The Please Steal My Idea Thread

[stallik]

Hmm. This one has piqued my interest. I can convert an enlarger head to UV if necessary and my optics were top of the range back in the day.
Before going down that route however, I'm going to run a series of tests on the effective resilience to etch chemistry to various, easily created photo chemical compounds. Sulphides, selenium, silver, gold etc.  There are also some compounds in my ancient notebooks which are unnamed but interesting. I have an old print made with one of these which certainly resists ferric chloride but it will be a bit of a bugger to recreate and then, only if the raw chemicals are still available.
One thing a can guarantee to produce though. The granddaddy of all smells. The missus might stop this project. She has no interest in returning to that

[Sooner Boomer]

One thing to keep in mind is that negative and positive photoresists work differently on shiny surfaces.  I seem to recall (jeeze that was a long time ago) when we were making ICs, that positive resist was used for aluminum and platinum (negative resist was used for silicon oxide).

[EBK]

The trypophobes will hate me for this, but I'd like to drill an enclosure with a bunch of randomly scattered countersunk holes, glue a sheet of lighting gel to the inside and light the innards of the resulting pedal from the inside with a dim glowing light.

Alternatively, I'd like to paint an enclosure matte black with a bunch of very tiny planetarium star holes all over it, lit internally in white.

(Although I said that I would like to do these things, by posting it in this thread I am really trying to encourage someone else to make these things a reality.   )

[Kevin Mitchell]

While we're being creative here...
Seen this last night. Put me in a state of awe. But I can foresee further innovation.



Imagine that thing plugged into your pedal board 

[amptramp]

We have had a couple of decades of electric toothbrushes powered by an internal NiMH battery that is charged by placing the toothbrush on a charging stand.  The charging stand contains the primary of a transformer and the toothbrush contains the secondary with a rectifier to charge the battery.  This would be great for a pedal - an AC charging stand and you remove the pedal from the stand to use it.  Since there is a huge gap in the primary to secondary magnetic path, there is no possibility or saturating the transformer and since the pedal is removed from the charger and runs on an internal battery, there is no power supply hum when in use.  No more ground loops from external power supplies.

[ElectricDruid]

We have had a couple of decades of electric toothbrushes powered by an internal NiMH battery that is charged by placing the toothbrush on a charging stand.  The charging stand contains the primary of a transformer and the toothbrush contains the secondary with a rectifier to charge the battery.  This would be great for a pedal - an AC charging stand and you remove the pedal from the stand to use it.  Since there is a huge gap in the primary to secondary magnetic path, there is no possibility or saturating the transformer and since the pedal is removed from the charger and runs on an internal battery, there is no power supply hum when in use.  No more ground loops from external power supplies.

While I appreciate the idea, the practicalities seem to have completely defeated the manufacturers of electric toothbrushes. Perhaps they're better at the "toothbrush" part than the "electric" part, or perhaps they're sly old types who have heard of "built in obsolescence"? No electric toothbrush I've ever owned has managed to stay charged for more than a dismally short period. I think they don't bother with a decent charging circuit and it shortens the battery life maybe? They seem ok when they're new, but six months in and it goes flat quicker than a smartphone watching youtube videos.

Perhaps with a decent charging circuit and lithium batteries it might work better. Who knows? Perhaps when we get the tech sorted, we can cut a deal with the toothbrush manufacturers!

[SpikeVelvet]

I'd like to see somebody invent a mesh pocket for the bottom plate of hammond-style boxes. It would have a flexible mesh on one side and velcro on the other side. You could slip the bottom plate from an enclosure into the pocket and screw the plate back onto the enclosure and you would have a velcro surface that doesn't ruin the bottom of your pedal. The mesh side could be similar to this.

[DaveLT]

What I promised earlier. It finally arrived. First time round the shop had no stock so i had to find another one that had that with other pots 

[Rob Strand]

What I promised earlier. It finally arrived. First time round the shop had no stock so i had to find another one that had that with other pots

So freakin cool.  Reminds me of Jamiroquai's hat.

[DaveLT]

What I promised earlier. It finally arrived. First time round the shop had no stock so i had to find another one that had that with other pots

So freakin cool.  Reminds me of Jamiroquai's hat.

I love it!

[duck_arse]

What I promised earlier. It finally arrived. First time round the shop had no stock so i had to find another one that had that with other pots

So freakin cool.  Reminds me of Jamiroquai's hat.

Malcolm McLaren's hat in Buffalo Girls.

[Rob Strand]

Malcolm McLaren's hat in Buffalo Girls.

I forgot about that one.   Have heard that track for yonks.

Lately I've been poking around on yt and listening to old au tracks from the late 70's and 80's.

[EBK]

Idea: Build a pedal with a model train smoke generator inside.  A glowing orange light plate (or orange lit knobs) would be good to add to this too. 

[Kipper4]

Hey Eric I swear I built that on vero already.
Unintentionally.

[MrStab]

a kit like this was my only exposure to electronics at school, and it put me WAY off the subject. i blame the teacher, he had a tendency to start after-school clubs without thinking them through beyond a coupla lessons. i didn't understand any of what i was doing. haven't seen one of those kits since then, until now.

[Kipper4]

It's your lucky day Grant. I have a very similar item for sale. 
It's good to face ones fears........

[ElectricDruid]

Idea: Build a pedal with a model train smoke generator inside.  A glowing orange light plate (or orange lit knobs) would be good to add to this too. 

..and add software/circuitry to make the LEDs flicker like flames (or, more boringly, use candle flicker LEDs).



[EBK]

Idea: Build a pedal with a model train smoke generator inside.  A glowing orange light plate (or orange lit knobs) would be good to add to this too. 

..and add software/circuitry to make the LEDs flicker like flames (or, more boringly, use candle flicker LEDs).



I bet someone could program a PIC to control the smoke and the flicker and possibly add optional sound effects. 
*nudge* 

[MrStab]

It's your lucky day Grant. I have a very similar item for sale. 

if i were to take you up on that offer, a new term would have to be coined: "revenge modding"!

someone invent this stupid idea:

[ElectricDruid]

Idea: Build a pedal with a model train smoke generator inside.  A glowing orange light plate (or orange lit knobs) would be good to add to this too. 

..and add software/circuitry to make the LEDs flicker like flames (or, more boringly, use candle flicker LEDs).



I bet someone could program a PIC to control the smoke and the flicker and possibly add optional sound effects. 
*nudge* 

There's loads of examples with the flickery-light part, but I've never seen one with sound effects!
Here's just one example, with a ton of other extra features to boot:
https://hackaday.io/project/11796-avr-vs-pic-the-case-of-the-candle

The trouble with sound on stuff like this is that it's totally underwhelming because of the tiny size. I once designed a Doctor Who style sonic screwdriver sound chip for my young nephew. It generated a selection of interesting noises that could feasibly be opening, laser drilling, melting, etc etc if you had some imagination. The bit that stumped me was getting enough volume and sound quality out of something that would fit into a small hand-held device.

It might be nice if it didn't do anything until you stamp on the foot switch, whereupon it catches fire and smoke starts to billow out of it. I mean, we've all made pedals like that, right?...


Edit: a funny smell would be good too - that distinctive 'magic smoke' smell we all know and love.