Canted RPM gauges

Why the tilted Rev counter

I can shed light on the subject. Upon assembling the Bulldog panel I noticed a problem with the tach cable running out the bottom of the panel and into the area of the control column. (Big cable, very stiff, large radius needed). Easy fix was to rotate the instrument one series of holes counter clockwise. The cable still comes very close to interference with the oil instruments in my case.

Ed

I don’t knowguage about other types but I noticed when I flew in a Tiger Moth that the needle of the RPM guage was at or near the 12 o’clock position at cruise power

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I just assumed it was a case of the British setting all their clocks to Greenwich Mean Time!

smiles

Mark Pilkington

On sporting/racing vintage cars it was quite common for the instruments to be re-aligned so that all needles were were at say 3 o’clock at their safe operating max. This way the briefest of glances could check temperatures and pressures etc were OK.

Mark

Today’s NASCAR racers also do that.

On sporting/racing vintage cars it was quite common for the instruments to be re-aligned so that all needles were were at say 3 o’clock at their safe operating max. This way the briefest of glances could check temperatures and pressures etc were OK.

Mark

That. 😉

As others have said, it is a way of seeing when something is awry.

It is particularly useful in multiengined aircraft. On helios, you often use this method (12 oclock is a common situation normal area). With glass cockpits, with strip gauges, the idea is to have similar scaling so a flat line can link up the peaks.
Works particularly well with N1, N2, RPM, T’s and P’s.

With multiple engines, torque on the same gauge allows the pilot to immediately see torque splits. As cockpits have developed, these (sometimes simple) lessons have been learnt and cockpit workload reduced. In instrument flying, these lessons are even more important as the pilot has to develop a simple scan to take in all the info required.

hey i learned some more 🙂

Well I made a boo-boo in my first post, clever eh? The guages were canted toward the 10 o’clock position, and not the 2 o’clock, so easy scanning sounds the likely reason. Thanks to all for the info. 🙂

Canted gauges

I’ve seen this in some instrument panels – especially in a Wessex panel I had some years ago.

It was explained to me that the needle would reach the 12 o’clock position when the reading was normal so that, if there was an abnormal reading, it would be immediately obvious.

This was when picking up abnormal readings was important and used usually in instrument panels when there were a lot of similar-sized gauges, each with different readings so you didn’t have to look at each gauge, re-acquaint yourself with what it was telling you then note whether the reading was normal or not.

In other words, it enabled you to scan the panel much more quickly and effectively.

Another variation on this was dayglo green and/or dayglo orange tape bars at the expected range or needle position stuck on to the front glass of the relevant instrument. I’ve seen this on a few temperature and pressure gauges in jet cockpits.

Anon.

On sporting/racing vintage cars it was quite common for the instruments to be re-aligned so that all needles were were at say 3 o’clock at their safe operating max. This way the briefest of glances could check temperatures and pressures etc were OK.

Mark

They usually come out at the bottom, pointing downward (like a steam gauge).

i think the drive cable makes more sense? but are they set to the side of the unit or direct into the rear center like a mechanical car speedo?

i am trying to learn 🙂

Unfortunately the way Alder Tag describes it, in this case the top of the rev band will be further away from the eyeline (Unless, of course, they were cabin roof mounted)

Moggy

Hmm… the jet rpm dials on the Vulcan for example were twisted so that the needles were easier to check but I suspect that on the older types it was more to do with trying to route the thick drive cable from the mkIX gauges to the engine.

then thats the perfect answer!

the redline is in clearer sight!

If you are really using an RPM gauge in a car you need the bit running up to the red section as close top your eyeline as possible.

In the days before electronic rev limiters I always used to remount the RPM gauge that way, whenever the idiot car manufacturers had put it with the red sector bottom right, well away from your eyeline, so that it looked ‘nice’ alongside the similarly configured speedo.

Moggy

they were designed by cockeye thanoo!

i cant answer i supose its the same reason some car manufacturers went the same cocked over way?