the story so far: searching for a DIY pad solution

the mad scientist at work!! interesting idea nym... keep us posted.

bump!





i always wondered what it would be like to play with the 1k without having this crazy run around process. since pad 1, 5, and 3 are toast.

soon, soon.

now i got to find some better, more flexible vinyl.

here's where i have questions for you guys. go back and look at the first pic i posted on this thread.

i want to create a very thin (but thicker than a piece of paper--think about the thickness of shoebox cardboard) grid which goes over the sensor sheet. this will have evenly spaced, carefully cut holes cut out of it where the sensor would be.

i think vinyl would be the best, because it's both flexible and VERY easy to cut w/ an exacto, but the vinyl i found in my house wasn't good enough.

cardboard would work, but i want to stay far away from anything fibrous as excessive use will cause it to shed little specks of impurities and nobody wants that inside your mpc.

firstly, doesnt the semiconductor actually spread/stretch instead of compress as the pad is pushing it toward the sensors, hence the semiconductor covers more of the sensor for a greater level. so small tap only a small area of the sensor is touched with the semicon, harder tap, larger area.

as for the vinyl, the only thing that comes to mind is a swimmers cap, flexible, durable and waterproof

i remember cutting one of those things up for a crafts project,.... might be a bit thick tho. what about that latex weird sex costume stuff, you know the stuff rubber fetish people use. its bound to be thin enough and seems pretty durable.

lol d'oh !

just reread what the jj said, and yay i was right

but that kinda makes my above post kinda pointless

i still think you should go shopping at your local sex shop Nym.

i thought about that, but that's not the way these sensors work. it's not the area that is covered by a conductant material that registers velocity--it's gradient of conductant. i found this out by using tin foil to explore these sensors' traits.

first: a square of tin foil the size of the entire sensor tapped against the copper sensor. result : 127 velocity.

second: a square that's only just big enough to touch the 2 embedded copper wires together. result : 127 velocity.

so it's not the area covered, it's the type of conductant. that's why when we had the graphite come loose and float freely across our sensors in the initial akai design - if it was an issue of area, then wouldn't the pad be registered as being triggered all the time since it would be touching the sensor? only upon compression does this junk conduct.

as for vinyl, i'm sure i'll find something. i'm not joking when i say i'm losing sleep over this. it's crazy, i'm a mess.

firstly, doesnt the semiconductor actually spread/stretch instead of compress as the pad is pushing it toward the sensors

this stretching is also compression, as the material becomes closer together and the conductant fibers in the rubber get squeezed together

i still don't think it's area, but maybe i'll have to take another look. sknk, do you understand the jj's chart? maybe better than i do?

damn youre right, it would have been constantly triggered just laying ontop of the sensors.

i'm telling you dude, go to your local sex/fetish shop!

seriously now, how often does one have a legit non-sexual deviant reason to go and visit one of those places

hahahhah imagine walking in there with an mpc and a heat mask/decontamination suit asking the guy at the counter w/ greasy palms about electronics work.

"do you think this latex dildo can be cut into a single sheet?"

some type of latex spray would help. you may find it in a costume/magic shop.
other than that, you can go to an auto parts store and buy undercoating spray (which is used to protect a car's frame from rusting). but i gotta warn you, that $hit is messy and it's very hard to clean up (especially if you get in on your skin). if that's your last resort, i'd strongly recommend you practice applying it on to a piece of scrap metal, atleast 12 to 18 inches away. this $hit gets very thick, so a little goes a long way. be sure to cover any screw holes or anything you don't want to get covered up by spraying.

i want to keep away from sprays/liquids if at all possible, because i want this thing to be easy to take apart (other than the pad sensor bank, since i don't really see any of those going bad anytime soon.

it at least should be easy to disassemble til i get the design down so i can leave it forever.

they sell this stuf in plumbing stores that's used in shower floors before the actual floor is put in. first they put down this vinyl material, then they lay down sand concrete, then they put in the drain, then the floor... if i can get soemthing similar to that but maybe a lil thinner...

Nym, I just remembered something...
the latex spray i was talking aobut that can be found in a costume/magic shop
is not a spray. actually it's in a bottle with a brush applicator.
an old friend of mine is a prosthetic makeup artist, who's done work for star-trek type shows. he made me look like a klingon/romulan type of character. people in the club we were at actually asked me if that was real (pointing to my face) LMAO!!!
also, i recall my brother having a bottle of latex with a brush applicator. so it's out there, and it may be your best bet. search on the web and see what you can find. if you can't find anything, i can call up ronjo's magic shop and see if they still carry it. they got the coolest sh!t in there, for real!

i cant say that i do fully understand the chart.

but what he said kinda makes sense until you mentioned the freefloating semicon not triggering all the time:

Information on PAD.

PAD of MPC1000 is the rubber which resistance changes with pressure.
Low Pressure = High resistance.
High Pressure = Low resistance.


lets gather both your thoughts and the jj's:

1- freefloating doesnt continually trigger.
2- high pressure=low resistance

ok after 15 mins of thinking about this i've come tothe conclusion that i dont know jack about electrical stuff

if the pads are triggered as is, then yeah a freefloater should continually trigger, thats one reason why i thought i was getting double notes. but it doesnt so maybe theres an electrical contact that needs to be made within the sensors as a result of pressure being applied,....ie pressure makes electrical contact, and level is determined by the area of the semicon providing resistance. hence the jj's comments and why theres no triggering by a freefloater.

of course i'm probably wrong

then again looking at your pic in the first post, are the copper lines the same level as the plastic around them or are they even a little recessed? a slight recess might mean that the semicon makes the initial electrical contact when the pad is pressed because the rubber pad would deform to fill the recess forcing the flexible semicon into the recess.

and the level set by the area of the sensor covered.

that would explain the jj's comments, and address why the floater doesnt continually trigger. might also explain the doublehits cos the semicon might not bounce back as fast as the pad.

see if you can get a shot of the sensors from the side, as steep an angle as possible.

again tho i might be wrong

nym, what youre talking about with the shower thing is called a waterproof membrane. probably made of similar stuff to a swimming cap or rubber fetish suit.

"hahahhah imagine walking in there with an mpc and a heat mask/decontamination suit asking the guy at the counter w/ greasy palms about electronics work.

"do you think this latex dildo can be cut into a single sheet?" "

lmfao!

or how about the look on his face when holding up your mpc you say:

" i'm looking for rubber panties for this "



i would check out the fetish stuff first before the liquid latex, that stuff does sound messy. saddly theres no sex shop near me ( muslim country ) or i'd be there in a flash

sknkwrkz wrote:or how about the look on his face when holding up your mpc you say:

" i'm looking for rubber panties for this "

this shti has me cracking up!

what about mylar or acetate sheets? or does it need to be more rubbery/stretchy?

or maybe the top layer of a kmart placemat