Building your own tap tempo footswitch

FruitarGeek

I went to Yebo Electronics today, and got a couple of components that I will need to make my own tap tempo footswith for my DD20. Now I am NO engineer of sorts, and im getting a friend with a soldering gun to help me out, but before I do so, maybe some advise is in order.

So as I said, I went to Yebo Electronics and I got:

1. Heavy Duty Foot Switch, DPDT, Momentary (AMK92G)

2. 6.35mm Mono Panel Socket (PLJ661)

3. 2 Metres of normal wire

4. A plastic container.

So Now as far as my lack of knowledge tells me is that the footswitch has 6 terminals of sorts where the wires could potentialy go. The site that I have been using as a guide [http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2613287/how_to_make_a_guitar_amp_footswitch.html?cat=33] says I need a footswith that looks like this

Now I have something that looks like this

What Can/Should I do to correctly connect it to the 1/4" Mono Jack Input

to make it work as a tap tempo pedal?

Thanks.

Btw, Everything came to a total of R88, the container being the most expensive. So this could save me a potential R100 if I had bought the FS-U5 or something like that

AlanRatcliffe

You'll see there are six lugs - each row of three is one "pole". The middle lug in the pole is the "common" and then you have one normally open lug and one normally closed (Possibly labelled "NO" and "NC" respectively).

The important lug is the common - one wire goes there. The other wire goes to the NO lug (most units will probably work with the NC lug too, but safer to stick to convention in case you end up using the footswitch for something else.

FruitarGeek

Hey Alan

Thanks, its making much more sense now, although the footswitch is not labelled NO or NC, so how will I know. So I grasp the idea of the common tug, now do I have to use both poles or just one?

AlanRatcliffe

If you have a multimeter, set it to continuity test or resistance and you will be able to see which of the two outside lugs is connected to the common, and that will be the NC (then the other will be the NO, which is the one you use).

If you can juggle using the multimeter probes, pushing the switch and testing the lugs all at once (takes a bit of practice, LOL!) you'll see that the connection to the common "breaks" from the NC and "makes" to the NO when the switch is pushed.

FruitarGeek

Well there will be 2 of us, so should be easier.

But it all sounds very do-able. One last thing though, is you say the connection between the common and NC will 'break' when the switch is pressed, and the connection between the common and the NO will "open". Surly, when I push the switch again, it will be vice versa in that the NC will open and the NO will break?

AlanRatcliffe

No, it's a momentary action switch (AKA "non-latching"), so as soon as you release pressure from the actuator, it pops back to it's original state.

FruitarGeek

Oh I see.
Thanks for the help, will let you know if it was a success or not. But I don't have any reason to believe that it wont be :?

FruitarGeek

Hey Alan

So there seems to be a final problem, or misunderstanding shall I say.
So the Switch has 6 tugs, and the Jack has 3 tugs, how do I know which tugs goes to which one? Must there be 3 connections in total?

We tried mixing and matching the connections without soldering, just in case it was the wrong one, and none of them worked.Any Ideas?

AlanRatcliffe

You only need two lugs on each - the tip and the sleeve on the jack (you must have a stereo/TRS socket), leaving the ring. And then the common and the NO lug on the switch.

FruitarGeek

Ok cool. Thanks again for your help. It works, I tried it. I just gotta solder it now. Is it essential to solder it, cause right now the cables are in a way that they wont budge out of the tugs?

But thanks again, one step closer to the ultimate pedal board ???

AlanRatcliffe

Glad you're coming right. Yes, soldering is essential - even if it works as it is, it won't be long before oxidation sets in and causes problems.

Brastep

Save yourself a lot of pain and get a cheap multimeter. Its easy to figure out switches and you can also check the integrity of your solder joints.

FruitarGeek

True. But so far Google has been proving itself to be an even cheaper alternative ?

AndrewD

FruitarGeek wrote True. But so far Google has been proving itself to be an even cheaper alternative ?

At the expense of making you type "tugs" all the time?
?

FruitarGeek

At the expense of making you type "tugs" all the time?

What are they supposed to be called? :-\

Jacquesg4j

Nice... I was searching google for info to build my own tap-tempo, but then remembered that maybe someone built something on my forum... So yeah this will be soooo cheap!

FruitarGeek

Jacquesg4j wrote Nice... I was searching google for info to build my own tap-tempo, but then remembered that maybe someone built something on my forum... So yeah this will be soooo cheap!

Yea. I'm still using mine. Literally saved like over R180 for a silly tapper.

Jacquesg4j

I will just sommer go irectly from switch to delay, no jack on the tap tempo. It just seems like a waiste!

FruitarGeek

Jacquesg4j wrote I will just sommer go irectly from switch to delay, no jack on the tap tempo. It just seems like a waiste!

Good idea. Only after I built mine did I think of doing it. It is a bit of a waste I suppose.

Jacquesg4j

I'm going to check different switches on thursday... I just don't want something that clicks! Just smooth momentary tapping!! Btw, what delay did you build it for?