Custom membrane switches and potentiometers
Google Ads in it's infinite wisdom suggested to me the Spectra Symbol company, which lets design custom membrane switches and potentiometers. DIY synth and Circuit bending implications of these pads and switches are countless, especially when used with a microcontroller. No costs are mentioned on the website, my guess is that it can be expensive, but they do offer free samples. I ordered some so we'll see what happens.
11 Comments:
At 2/28/2006 04:30:14 PM, Phil. said…
Just got my sample in the mail yesterday, took about... 2 months? i think...let me check. 3 months or so, but im in canada. but they are awesome! i plan to get some quotes on them, now that ive played with them, awesome as a ribbon controller.... keep in mind, it doesnt remember your last touch position, so when you arent touching it it is infinite resistance.
At 2/28/2006 04:44:41 PM, Master said…
Yeah, that is actually pretty sweet. The Kaoss pad solves that problem by having a sample and hold button that way it remembers the setting, but that is all done with a micro controller.
At 2/28/2006 04:49:49 PM, Master said…
BTW, how many samples did you get?
At 3/02/2006 06:22:53 AM, Tony said…
After the free samples they are extremely expensive. I found them about a year and a half ago.
The linear pot is made of very simple materials and you can make one by yourself. I will post some ideas.
At 3/02/2006 06:31:52 AM, Tony said…
The linear pot (ribbon controller) is made of two pieces of vinyl. One piece of vinyl is screen printed with "resistive ink" the other piece of vinyl is screen printed with "silver ink". The silver is just the conductor and can really be any thin conductive material like aluminum foil. These pieces are sandwiched together. They are kept from making contact when not touched by the use of a dielectric material (something that doesn't conduct electricity. The dielectric material they use is also screen printed onto the resistive ink, and looks like little bumps. This keeps the two pieces of the sandwich from making contact until you press down on it.
Forest Mims shows you how to make a crude version of this in his "Sensors" book. You can take a piece of paper and paint it with graphite paint. Then get a piece of alum foil and place on top. If you attach your Ohm meter to eack piece and then move your finger up and down on the foil your will get a variable resistance reading.
I have found some companies who make the resistive ink and silver ink. You can also make these with other materials that are available, I will post the links.
At 3/02/2006 07:22:31 AM, bsom said…
http://asmidius.googlepages.com/home
Make a ribbon controller from VHS tape.
At 3/02/2006 03:54:59 PM, Master said…
Great suggestions and comments everyone. The VHS tape hack only works with special tape. The conductive paint on the other hand is a brilliant idea. Thanks for the tip Tony.
At 3/03/2006 03:56:48 AM, magpie industries said…
This has got me thinking. I am looking for some push switches for a sort of step sequencer thing. Switches that feel a little like laptop keys might be nice, I want to be able to 'play' with different sequences. Just wondering if anyone can recommend some switches that might be useful for this..
At 3/03/2006 08:13:02 AM, Tony said…
I also came across a company who sells pressure activated conductive rubber sheets that you can use to make your own tactile switches here:
http://www.irmicrolink.com/zoflex.html
And the resistive ink and silver inks here:
http://creativematerials.com/
At 3/03/2006 08:20:22 AM, Master said…
you can probably use a few of these Miniature Tactile switches, thats what most of the electronic instruments use anyways. http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&productId=162886
At 4/10/2006 04:26:49 AM, Anonymous said…
Music - Download Music - Music Download - Free Music - Free Music Downloads
http://music-download-free-music.blogspot.com
Post a Comment
<< Home