#966804 - 07/11/01 10:41 PM
Craig, Paralyzed pianist needs help
|
stratman_dup1
Member
Registered: 02/09/01
Posts: 0
Loc: attleboro,MA,UNITED STATES
|
Offline
|
|
Hey Craig, a paralyzed pianist over at the Keyboard Corner posted this http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/Forum18/HTML/001287.html
I was thinkin that with your expertise in these type things you might be just the guy to help this individual.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#966805 - 07/12/01 01:52 AM
Re: Craig, Paralyzed pianist needs help
|
Anderton
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 01/28/00
Posts: 7346
|
|
Offline
|
|
(I've posted this over in Keyboard Corner as well.)
I of course echo everyone's encouragement and admiration, and think I might have a solution based on a clothespin. I've made a little diagram because trying to explain this only with words was driving me crazy. It's at http://web1.musicplayer.com/CMA/Player/Preview/1,2336,Features--5171664,00.html
The idea is to bolt two flat head screws through the ends of the clothespin that normally butt together when the clothespin is at rest. At the end of the screw thread is a tab to which you solder a wire. The assembly thus becomes a normally-closed pushbutton switch; the two wires go to a plug that plugs into your piano. The bottom view in the picture just shows the two parts of the clothespin when they're taken apart for adding the screws. Of course you'd have to reconnect them and put the spring back in place to form the proper "clothespin configuration."
If you bite down on the "open" end of the clothespin, the two screw heads pull away from each other, thus opening the pushbutton. As most electronic keyboards can accommodate normally on or normally off pushbuttons, it shouldn't be a problem to use one that's normally on.
I tried holding a clothespin in my mouth to see if this would drive my jaw crazy, but it wasn't too bad. The thicker the screw head (or I suppose you could put a washer under it to calibrate), the less distance you have to bite down to open the switch. I think it might take some experimentation here so that you get just the right amount of backtension on the bite. You'd probably want it pretty sensitive, so just a little bite would open it up.
Okay, that's the basic idea. Here are some refinements:
-- Try attaching a real pushbutton instead of the two screws. You would need a thin type, like the kind designed for wave soldering into a PC board, or a membrane switch.
-- Use a "Chip Clip" (found at supermarkets for closing things like potato chip bags) instead of a clothespin. These have a spongier action -- not so hard on the jaw -- and lots of room for mounting a real pushbutton or screw head contacts.
Another possibility: don't give up on the mercury switch concept just yet. Imagine putting a pencil in mouth so that one end lies just above your tongue, and the other end goes out your mouth to the left or right. Now attach a mercury switch at the end that's outside of your mouth. By shifting the position of your lower jaw right or left, you can make the pencil point upward. Shift the jaw back, and the pencil points to the left again. This could be used to control the mercury switch.
I sincerely hope that one of these options will help you, or at least trigger an idea that will.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
