The Ultimate Stompswitch- if only...

[DougH]

I think I found the ultimate mechanical stompswitch today- if only it was DPDT. I think it was SPDT...

I was at the surplus store today and they had a bunch of automotive dimmer switches. Talk about something that was meant to take a beating from your foot... And they had this really nice and smooth switch action... Very cool. If only they had another pole...

They look kind of like this:

[Processaurus]

I agree, they have a real smooth action.  My band's econoline has one of those, I think, and I think I've been driving after shows and felt eerily like I'm stomping pedals, when it's time to kick the lights into overdrive.

[frank_p]

My parents had big Dodge vans when I was kid.  We used to tour in the US every summers for three months.  I remember those switches very well.

I like those industrial Hercules Linemasters, they had some in the iron mining industries where I worked:

[RLBJR65]

My first car, a 1970 Maverick had one of those dimmer switches. They are defiantly tough; the switch outlasted the cars floor board

[DougH]

We had a switch like that in our '65 Galaxie 500 when I was a kid. I googled and checked the parts places like JC Whitney but they all seem to be SPDT.

[iaresee]

SPST is all you need though! Really you could get away with a momentary SPST. And still have a true bypass setup. It's a little more work than using a 3PDT switch but not impossible. Check out: http://www.geocities.com/thetonegod/switches/switches.html

[frank_p]

SPST is all you need though! Really you could get away with a momentary SPST. And still have a true bypass setup. It's a little more work than using a 3PDT switch but not impossible. Check out: http://www.geocities.com/thetonegod/switches/switches.html

Really appreciated piece of info, thanks Ian and Andrew.

[Barcode80]

you also could do a cmos switching arrangement a la geofex...

[frank_p]

you also could do a cmos switching arrangement a la geofex...

Gonna check that out.  A little extra work is never bad when learning. 

[frank_p]

you also could do a cmos switching arrangement a la geofex...

Is that on the page named :  Programmable FX Switcher with Amp Controls
At the end of the page: with cmos switching and relays ?
That is a good thing I bought 10 small relays 2 days ago ! 

[Barcode80]

you also could do a cmos switching arrangement a la geofex...

Is that on the page named :  Programmable FX Switcher with Amp Controls
At the end of the page: with cmos switching and relays ?
That is a good thing I bought 10 small relays 2 days ago ! 

i believe so, yes. i think he calls it the millenium c.

[frank_p]

Thanks Patrick !

[soulsonic]

It could switch a relay, too.

[DougH]

Yeah, you could certainly use it for electronic or electromechanical switching but most people won't go to the trouble.

[R.G.]

Another thing that works for ...DURABLE... switches is to make any mechanical arrangement for incredibly durable limited movement, like a pivoted pedal that bottoms on a flat surface somehow. Then drill a hole through it and mount a microswitch (or several of them, they are built to gang together) so the pedal movement just operates them when it's at full travel.

Substantially all problems with switches are mechanical ones.

[frank_p]

i believe so, yes. i think he calls it the millenium c.

LOL  LOL  LOL

R.G.'s site is like the labyrinth of the minautor.
I don't know how many texts about switching are there. 

And I wonder how many young noob are dead in Geo's labyrinth:
http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Minotaur.html

Substantially all problems with switches are mechanical ones.

  One of my teatchers was saying:
Substantially all problems are mechanical ones;
when you calculate something about mechanics, you're most of the time 40% away from reality. Thus, don't lose your time in ME, go in EE...

Talking of that and poping switches, it makes me think of of Karl POPPER . 
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/popper/

Being an expert of "logic", maybe he could help us...

[Barcode80]

here is the page i was referring to:

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/cd4053/cd4053.htm

[frank_p]

Yesterday I was talking about this page:
http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/fxswitchr/fxswitchr.htm

Thanks Again...

[composition4]

Another thing that works for ...DURABLE... switches is to make any mechanical arrangement for incredibly durable limited movement, like a pivoted pedal that bottoms on a flat surface somehow. Then drill a hole through it and mount a microswitch (or several of them, they are built to gang together) so the pedal movement just operates them when it's at full travel.

Substantially all problems with switches are mechanical ones.

There was another thread where someone wanted to gang microswitches. I've only ever seen momentary ones though. Do you (or does anyone else) know of a source for latching (alternate-action) microswitches?  Do these even exist? It's an idea that I think has merit

Jonathan

[soggybag]

Why not just bolt two or three of these switches side by side. You could easily step on them at the same time.