DIY foot pedal - drum

[Wozzaaah]

Think about how they are used. Drum pedal, you hit it and release. It is either on or off. TIG pedal you need full range from completely off to full on. It needs to be comfortable with your foot in any position. Most TIG pedals are pivoted in the centre, so your heel controls the juice as much as your toe. The drum one is pivoted at the back.

My gut feeling is that keyboard, sewing machine, wah wah pedal will serve as a better base than a drum one.

Not really, it's only used that way because you stamp your foot on it to get the beater to hit the drum skin. Remove the beater and it's just a simple pedal that works against a spring and returns to it's fully up position when you take the pressure off. No different to how a sewing machine/guitar/tig pedal operates mechanically.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Here you go, someone has already made one.

 

[Jan-DIY]

That looks very scary. Return spring is on dead end and must be very strong to get home. Also some geared stuff is in that to ratio that.

 

[fizzy]

Not really, it's only used that way because you stamp your foot on it to get the beater to hit the drum skin. Remove the beater and it's just a simple pedal that works against a spring and returns to it's fully up position when you take the pressure off. No different to how a sewing machine/guitar/tig pedal operates mechanically.

That is what I thought.
Robust mechanism as well.
And cheap on Ebay for good quality ones.

 

[fizzy]

Here you go, someone has already made one.

Cheers some good tips to work with.

 

[James1979]

That was quick.
This is a Boss FV500 but not sure if it was H or L. These are different in Pot actuation. Will check that.
Cheap on 2nd hand. Just about 40-50€ here in Germany.

View attachment 311344 View attachment 311346 View attachment 311347 View attachment 311348 View attachment 311349

Thats a really good idea, thank you for posting

I think its a L. They seem to have 5 sockets on whereas the H has 3?

 

[paulo1974]

My 2 cents. The drum pedal is a bad idea. The harder part for me is getting the potentiometer to rise and fall with the press and release of the pedal. I bought a Chinese pedal for about 30 euros.

 

[carbon]

I made one from a guitar pedal, die cast aluminium, already had the mounting for a pot. Just needed to mount a switch to the rear of the pedal.

 

[Munkul]

How is a SCC pedal "a rip off"?

The pedal box is made from steel, anti slip material as well, and designed with the pivot in the mid point so you can rest your weight on it. £50ish.
Durable microswitch, potentiometer and linkages - another £50
High quality rubberised cable 25ft - £20
High quality amphenol or Tuchel plug - £30

Total cost £150.

Price delivered from RTech - £196. For one of the best designed and highest quality foot pedals on the market, with a very very smooth progressive feel to it.

No faffing, you literally pull it out of the box, plug it in and it's good to go. You couldn't build one to the same quality and design for much less than that, and it would cost you far more if you account for your labour.

I mean, these things sell around the world, and get kicked around the workplace, dragged by the cable, dropped, and abused. They're that good.

Not exactly a rip off.

 

[Mark 2]

This will be the pulse version.

 

[fizzy]

How is a SCC pedal "a rip off"?

The pedal box is made from steel, anti slip material as well, and designed with the pivot in the mid point so you can rest your weight on it. £50ish.
Durable microswitch, potentiometer and linkages - another £50
High quality rubberised cable 25ft - £20
High quality amphenol or Tuchel plug - £30

Total cost £150.

Price delivered from RTech - £196. For one of the best designed and highest quality foot pedals on the market, with a very very smooth progressive feel to it.

No faffing, you literally pull it out of the box, plug it in and it's good to go. You couldn't build one to the same quality and design for much less than that, and it would cost you far more if you account for your labour.

I mean, these things sell around the world, and get kicked around the workplace, dragged by the cable, dropped, and abused. They're that good.

Not exactly a rip off.

In fairness the SCC pedals are far better value than the manufactures branded ones but still overpriced.

I have been involved in manufacturing and electronics.
You would be amazed just how cheap stuff really is.
Ok so you have to pay for design and R+D but footpedals are not exactly new or cutting edge.
Microswitch £2
Potentiometer - quality wire wound - £3
Tuchel plug £10
cable - £15
Housing and mechanism - I would say £20 tops.
That is £50. The volumes they sell these in I bet £35. Then you have people sticking markups on all over the pace.

To put it in perspective

Sim racing pedals for the same money

- OK I know they are budget ones but still far more to them than a welding pedal.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ThrustMaster-T-Lcm-Pedals-Magnetic-Electronic/dp/B07YFDL1JW/ref=pd_lpo_1?pd_rd_i=B07YFDL1JW&psc=1

 

[slim_boy_fat]

the wood will be around 200kilos to start out

What do you make out of a lump like that?

 

[Munkul]

In fairness the SCC pedals are far better value than the manufactures branded ones but still overpriced.

I have been involved in manufacturing and electronics.
You would be amazed just how cheap stuff really is.
Ok so you have to pay for design and R+D but footpedals are not exactly new or cutting edge.
Microswitch £2
Potentiometer - quality wire wound - £3
Tuchel plug £10
cable - £15
Housing and mechanism - I would say £20 tops.
That is £50. The volumes they sell these in I bet £35. Then you have people sticking markups on all over the pace.

To put it in perspective

Sim racing pedals for the same money

- OK I knw they are budget ones but still far more to them than a welding pedal.

I know how cheap components are in mass production, but as a small volume manufacturer or end user, they are far more... try and buy a quality 5p tuchel plug for £10... it can't be done. SCC sell worldwide but I bet they only shift a few hundred units a month. And they come from US of A, so shipping and customs get their cuts too.
Same with those racing pedals, but that's balanced out by there being much more going on with them...

My prices were for you to make your own to the same standard as a SCC pedal.

A drum pedal will work, of course, but you won't be able to kick it across the floor, nor stand on it comfortably.

I thought the DIY ideal used to be a sewing machine pedal? Or guitar pedal? Or more commonly, a keyboard expression pedal?

https://cpc.farnell.com/nektar/8593...PING&s_kwcid=AL!5616!3!224668165880!!!network}!371553748028!&gclid=Cj0KCQjw18WKBhCUARIsAFiW7Jw8qG9Q3jWcOsqspDwepFn0Z4312FRjt5rL7Ch98tJ3GyzYnnr-OgAaAh_TEALw_wcB

This looks like basically all you'd need to do is put a microswitch in for the start, and re-wire it for the machine... Very cheap, and probably durable enough for light use...

 

[daleyd]

In fairness the SCC pedals are far better value than the manufactures branded ones but still overpriced.

I have been involved in manufacturing and electronics.
You would be amazed just how cheap stuff really is.
Ok so you have to pay for design and R+D but footpedals are not exactly new or cutting edge.
Microswitch £2
Potentiometer - quality wire wound - £3
Tuchel plug £10
cable - £15
Housing and mechanism - I would say £20 tops.
That is £50. The volumes they sell these in I bet £35. Then you have people sticking markups on all over the pace.

To put it in perspective

Sim racing pedals for the same money

View attachment 311518 - OK I know they are budget ones but still far more to them than a welding pedal.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ThrustMaster-T-Lcm-Pedals-Magnetic-Electronic/dp/B07YFDL1JW/ref=pd_lpo_1?pd_rd_i=B07YFDL1JW&psc=1

View attachment 311516 View attachment 311517

And someone to screw it all together, test it, put it in a box, ship it, market it, r&d, warranty, office staff to invoice things, rent on premises….

You are one of the first to complain about people not wanting to pay decent rates for couriers. Just saying’

 

[Jan-DIY]

I collected lots of stuff here. Also few remotes. Yes, if it comes down to price it is industrial stuff. Break such kind of pedal into price it is economic to buy oem stuff. Lifecycle calculation needs implementation, design, EMC, CE, (eventually UL which is a pain), now also ergonomics, documenting, service, spare supply, hardware revisions, rohs reach, marketing, sales, disposal and for sure profit.
But because of being a private non profit organization I need to focus on my small horizon.
And I really enjoy to made things myself and compare it to commercial stuff.
Never did any profit calc or even profit…
Just have fun on doing stuff.

 

[bourbon]

I’ve no idea as I don’t know the first thing about playing drums

get a couple of twigs, hit a stretched skin, Hard. Think that's about it?

 

[Parm]

get a couple of twigs, hit a stretched skin, Hard. Think that's about it?

Ace, ive just submitted my fist ever band application.

Watch this space......

 

[Dcal]

I made one for my bead roller out of a Roland piano pedal.
It works on my jasic ac / dc tig as well but I don't weld with with a pedal so it lives on the bead roller.
I made a adapter cable so it can run both bits of kit.

https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/yet-another-bead-roller-mod-thread.85196/post-1225874

 

[Agroshield]

Ace, I've just submitted my first ever band application.

Watch this space...

If the name of the band is 'Spinal Tap', please consider withdrawing your application.

 

[Parm]

If the name of the band is 'Spinal Tap', please consider withdrawing your application.

Im not that good to apply for a named band