THEY DUNNIT!!! All your dreams come true...

[strungout]

Ok, this is better than my 4 ft. pot shaft idea...

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Anybody got a schematic or is that off limits ? Just curious if I can build a clone for $30 like all the other pedals in the world.
Andrew

There ISN'T any schematic.. there is no electricity inside, just metal... but INGENIOUS metal. Anyone remembver the 'mechanical linkages' book from the Radiation Laboratory series??  
I tried for this a few years ago, couldn't get it built for under $100 in quantity.

[puretube]

saw that smiley?
I think TG was joking a bit... :lol:
I`m (as always) thinking of a tube-version,
and am running simulation-tests
for a PIC implementation...


post scriptum: maybe they send free samples?

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Sorry TG, missed the smiley!

Ok, this is better than my 4 ft. pot shaft idea...

I've seen this done with a walking stick! pretty cool  

[Ansil]

i actually have a friend who has what we call the "flinstone pedal" its a wooden version of the hogfoot. with a piece of string he and his grandfather built it.  very nice and fairly smooth if you like i could ask him for a picture of it.   he said it wasn't hard to build.  and was like an hours worth of work.

[The Tone God]

I was being silly as usual. Its all cool.

Alittle back on topic one could modify a flexable drill shaft attachment to do the same thing. I see this a lay person's hack for those who don't know about electronics or don't want to modify their equipment like say that Way Huge pedal. For the DIYers here I would use something more inline with the Rock N' Control stuff. I wrote it for functions like this.

Andrew

[Regan]

Maybe I'm just not thinking about it enough, but why not take the pedal mechanism out of an old organ(or cheap volume pedal, wah, sewing machine etc) and use a cheap flex shaft made for the cheap dremel knockoffs. I have seen the wannabe dremels for around $40 canadian and they come with the flexshaft etc. Then you still have the dremel copy to butcherhack the wah-pedal machanism with.
Regan

[Mark Hammer]

We've been through that already.  It IS feasible, but the problem faced is that whatever you end up with has to be able to handle whatever twists and turns you give it.

Bear in mind that the longer the cable, the less torque it has and the fewer degrees of actual pot rotation you get out of the deal.  The controller is a wah/volume-pedal shell, and does not cover the full rotation of the pot.  With every 6" of shaft length you can probably subtract another 5-10 degrees of pot rotation at the receiving end.  Will the length you provide to be able to go from the foot controller to the effect pot shaft provide enough range of control to be useful?  Consider as well that since most effect pots are pointing up, and since flexible shafts are pretty stiff (i.e., not perfectly flexible), AND since a flexible shaft that exits the controller from the side will need extra length to negotiate the go-out-then-go-up-so-you-can-go-down you may need a very long shaft.

To be fair, the original was used to control standard big chassis E-H effects (Memory Man, DEM, Clone Theory, etc.), so it too had to go out, up and down.  The spatial requirements for pedal positioning, however, made it impractical sometimes.

Bottom line: you can do what you suggested, but it may not be as "universal" in control capability as you hope.  Keep that constraint in mind and you may meet with success.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Mark, you are assuming (probably correctly!) that the unit operates like a speedo cable, the wire inside rotating. But if it was like a brake cable, wiht the wire inside pulling back & foward, you could extend it any distance. Of course, it would be more difficult at the 'receiving' end..

[Regan]

I agree Mark, but I think there are many ways to help counter the limitations of the flexshaft while still being cheap and readily available for the average joe. I don't know if the cheap dremel style flexshaft would work, but I think it would certainly be able to handle the torque, plus it already probably has a chuck and collet that will fit the shaft of the knob.
Personally I like Paul's idea best, I think it would bemore reliable-if you can figure out a mechanism that is small and simple that is quick to change at the end that replaces a knob it would be easy to retrofit any type of rocker pedal. I wonder if the shift mechanism on a bike could altered to fit easy enough.
It would be awesome if somebody came out with a small servo style setup-it would even be easy to make it wireless control even guitar mounted. I think the small remote control plane servo's would be strong enough and a tiny pot could be used as a simple positioner. Its just making it small enough to be feasable.
Hey, Zachary, what about it?
Regan

[puretube]

don`t forget: this gadget is originally intended to play "handsfree"...

the servo-thingy is a different pair of shoes, and being worked upon...
(and don`t forget here: it consumes current at the "receiving end"),
and should rather be listed under "presettable..."