to go simple with a few temp. sensors and rpm circuit using few AVRs, R&B suite and LCDs but i have no idea where and how to start. I'd really appreciate sharing your experiences and opinions...Thanks

[Mbirt]

Clarkson University had an incredible wood-grain dash panel. I'm fairly certain they:

1. Cut a template of card stock or cardboard to the shape of the void formed between their main roll hoop and steering column supports. It would also be smart at this point to lay out your gauges, LEDs, and other electronic doodads on the template.
2. Transferred that shape to 1/2" thick pine. Possibly using a felt-tipped pen or marker. If you're feeling fancy you could use oak. If you're feeling racy you could use balsa.
3. Cut the proper dash panel shape from a larger amount of wood.
4. Made mounting steel mounting tabs and ascertained the appropriate hardware to mount the dash panel and gauges.
5. Spent several hours of labor meticulously finishing, staining, lacquering the wood dash panel.

Looking forward to seeing another wood dash!

[exFSAE]

Piece of sheet aluminum with 5 items...

1. Kill switch
2. Starter
3. Big bright red light for oil pressure warning
4. Big bright blue light for coolant temp warning
5. Brake bias adjustment knob

[Nicky]

We've got an LCD displaying speed, rpm, lap time(beacon used), warnings, shift lights, neutral, warning lights. Its basically a 80x80mm pcb mounted on the steering.

We're leaving the dashboard non-cluttered. Just the kill and the ignition will be mounted on the front hoop.

[RollingCamel]

Do you have to find something in the forum in order to start?
What is the driver needs?
what is the rules requirements?
build a vision before asking.

[Wolverine_1987]

Originally posted by RollingCamel:
Do you have to find something in the forum in order to start?
What is the driver needs?
what is the rules requirements?
build a vision before asking.

Asking where or how to start doesn't mean that i don't have a vision. As i know, sharing experiences is the keyword for this forum and that's what discussions are made for... i am grateful for the replies i have got so far and i am looking forward to many more

[Dash]

We made a waterproof enclosure for the dash and electronics out of carbon fiber. The dash ended up with 4 switches ( fan,fuel,start,kill ), a tac, water temp, a light for gear position, and an oil warning light.

Steps follow as so:

1. bought some green foam that you normally put flowers and crap in
2. cut/sanded it down to shape until it fit nicely in the opening of the front roll hoop and steering column supports, while still clearing the template rule
3. put down a layer of fiber glass over said hand carved shape
4. painted with primer and sanded
5. put down two layers of carbon fiber.
6. DONE!


link to pics :

h t t p : / / s825.photobucket.com/albums/zz179/dsr92/FSAE%202010/

if the link doesn't work, try looking for me ( dsr92 ) on photobucket

[D Collins Jr]

I'm too lazy to find the pictures, but they're on the internet. Our 2008 car featured a beautiful, rich mahogany dashboard and steering wheel. It was quite the hit. Anyway...that was my favorite car, and all the dashboard had was:

1. Tach (needle with homemade background)
2. Kill Switch
3. Indicator lights for shifts, overheat, and no oil pressure
4. There is a start button, but its only there because the wheel was being worked on simultaneously to the engine. The main start button is in the middle of the steering wheel (and is from an S2000).
5. The Driver Confidence Knob

exFSAE can say what he wants about having a brake bias adjuster. I think that its far more efficient (and entertaining) to leave that knob unconnected and use it as a driver confidence indicator. Besides, bias, arb, traction control and similar adjustments should be on the steering wheel.

[AxelRipper]

This years car had the temp and oil pressure gauges mounted in their standard off the shelf gauge mounting pods suspended under the main hoop by .020 wall gun drilled bolts. There was also an electronics panel on our steering shaft bracket that contained the kill, start, fan, and fuel pump switches along with a very important small green LED. If this LED lit up, you knew something was very wrong with the wiring inside this box.

the past cars have just used sheets of aluminum with their gauges and switches mounted in a coherent manner mounted under the front hoop. we haven't gotten into the fancy steering wheel mounted anythings quite yet, and with most of the things I really dont see a reason to. It is much easier to see everything and know where it is when its on the dash IMO (aka, when in a helmet, i've found that in our car you cant even see the steering wheel)

[Demon Of Speed]

Originally posted by AxelRipper:
This years car had the temp and oil pressure gauges mounted in their standard off the shelf gauge mounting pods suspended under the main hoop by .020 wall gun drilled bolts. There was also an electronics panel on our steering shaft bracket that contained the kill, start, fan, and fuel pump switches along with a very important small green LED. If this LED lit up, you knew something was very wrong with the wiring inside this box.

the past cars have just used sheets of aluminum with their gauges and switches mounted in a coherent manner mounted under the front hoop. we haven't gotten into the fancy steering wheel mounted anythings quite yet, and with most of the things I really dont see a reason to. It is much easier to see everything and know where it is when its on the dash IMO (aka, when in a helmet, i've found that in our car you cant even see the steering wheel)

It was coolant temperature and voltage gauges.

[RollingCamel]

Originally posted by Wolverine_1987:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by RollingCamel:
Do you have to find something in the forum in order to start?
What is the driver needs?
what is the rules requirements?
build a vision before asking.

Asking where or how to start doesn't mean that i don't have a vision. As i know, sharing experiences is the keyword for this forum and that's what discussions are made for... i am grateful for the replies i have got so far and i am looking forward to many more </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


wanting to know what others do is nothing wrong with it. However, it doesn't need a genius to start and that is something that should have been looked at and infact was discussed a long time ago.
You should at least have a working prototype now.

[Wolverine_1987]

Originally posted by RollingCamel:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Wolverine_1987:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by RollingCamel:
Do you have to find something in the forum in order to start?
What is the driver needs?
what is the rules requirements?
build a vision before asking.

Asking where or how to start doesn't mean that i don't have a vision. As i know, sharing experiences is the keyword for this forum and that's what discussions are made for... i am grateful for the replies i have got so far and i am looking forward to many more </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


wanting to know what others do is nothing wrong with it. However, it doesn't need a genius to start and that is something that should have been looked at and infact was discussed a long time ago.
You should at least have a working prototype now. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

working with the dash board and data logging was not of our priorities and was put at the bottom of our schedule please review our time table

[Ockham]

One material that doesn't get the attention it deserves; ABS plastic. The stuff's cheap, light, tough, you can cut it with scissors, and heating it with an electric heat gun makes it form beautifully. It's the same stuff used on cars with those hard plastic dash boards. We use it for side panels, enclosures, close-outs, and small panels.

This year, we have an ABS plastic panel with a row of nine LEDs: three each for shift and over-rev lights, oil temp/pressure warning, coolant temp warning, and neutral indicator. It's 0.375in wide and 3.75in long, and if it wasn't zip-tied to the leg hoop, a sneeze would blow it away. Driver controls are arranged by importance in a thin panel welded at the intersection of the leg hoop and the side impact structure. E-stop, four-position tune state selector, engine start button (matches the Gumpert Apollo's, by sheer coincidence, and illuminates when the car's ready to start), limp mode enable, and data logging enable.

[RollingCamel]

Sorry to inform you but you are missing 3 imported things.
Radio buttons, lighter and an analog clock for a luxurios touch.
And have a nice day http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[Peter7307]

Make sure the material finish is non reflective and won't splinter under an impact.

Some sort of vibration damping material is also desirable to ensure the displays are accurate , long lived and readable.

Make the thing waterproof.

Check with the driver and see what their requirements are and actually how often if at all they actually look at the information presented.

Make the distinction between what information the driver needs and what information the engineers need.
eg: Oil temp may be helpful to the engineers but of little practical use to the driver. For engineers information to be displayed find another place and mount a panel there or have a data take off point somewhere convenient.

Peter.

[Peter7307]

Originally posted by RollingCamel:
Sorry to inform you but you are missing 3 imported things.
Radio buttons, lighter and an analog clock for a luxurios touch.
And have a nice day http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

You might want to add cupholders too for "that special touch"

Peter.

[Jimmy01]

Originally posted by RollingCamel:
Sorry to inform you but you are missing 3 imported things.
Radio buttons, lighter and an analog clock for a luxurios touch.
And have a nice day http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Our 2008 car has a cigarette lighter built into the steering column support. Although no one in our team actually smokes, the plan was to use a 12V coffee maker to get the scrutineers in our good books http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif Unfortunatelt that never eventuated but it always gets a laugh/question when people are checking out the car.

[Mbirt]

Originally posted by Demon Of Speed:
It was coolant temperature and voltage gauges.

Thank you Zack. "AxelRipper" is out of control.

[AxelRipper]

Originally posted by Mbirt:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Demon Of Speed:
It was coolant temperature and voltage gauges.

Thank you Zack. "AxelRipper" is out of control. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

though in my defense, an oil pressure would have worked better for us at comp because we could have then seen if we were actually getting water into the crank, and I'm pretty sure the voltage gauge didnt go to 24

[Mbirt]

Originally posted by AxelRipper:

Any views or opinions expressed by me may in no way reflect those of my team, it's members and administrators, or our sponsors.

[Kettering Admins]

Also AxelRipper, I believe that they were mounted under the front roll hoop. Mounting them to the main roll hoop would involve a rather complex system of mirrors in order to make them usable.

[AxelRipper]

Wow... I have never had a few minor typos get so dissected before. If it wasn't for the board's delay on pictures and links I would post the "Internet: Serious Business" picture.

[tgman2]

As an alternative you could do as we did last year and have 4 buttons, no guages, dials or shifting lights.All set in a nice sheet of aluminium. Simple but effective

[nowhere fast]

Originally posted by tgman2:
As an alternative you could do as we did last year and have 4 buttons, no guages, dials or shifting lights.All set in a nice sheet of aluminium. Just drive by the feel of the car with no distractions

"There is no redline on the tach, you shift by feel"

[Falcon™]

For our last year's car we had a graphic LCD which looked something like this
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9b/God_ka_glcd.jpg

this year we tried something more creative... we removed majority of the indicators and shift lights.. they were replaced by this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/Color_lcd_ori2010.jpg

We removed the dashboard completely and the remaining buttons are mounted on a small side panel. These buttons include:
1. Starter button.
2. Kill switch
3. Tronics power switch.

As far as the LCD display is concerned we have added the G.P.S plot of the track and show driver's current position on it. But all this was done only after our driver was satisfied that whatever he wanted was displayed. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif . So, it's a must that you have a chat with your driver and your primary approach should be to display whatever he wants. We also have few buttons with the LCD to change the page.

We are also planning to display something for the driver as an incentive after he registers a quick lap. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif :P

[Wolverine_1987]

Beautiful http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[J. Vinella]

Originally posted by exFSAE:
Piece of sheet aluminum with 5 items...

1. Kill switch
2. Starter
3. Big bright red light for oil pressure warning
4. Big bright blue light for coolant temp warning
5. Brake bias adjustment knob

Yup, all I ever needed as a driver.

I remember at Detroit one judge was designated to sit in and critique each cars ergonomics. He has just come from a car that basically had a F1 dash. Then sat in our car right after and actually like our dash better. The dash only had what is listed above.

Having lap times for practice is nice, but not needed for the final show.

Ask your drives what they want. If you get more than what is listed above for the actual race, then give them a hard tap on the helmet and tell them to pay more attention to their tires and the road.

[Jan_Dressler]

In our last year's car, we had a fancy LCD display, tach and all sorts of knobs in our steering wheel.
It turned out that the drivers hated it.
So this year, everything is on the dashboard again (piece of CFRP honeycomb plate, waterjet cutted): LED tach with shift lights, displays for water temp, gear position and voltage, and switches/buttons: starter, kill switch, ignition, cooling system.
Plus pots for traction control and front stabilizer, and brake balance.

[Falcon™]

Originally posted by J. Vinella:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by exFSAE:
Piece of sheet aluminum with 5 items...

1. Kill switch
2. Starter
3. Big bright red light for oil pressure warning
4. Big bright blue light for coolant temp warning
5. Brake bias adjustment knob

Yup, all I ever needed as a driver.

I remember at Detroit one judge was designated to sit in and critique each cars ergonomics. He has just come from a car that basically had a F1 dash. Then sat in our car right after and actually like our dash better. The dash only had what is listed above.

Having lap times for practice is nice, but not needed for the final show.

Ask your drives what they want. If you get more than what is listed above for the actual race, then give them a hard tap on the helmet and tell them to pay more attention to their tires and the road. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
As I had mentioned we first made sure that everythin that the driver needed was there and then went on adding what we thought might assist us with troubleshooting.


After all we are encouraged to think out of the box and once the 5items are made available doesn't mean we should stop being creative http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[Ockham]

After all we are encouraged to think out of the box and once the 5items are made available doesn't mean we should stop being creative
True, but knowing what you shouldn't put on the car is at least as high an art as properly executing what is on the car. I believe in only narrow-trigger shift lights, and extreme danger warnings (and I'd disable those for endurance http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif ). Everything else is just DAQ.