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Types of Knobs and Switches

Lesson 12 from: Circuit Bending: Making Music By Rewiring Toys and Devices

J. Anthony Allen

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Lesson Info

12. Types of Knobs and Switches

Next Lesson: Soldering Tips

Lesson Info

Types of Knobs and Switches

Okay, so the next thing we need to do is find ourselves the right switches to use. Now, how this is gonna work is we need to get some kind of switch because that jumper wire that we've been using is only a temporary thing. What we're actually going to do, we're gonna hook a wire, a shorter wire to one of those spots and then another wife to the other end of those spots. And then the other ends of both those two wires Teoh a switch so that when that switch is off, it's the connection is not completed. And it sounds as though those wires aren't there at all. That's the idea. When that switches on, it completes the connection, and it's just like putting their jumper wire on there. So that's what we need. We need a switch that'll be able to do that so you can find these all over the place. You can go to local hobbyist electron ICS shops. Um, if you don't have a place where you can get these nearby, check out this website spark fun dot com. This is a great website for doing pretty much exac...

tly what we're doing they have projects and tutorials and a blawg and all chemicals that video walk throughs. And how did you some cool electron ICS projects? It's a really fun ah website. So I'm gonna go down here to components, and then I'm gonna go to buttons and switches. Okay? Here is a bunch of different kinds of buttons, right? Tons of, um comes different kinds of buttons and switches. So I'm gonna walk you through a couple of these and tell you what I'm looking for. Um, What? I'm looking for a button for a project like this or switch. Actually, let's look at this 1st 1 This is a little joystick. Now, this is like the exact same component that is the joystick in, like a game controller, like a PlayStation or an Xbox game controller. The things that use your thumbs with, um, those are cool. You could do some fun stuff with those, but those are not right for what we're doing because we need this Ah, switch that has to states and on state in an off state, right? It's got to be honor off and we don't want anything in between. This has basically an X y coordinate, and it's gonna be a lot more complicated than just in on and off. That's not gonna work for us for this project. Ah, this one, this is ah, kind of mini trackball. So same deal. It's not gonna have to states. It's not gonna have an on and off. It's going to send something much more complicated. That's not gonna work for us. This woman is a momentary button. What that means is that this actually does have two states. This is on and off. So that's good. And we could use this. Um, I'm not gonna use this one because it's a momentary switch. Know what that means? Is that when we so basically it's off by default, and when we push it down, it's on. When you push down the button and then we let go, it's off again, right? So you've got to be holding it down. And that's not really what I want to do with this kind of thing. Because on my little keyboard, what I want to do is we'll flip some switches, make the crazy sounds and then be able to jam out on it. I don't wanna have to hold the buttons down. Right? So if I was making something like maybe like a drum trigger thing, you know, something like this might be more appropriate. So keep in mind a momentary thing. That's what that means. Arcade, Joystick. These are sweet, but for the same reason as a stump joystick. Not cool for us, because not going to give us an on and off, But check those alto. You could just buy these arcade joysticks. Totally awesome. Here's a push button. I think this is probably a momentary one. If we wanted to use that, we could, but it would be that momentary thing. Um, but we could look more added to see. It also might be huge because it's $10. So this might be like a big, huge red button which we don't want, because we got to be able to fit this thing inside our, uh, enclosure. Right. So in my case, it's going to weigh too big. This one, however, is just right. So this is a toggle switch and click on it to get a better look at it. So this has two states on and off. Um, it's exactly what I need The only thing that concerns me about this is that it might be too big. This part of it down here is pretty big, and I've got a pretty thin device. So whether or not even be able to cram this in there, I think I'll be able to do it. I don't think I'll have any problem with that. It also has this washer here, which makes it mounting it on the device a little bit easier. Ah, and the last thing that I look for in stuff in these kind of switches as I don't want to switch that requires power. Right. So that is to say, the switch itself needs power to operate. This one does not need power. Let me show you, for example, something like this one. This one is pretty much the same switch, except it has this lighting up red thing. It's got lights on it and it's a button that lights up. Then you need to send it power, Right? So this says, you know, it can. It can work for his lowest 3.3 volts, so you might be able to two on your device. Find a way to send some voltage to the switch, but that gets a lot more complicated. And I just don't wanna deal with it. So I don't want to switch That requires any kind of power. So no lights on it. Nothing fancy like that. So that makes this one the perfect fit. And they're only two bucks. So I'm gonna order for these, And as soon as I get him, then we'll put it together. So? So the next thing is gonna happen is ah, I'm gonna wait like, ah, 5 to 7 business days for these to show up in the mail on and then I'm gonna put it together. But luckily for you, because of the advancement of technology, it's gonna be right in the next video. You're not gonna have to wait a week. So off we go.

Ratings and Reviews

Karolina Kaminska
 

I am a complete beginner to this topic and I enjoyed watching the free live stream of this course. It taught me enough to get started with some ideas, although I anticipate I'll have to follow up with other YouTube videos to ensure I understand enough for different kinds of toys and techniques. Thanks!

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