Variable Control Box For Acoustic Hat Stand
by Michael Beatnik
Step 1
First you will need to pick up a slide dimmer switch (yes that’s right, for your house lights).
I used a Lutron GL-600H-WH from my local Home Depot $10.
Next you will need to gut the thing down to just the circuit board and slider pot.
Taking everything off the board but the slider*.
Step 2
Pick up a project box from Radio Shack part # 270-1801.
Cut and drill the corners of the circuit board so it fits into the bottom of the box and the holes line up with the holes on the boxes standoffs (see picture on step 4).
Next you need to cut the sliders post down so it will clear the lid and drill a small hole for the pull cable to be inserted.
Step 3
Drill a small hole in the side of the box for the wires that will lead to the 1/4″ female jack.
Solder the wires to the underside of the circuit board where the sliders connections are made.
The electrical tape is to insulate the printed circuit board from the bare coax.
At this time go ahead and hook up to your module to see which position is open and which is closed.
Step 4
Now that you know which position is open hats this is the end you will mount the return spring.
Set the board into the box and secure with screws.
You will need to cut two slots in the end of the box making a post the springs loop will slide over.
Slide the other loop over the post on the slider. On the opposite end of the box you will drill a hole (1/4″dia) for the pull cable to pass through.
Run the cable through this hole and through the hole you drill in the sliders post and twist the end securely.
Step 5
Here is what your unit should look like so far.
The spring I used was a bit long but can easily be cut to the proper length to keep the slider in the open position.
Step 6
Now we attack the lid. Pick up two 1″ U-bolts (for 1/2″ pipe) and some extra nuts (six needed for each U-bolt) you will need to drill four holes in the lid for these as shown.
Put the metal strap and four bolts (two on each leg) on the u-bolts.
Slide the legs through the holes and put the last two nuts on flush to the threads. Tighten the center (or middle) two nuts to secure the lid. (I hope all this is making sense?)
Step 7
Attatch the lid to the box and you have your variable controller.
You will have to attach the lid to the stand first using the u-bolts then attach the box to the lid. This should be placed above the pedal and the cable then attached to the pedal.
When the pedal is in the closed position the cable should pull the slider to the full down position (you don’t want to bottom out the slider completely or you could pull it apart).
You can adjust the cable tightness by sliding the box up or down on the hat stand.
PARTS LIST Lutron slide dimmer part #GL-600H (or equivalent)
* This is a 300k ohm slide potentiometer .The Roland TD-10 uses a 25k ohm signal. This tends to make the in-between sound area a bit smaller but does work (the Visu-lite uses a 100k ohm slide pot). [ Using Ohm’s Law, you can also put a fixed resister in parallel with the slide pot to get the overall resistance down to where it should be. For example, put a 100k resistor in parallel with a 100k slide pot and the overall range is now 0 – 50k. Voila! -Ed M.] 1 – Radio Shack project box part # 270-1808
2 – 1″ u-bolts (for 1/2″ pipe) & twelve nuts
4 – #6 x 5/8″ bolts and nuts (for circuit board)
1 – 1/4″ female jack and cable
Picture hanging wire (cable) #3
1 – Tension spring
Thanx a lot Michael for this excellent design!Best.
www.eareckon.com
