Project development: Creaky Floor

[highwater]

- Folded-up aluminum foil
- Electrical tape
- Guitar pick(s)

[EBK]

I'm going to redo the mousepad experiment.  I think I missed something....

Also, I need to try with smaller discs.  The sensor is about the size of a dime, but the pads are the size of a quarter, which is affecting things.  Sorry I can't convert  these measurements to more international round-thing units off the top of my head. 

[EBK]

Ok.  Verified that the mousepad is too soft, unless I wanted to figure out how to more directly couple the actuator to it (but then the travel distance and feel could get messed up).

I'm wondering, however, if I can approach this problem more scientifically....

Can I make a custom spring out of, say, a guitar string?
https://www.acxesspring.com/espanol/spring-constant-calculator.html

I can measure the travel distance of the actuator easily enough.  And, I can use my kitchen scale to figure out the necessary force to light the LEDs. 

Maybe....

Before I go there though, I'm going to simply try some guitar pick shims with the existing spring.

[EBK]

I've decided to blow the thick layer of dust off of this old project.
I have moved the circuit from my breadboard to a piece of veroboard and verified that it still works.

I may post another demo video of the circuit sometime (last night, I had a guitar synth pedal in the send/return loop, which was wild, glitchy madness  ).  Otherwise, I'm left with trying to figure out how to box it up (which is always the hardest part for me).

[EBK]

In case there is some mild interest in this project or in the force sensitive resistor actuator, I'm posting some hardware progress:

The wood is mounted like a diving board with a piece of pick guard as a spacer:


The FSR gets tucked underneath that overhanging bit, with a small disc of foam tape on top of it.  I've also glued a piece of aluminum flashing to the underside of the wood to reinforce it a bit.

The toggle and hole are for a trimmer that simply adds some resistance in parallel with the FSR to reduce the effective maximum resistance until the first LED lights up with no foot pressure applied. Without this, the circuit acts basically as a kill switch when your foot is off of it, which might be useful in some contexts (hence the toggle). 

It seems to work rather well, but a better demo video will have to wait until I move everything into the enclosure.

[duck_arse]

and does the plank actually creak?

[11-90-an]

and does the plank actually creak?

Creaky wood piece?
Nice enclosure...

[EBK]

and does the plank actually creak?

If I loosen the bolts, it might.   
The slight deflection as I step on it does at least "feel" a little like a loose, creaky floorboard, which was my goal.  I'll leave it to the circuit to make all the creaky sounds.

[garcho]

you can outfit someone's foley studio

bravo, cool project

[ThermionicScott]

Here's a demo with some sound.  I apologize for the low volume (didn't want to wake up my family).  In this video, I have the send/return loop connected to my mutron iii envelope filter, which gives this thing some cool trippy results. 
https://youtu.be/fXE0LhsIjqE

Any updates on this project?  Sounds like something I'd hear on a Renaldo and the Loaf album.   

[EBK]

I should probably bump this back up to the top of the queue.  The only thing left is running a ton of wires because I didn't have the foresight to place the bar graph module in its final location when I designed the vero layout.  For this prototype, I'm actually going to use wire wrap construction to hook that up.  It's going to look quite clumsy inside, which is probably why I lost my momentum.

[moosapotamus]

This is way cool! 

[EBK]

Looks like I forgot to post my vero layout earlier.

[EBK]

Blowing the dust off of this again.
Did lots of wiring and soldering.



I'm hoping this still works.  Will test it tonight.

[bluebunny]

Cool.  Loving the quantum computer in the top-left.   

[EBK]

Cool.  Loving the quantum computer in the top-left.   

Yeah, that's the result of sloppy planning.  I created the layout with the bar graph top center, but I needed to move it after I built the board.  Not too many pedals with wire wrap, I imagine. 

[anotherjim]

It's nice to see some wire-wrapping being done, and very tidy it looks too!

[amz-fx]

I was in Japan a few years back and visited a very old home where the floors were made to be intentionally squeaky to act as a form of burglar alarm should anyone attempt to gain entry in the middle of the night. The squeaks sounded almost like chirping birds 

regards, Jack

[duck_arse]

I can't even remember what the pedal is meant to do. as it happens, I've been cutting-up a floorboard for a noisemaker front panel of late.

[EBK]

I can't even remember what the pedal is meant to do.

In a nutshell, the output is switched back and forth several times between two input signals as you apply force with your foot.  If you think of a real creaky floor board, you can make it creak slowly or quickly, depending on how you apply your weight.  The switching in the pedal is the same way.