Turning this sewing machine pedal into a wah/exp. pedal ?

[ziess]

So the plan would be to have the trem slow down until it cuts out? Sounds like a good plan.

Yes, totally, as well as getting fast change in the trem speed to give movement impressions (a bit like the Boss RT20 rotary ensemble can do with the slow/fast switch). But I'm not sure the wah pot would go "low enough" to allow the trem to completely cut out, though.
One other thing I am worrying a bit is the wah pot I'll be using: the speed pot of the Trem kit needs to be a 100k reverse log, according to this diagram: http://diy.musikding.de/images/stories/ ... lowire.pdf. I am not sure I can find a reverse log wah pot abailable... maybe that a normal 100k log wah pot wired upside down would be the same?

It's to do with the taper of the pot. You may or may not prefer it, it's a preference. I'd try a wah pot first, they're mostly 100K anyway. You can also use a normal pot but they can be a bit noisy but should be ok for a speed control.

[Nicofromfrance]

Yes that's right, and I think that mounting the wah pot upside down (with the shaft towards the right of the pedal instead of the left) would do the trick if I prefer the way a reverse pot works, right?

[ziess]

Should do, yeah.

[egosheep]

I had a similar idea a while back:
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... 11&t=52333" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you have success, maybe I can pay you to take mine on as a project?

[Shorty]

If you were to build say a colorsound wah clone pot taper wouldn't matter as they are linear, 50k if I remember correctly. I built one and it was one of the best sounding wah's I've had.

With that said I'll share my idea with you, I had been thinking about having a wah and expression in one pedal by just using a dual potentiometer, one side connected to the wah and the other wired to an output jack. Separate you see, or check out geofex.com under the "tech tips" on the left-hand side for "volume pedal conversions for wah pedals" it shows you how to do that mod using one pot.

[Nicofromfrance]

I had a similar idea a while back:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=52333

If you have success, maybe I can pay you to take mine on as a project?

I remember seeing your thread on this project, how did it finally turn out? As for taking it as a project, I'm not sure I'll have the patience and motivation to take it on if this is not a personal project, sorry, but who knows (not to mention that my skills in electronics are pretty low, I can wire a kit correctly and some other stuffs, but not starting a circuit from scratch so far)

[Nicofromfrance]

Some progress on the spindle of the foot paddle:





I've used parts of hinges to make the spindle support, it now stands lower than with the first idea, that's better. The way I have made it gives the foot paddle a pretty tight movement, which I like. I've stripped the enclosure (except the foot paddle), the next step is to apply aluminium sheets behind the many holes I want to cover and fill these holes with the Sintofer to have a flat surface.

[Nicofromfrance]

By the way would someone that possess a Crybaby wah or a wah with a rack and pinion mechanism like this one http://www.banzaimusic.com/Standard-Rack-Gear.html be able to tell me the size of the rack gear of this mechanism please?
I'd like to use a rack and pinion like in most wahs for my pedal but I am wondering if it will fit the size of my enclosure. Thanks in advance!

If you were to build say a colorsound wah clone pot taper wouldn't matter as they are linear, 50k if I remember correctly. I built one and it was one of the best sounding wah's I've had.

With that said I'll share my idea with you, I had been thinking about having a wah and expression in one pedal by just using a dual potentiometer, one side connected to the wah and the other wired to an output jack. Separate you see, or check out geofex.com under the "tech tips" on the left-hand side for "volume pedal conversions for wah pedals" it shows you how to do that mod using one pot.

Having a dual purpose expression pedal like that is something I'd really like to have, especially if I could control 2 different pedals expression input. For this pedal in particular I am more focusing on a tremolo with a simple wah pot to adjust the speed of the effect, the reason why I mentionned "wah/expression pedal" in the title is because it was taking less place in the title case than "tremolo with adjustable speed", but it basically gives the idea.
I keep your idea in mind anyway, thanks for the tip! it may be useful someday

[WonderCouncil]

This is awesome! I've wondered how one would go about doing what your doing. I see these for sale super cheap all the time at thrift stores. It's looking goo so far. Could start a whole life of effects bases on these cases

If you could find where to buy gold foil, like that used by DeArmond in their pickups that could be cool. Be the only guitarist with a gold foil wah ultimate tonezzz

[Nicofromfrance]

Hey thanks! I would love to have thrift stores where you could find such gear over here, but unfortunately I don't... How do you think I could use gold foils with such a pedal? I'm curious!
Today I've applied the Sintofer to fill in a part of the holes, this thing seems to be hard as metal when dry. I can't wait to sand it tomorrow to see if the work is clean, as now it is pretty ugly.

[WonderCouncil]

D'oh, should have been more clear lol. I only meant as a way to cover the holes. You could put gold foil behind them...thus a "gold foil pedal". Sounded better in my mind

[Nicofromfrance]

By the way would someone that possess a Crybaby wah or a wah with a rack and pinion mechanism like this one http://www.banzaimusic.com/Standard-Rack-Gear.html be able to tell me the size of the rack gear of this mechanism please?

I answer my own question, the size of this part is mentionned in the same link I add in my question... 49mm long, that looks good for my enclosure!

[Nicofromfrance]

So far the project is going on slowly but surely, I've stripped the enclosure down, and I am filling all these holes that are on the pedal. The process needs to cut a sheet of thin aluminium to size and to stick it behind the hole in the inside of the enclosure with the Sintofer, and to fill in the remaining hole with the Sintofer on the other side. This works very well, and the paste seems to be very very hard when dry. Only a few cracks can appear but I just have to apply another thin layer on top, and the patches are really flush with the rest of the enclosure after a bit of sanding.




The patches behind the holes:


I'll paint the case blue, either a kind of sonic or daphne blue, or if I can find it, a blue hammered paint like the one you can find on a lot of industrial machines.
I also plan to cut a rectangle piece of aluminium sheet to place it in the middle of the rubber part of the foot paddle, to add a nice 'logo' to it.

I've ordered all the stuffs to build the mechanism of the rack and pinion, as well as the tremolo kit that should get home next week

[Steadyriot.]

How is this one coming along?

[jrjoe21]

Very cool.

I had a sewing machine pedal and 4-5 years ago added a fuzz+green ringer circuit in there. Left mine raw... It must lots of work to patch the metal like you did and calibrate the rocking plate for a wha.