Volume Pedal - Build

Guitar Volume Pedal - I was looking for easy projects to get back into soldering and electronic components. Plus a great Christmas gift.

Parts List

• 2 Audio 1/4" female jacks (purchased on Amazon)
• 1 Potentiometer 100K Ohm (purchased on Amazon) - (I plan on experimenting with this value)
• 1 Capacitor 100kpF (I had one)
• Hinge
• Wire
• Wood
• She kind of cording

I searched on the internet and found a few different pedal builds. I picked one I thought would be pretty easy. After building this one I have a lot of improvements. I will document the next build as well so you will see the differences. 

So, cut out the pieces, glued and nailed them together. The next build I will document the dimensions. Im using 1/2" plywood, and the dimensions I found online were for 1/4" hard board. So the walls on mine are thick, and crazy strong. It is an over kill.

Since it is so thick I needed to cut out the places where I wanted the 1/4" audio jacks. I used a hole saw, and cut down most of the way. That left a raised part on the inside. I drilled the center hole so that the jack would slip in. The hole was not deep enough for the jack to come to the other end and be able to put a nut on it. I used a spade but, drilled a little, checked it, drilled some more and checked it until I liked how much the jack stuck out the other side.

I tried cutting gears, but that proved to be a pain. I might design some gears and print them out on the 3D printer at the library next time.

I made a spool to fit on the potentiometer (Pot). I have a piece of round stock in the garage. I cut a sliver and drilled a hole in the middle to slip over the pot.

I found a bracket to mount the pot too. Any "L" bracket will work. I had to drill a hole out on this bracket and notch it for the tab on the pot that keeps it from spinning in the hole.

I mounted the pot and placed the bracket where I wanted to, then screwed it in. 

pot mounted with spool

Assembled wood parts, sanded and started primer and painting.

Once I got the base coat of paint down, I started getting the components ready to be installed.

Circuit work

1. Used a multimeter to check the pot to know what will be attached to which terminal
2. Cut all the lengths of wires needed. I used different colors to help me keep it straight.
• Yellow - jack tips
• Black - jack rings
• Purple - capacitor
3.  Solder tined all the ends of the wires, jacks, pot, and capacitor. 
4. Soldered the wires to the jacks
• made sure I put the right wires on each jack. mine was easy, the shorter black and yellow to one jack and the long ones on the other jack



both jack rings to same post on pot
jacks tip, and capacitor is split between the other 2 posts

• Capacitors have a shielded side, but it does not matter much in an inclosure like this, but still I put the wire on the sided I wanted it to be on.
5. installed the jacks in the housing
6. Soldered the ends of the wires to the pot
• verified after each solder to make sure it was correct and continuity.
7. Glued the capacitor down with a dab of wood glue.

capacitor glued down

Onto the mechanical portion - the cord needs to be connected to the under side of one side of the pedal, ran through a hold in the body. looped around the pot spool, then down to the other end and connected to the other under side of the pedal.

picture of the bolt and the change of direction of the cord.

I drilled holds in the top of the base. Attached the pedal to the base, and used an awl to mark the pedal where I wanted to connect the cording. Detached the pedal, and attached the cording. On the bottom end I drilled a hole in the side of the housing and put a bolt all the way through so that the cord change direction and will be able to route a straight path to the pot.

You need a way to keep tension on the cord, but not too much. You can use a rubber band or a spring.

One of the versions of this mechanism I cut grove in the spool to keep the cording from splitting off. but I was also experimenting with different ways to attached the 2 ends off the cord. I used too much pressure and ruined that spool.

Worked on a bottom cover.

I found the cord would slip off the spool, so I sanded the center with a rotary tool. First time I did it, I took too much off, so had to make another spool again. In all I created 5 spools until I was happy with one. By sanding the center it leaves a lip on the outside that helps to keep the cord from sliding of the sides.

To see more explanation on the outside paint click here

Who knows maybe I will try making a Wah-Wah pedal sometime.

Kalimba - Build

Top with sound hole cut out
and  Backstop and Bridge  glued in place.

I made this Kalimba last month to give as a Christmas gift. For obvious reasons I waited to post this.
There are kits you can buy, but I really wanted to make mine completely from scratch.

It took me a number of tries to get this built. I initially tried to make it using 1 piece of wood, but my router broke.

This one is 3 pieces of wood.

• The top piece with the sound hole - 1X5 
• Body or chamber for the sound - 1X5
• Bottom back piece - 1/2 plywood
• Tines from a rake
• Metal rod
• 1 Bolt
• 2 wood screws

I figured out what shape I wanted the sound hole to be. drew it on the wood and cut it out.

Cut out 2 strips of wood to use as the bridge and backstop. Since the Tines will be holding them down, I just glued them in place.
Before I put the bridge wood on, I cut a grove in it for the metal rod that the Tines rest on. You have to use metal here so that the sound will ring out and transfer into the wood better. I took the finished Kalimba to a fast food place to show someone. When I sat the Kalimba on the bench, the sound amplified and reverberated through the entire bench. Amazing how sounds transfer through objects.

Dry fit top

Found a large bolt, ground down 2 sides flat so I could easily center and drill the holes for the mounting screws.




I dry fitted the top pieces to make sure it would work.

cut out body piece

I also cut out the center body piece and the backing plywood to size. Placed the top piece on top of the wood I wanted as the body. Marked where the sound hole will be, and marked where the Bridge would be. I made this one so that under the bridge and back stop is solid wood.

I had one of those old green rakes that doesn't work well. I cut the tines from that old rake we never use.

The bottom is just some 1/4" plywood, sprayed premiered and painted it.
Dried, I placed the pieces together to marker where the hole would be. I painted the "NOEL", let it dry.


Next I put all the pieces together with wood glue and some nails using a nail gun. let it dry, then sanded the outside of it to where I liked it.


Stuck a rag in the hole to protect the painted inside, then spray primer and painted the outside.

Painted around the sound hole and the chamber. I should of painted the chamber before assembly, but I was not sure what color I wanted to paint it until it was all together.








Attached the Tines. Tuned the tines by sliding the Tines in and out.

This was a fun project, and rewarding to play. It really sounds beautiful once you get the tines tuned and figure out a few different ways to play it.
My family likes it so much that they want me to make a few more of them.

Keys - build

I saw this idea on Pinterest, and thought it would be neat to give as a gift. And I knew just the family for it.

I had a bunch of pictures of the build, but lost them. Evidentially if you do not have the data save on, it deletes the photos out of google photo if you delete them on the phone. Now I know...

Cut out the plywood and little shelf. sanded, and glued the shelf to the backing plywood.
Sanded again and painted.

I went through the piano keys I had and selected a set. Cut off the ends that go into the piano, and left the keys in a usable length.










I found some pieces off of the old piano parts that would work well for the hooks with original screws.



Glued and nailed the keys onto the backing board.











Used a Square to line up the hooks. predrilled and screwed them on. I also measure out some mounting screw holes. Made sure they were 16" apart. standard stud distance.


Getting ready to write "Keys" on the top.












Practiced my cursive "Keys" a few times on some paper. Still getting used to writing with a paint brush.

Finished project - I think it came out good.
I had a lot of fun working on it.

Fluorescent Bulbs

So I watched a video a while back, some guy ranting about home Fluorescent Bulbs.

We had changed out all our bulbs to Fluorescent a long time ago, and as those burn out we are replacing them with the LEDs.

You have to be careful because fluorescent bulbs contain Mercury (Another part of that guys rant, about waste disposal vrs benefits of power consumption, he really made some valid points). Anyway - Mercury is what give the light the ability to emit light (ionizing mercury vapors). Mercury is highly toxic. If you do not remember your schooling, look it up.

Besides Mercury, these bulbs have a lot of components. I had no idea until I took one apart.
The glass is sealed, just don't break it. You will see where the seam in the plastic is. They are just press fit and may have  some glue.
I squeezed the socket end around a few times to loosen it, then it just pops off.

Again don't break the glass. You might want to wear a mask and gloves. Mercury can be inhaled and or absorbed through the skin into your blood stream. One of the symptoms of mercury poisoning is "mood swings". FYI - mentioning to someone about their mood swings must activate the mercury poisoning, because they just go ballistic.

BUT - you don't have too take one apart, I have pictures here

few other bulbs I took apart

Once I take the circuit board out, I just put them back together and take them in to be recycled. Big Box stores usually have a container just for returning broken fluorescent bulbs. I'm not sure what they do with them really.

I have not checked to see what components have failed in these bulbs yet.

They have a lot of parts. I'm thinking that board itself will be good for future circuit projects. Will need to work the traces out, but cool.