diy switches

[Harry]

anyone ever try making their own switches or given it any thought? i remember seeing a web page showing a diagram for one using common hardware like a bolt and nuts pretty sure it was momentary but cant remember the site... i was thinking some click pen mechanism for latching...

[Taylor]

Are you interested in making stomp switches?

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

There was somebody here who actually made a 3pdt stomp with an SPST and a DPDT, connected with bolts and springs. Seemed awfully elaborate when you can get 3PDTs for fairly cheap, delivered anywhere on the planet. But for something more hand made and unique, it's a cool idea.

[egasimus]

this
and also this
And the latching can be done electronically, with CMOS chips.

[Top Top]

This is sort of crude and not useful for a stomp switch type of thing, but I built a switching system for this synth I built. The idea of 70+ toggle switches at $1 a piece was killing my mood.

Skip to about :40 to see the "switches" in action. I call them "game pieces."

They are wood pieces with a strip of aluminum bent & glued in a slot in the bottom.

They bridge the aluminum blade to the screw heads which make contact to gate an oscillator per screw head.

[R.G.]

I do know how to refine copper ore into the metal...



It's possible to make switches that work, after a fashion, from any conductor. Making a switch work *reliably* without constant maintenance is a very refined area of materials science, though. Making them work reliably and affordably is even harder.  Compatible metals, self-wiping contacts, and selective plating are just the beginnings of the work on switches.

It's kind of like the guitar itself. It's been said that the guitar is the easiest of all instruments to play badly, and one of the hardest to play well.

[Mark Hammer]

RG makes very valid points about the challenge of making a reliable switching mechanism from scratch (and the unspoken one of whether it's worth the effort).  At the same time, one is within reason to entertain notions of alternate actuator mechanisms that employ commercial switches in interesting and ergonomically-improved ways.  Consider the sorts of momentary actuators that one sees in many of the commercial footswitches, like the Boss FS-5U units, and others.  Or some of Pete Cornish's "big button" constructions.  There is a whole universe of alternate actuator designs out there to be explored that will make some players more comfortable or effective.

[robmdall]

Top Top, very cool idea!

[R.G.]

RG makes very valid points about the challenge of making a reliable switching mechanism from scratch (and the unspoken one of whether it's worth the effort).  At the same time, one is within reason to entertain notions of alternate actuator mechanisms that employ commercial switches in interesting and ergonomically-improved ways.  Consider the sorts of momentary actuators that one sees in many of the commercial footswitches, like the Boss FS-5U units, and others.  Or some of Pete Cornish's "big button" constructions.  There is a whole universe of alternate actuator designs out there to be explored that will make some players more comfortable or effective.

Excellent point, Mark. Alternate actuators is a place where good results can be had with some innovation.

The whole class of microswitches exists to make custom actuators easy and efficient. That direction has a lot of merit.

[Harry]

adam - Thanks that was the page i was referring to.

mark - those cornish "big button" switches look pretty cool any source for those?

a big rubber "hemisphere" would make a cool actuator maybe one could be made from one of those toy poppers (you turn inside out and they jump off the table) or a round door stop.

i was thinking the actual contact points would be rather simple. it seems if you fashion a dpdt that works, a 4pdt shouldnt  be much harder and i suppose customization would be the main purpose of making your own switch.

how does the latching system work in a carling switch?

[The Tone God]

I agree that making a switch from scratch is difficult and pretty much redundant. Make an actuator to control a switching element is a different deal.

I like the "touch plates" myself:





I've been using them for years:



Andrew

[Harry]

those are bad ass how do they work?

[The Tone God]

those are bad ass how do they work?

I assume you are talking to me. I'm planning on writing an article so people can build their own "T.T.G. style" touch plates as they are really easy and cheap to build. Its one of the things I'm going to give away.

The short version is there is a set of screws under the plate that are isolated from the case which are wired for a logic high signal. These are contact points. You can see a few under the plates in the angled picture. The plate float above the contact points connected to the case by the screws on the plate corners. The plate is grounded. The plate is pushed up away from the points using force resistant material which can be foam, rubber, spring, etc. When you depress the plate compressing the resist material in the centre of the plate contact will be made with one of the screw contact points thus your connection. It is essentially a single moving part SPST NO actuator.

I love them. I've used them for years and I am known for destroying regular footswitches. I haven't had a failure yet.

Andrew

[diydave]

I'll be keeping the 'touchplates' in mind next time a build a multi-fx 

[Processaurus]

You figured out how to use the metal 2.1mm DC jacks, nice one! Using a little plastic piece I assume?

[tranceracer]

I build these for switching 4P4T and DPDT relays. 

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=66856.0

Moving away from a constantly energized relay coil to latching relay switching system using flip-flops to alternately pulse 2 coils in a relay.  Now trying to program PIC Micro controller to do the same thing w/ less parts and more control over LEDs and switching positions.

[The Tone God]

You figured out how to use the metal 2.1mm DC jacks, nice one! Using a little plastic piece I assume?

Yep. Thats another thing I was going to give away as an article I'll post. I thought it was a simple solution. A plastic mounting plate for the jack, make the jack case hole bigger then the nut so there is no case contact and attach the plate to the case with a set of screws. The plates is thick enough and the holes close together that it is plenty strong. Here is a slight better shot of it.



Andrew

[Hides-His-Eyes]

What's the advantage over plastic jacks?

[The Tone God]

What's the advantage over plastic jacks?

The major advantage is strength. Metal jacks can take far more insertion force and lateral force (i.e. someone stepping on the power plug). Most metal jacks also usually have the centre pin split so it can be retentioned. Also there are more manufactures that produce metal body power jacks then round plastic body versions that are DIY friendly and they tend to be more standardized in dimension.

Andrew

[mac]

I recently tried the Boss bypass circuit without the buffers and I was very pleased with the result. The off resistance of the fet is big enough for this purpose. I have to figure out how to re-arrange the circuit to send the input of the fx to gnd when bypassed.
I need to find alternatives to 3pdt because I build pedals for personal use and shipment from US or EU is quite expensive when you buy a few of them.

It's kind of like the guitar itself. It's been said that the guitar is the easiest of all instruments to play badly, and one of the hardest to play well.

Nop. Violin 

[vendettav]

Hey Andrew, your Fuzz box looks killer. how did you do the screw-switches??