DIY 3-zone cymbal (revisited)

[ignotus]

Hi all,

At last, I have been able to put together a 3-zone piezo/switch/switch cymbal that is relatively easy to make, reliable and (possibly) durable. For some time I'd been fiddling around with DIY membrane switches but in the end I decided that they just wouldn't do - they were too flimsy and were bound to fail somwhere down the line. A few days ago Privatex posted a picture of a 2-box cymbal showing how they make their edge switches. I'd seen it before but seeing it again got me thinking. So cheers Privatex for the inspiration!

Material:
- 2 plastic practice cymbals
- Copper tape
- A hacksaw
- Glue
- 1 mm sheet rubber
- Carbon fibre car body vinyl
- Piezos, jacks, etc.


So, here's how it's done:

First, I took one of the cymbals (for the top) and cut out a circle at the bell just big enough to clear the felt of the wingnut. You'll see why later. Then, I made a series of cuts down slightly past the bell area. Each of these segments can now be easily bent downwards with little force and will return to their position:

bell.jpg

Then, I made some cuts around the edge, similar to what 2-box does, to achieve the same effect:

edge.jpg

Next I prepared the top of the bottom cymbal. A ring of copper around the edge and another around the top of the bell. It looks pretty terrible because I reused it from a previous experiment and it still has some gunk from the glue on it, but it doesn't matter because it won't be seen:

bottom_cymbal.jpg

Now comes the laborious part. Each segment around the edge has copper under it, but since each segment is separate from the other, I had to run a ring of copper around the cymbal further in and link each segment to it. The bell was a bit easier, just strips going down to the ring that joins them. Last of all, the edge and bell copper each goes to its own wire to go down through the bottom cymbal and into the jack box. To make double sure all connections between the strips of copper work and because I found that even though the sticky side is conductive, sometimes for some reason it isn't, so I applied a very thin layer of solder to every point where the copper strips meet. The white bits are duct tape folded over itself to create the tiny gap needed for the switch. The gunk around the bell on the bottom cymbal did the job there:

top_cymbal.jpg

Ideally, the bottom cymbal should be sanded around the edge and the bell to create the gap. I had neither the tools handy, the willpower to do it by hand nor the patience, so I just did without.

[continues in next post]

[ignotus]

Next, I stuck both cymbals together and waited for the glue to dry. I stuck 3 piezos to the underside of the bottom cymbal for even 360º triggering, wired everything up, covered the bottom with some vinyl and attached a small project box with its jacks (I use rca jacks). The top is covered with 1 mm sheet rubber and some carbon fibre vinyl for looks. Here is the end result:

finished.jpg

As you can see, if you don't cut out the circle at the top of the bell, the pressure from the felt and washer would close the bell switch. I just need to glue something there to prevent dirt from getting in under the switches.
I've been playing with it for a couple of days and it works great, better than anything else I've tried until now, and I'm hoping it should last. I'll post a video if I get a chance one of these days so you can see.

Anyway, that's it. Total cost: around €10 plus about 2 & 1/2 hours putting it together. A bargain!

[privatex]

Great work man! Switches made from construction parts, ou yes. Cheers and keep us updated.

[Nepo]

Hey, super job, I think you are move in a right direction to have a sensible and durable 3W-DIY cymbal at the end.

One question: Where do you placed the piezoes, exacly between bell and edge ?

br

Nepo

[ignotus]

I put them close to the bell (about 2 cm away from where the bell ends) so I don't hit directly over them when "riding" the bow and get good sensitivity for the bell. If you put them too close to the edge the output is too wild with edge hits and they pick up too much residual vibration. Where they are now sensitivity is great all over the cymbal and there are zero hotspots.

[ignotus]

Video: http://youtu.be/iTDr8KtuTB8

[privatex]

I felt that the ultimate diy 3zone cymbal method(s) will be born.
Congratulations.

[Nepo]

Wow, works perfect, what I had seen!

3 questions:

1.What is the distance between top and bottom?
(Is that only the space of the white double gluetape on the pic?)

2.In case of repair (hope that doesnt happend) can you resamble it ?

3.How loud is your cymbal? would be nice to add this on your video

Thanks in advance for your answer...

br

Nepo

[ignotus]

1.What is the distance between top and bottom?
(Is that only the space of the white double gluetape on the pic?)

Yes, the distance is just made with the white duct tape - about 1 mm. A better approach would be to sand the bell and edge of the bottom cymbal to create that distance, I just didn't have the tools handy nor the patience to do it by hand.

2.In case of repair (hope that doesnt happend) can you resamble it ?

Hopefully it won't be necessary, but if it has to be done, the cymbals are glued together with contact glue, which isn't as strong as, say, epoxy, and is only applied around the central bow area, so they shouldn't be too difficult to separate. I considered bolting the cymbals together to be able to take it apart but decided against it - if it fails I'll just pull them apart and glue them again.

3.How loud is your cymbal? would be nice to add this on your video

It's much quieter than hitting the bare plastic cymbal and a bit louder than the mesh heads. Quiet enough for me. A sheet of EVA under the rubber makes it much quieter but it makes the feel a bit worse (spongier) and also the sensitivity, so I just settled for the rubber. The vinyl on top adds a slight bit of hardness too and makes if feel better. I still have the video with the original ambient sound. It's done with a crappy mobile so the sound is a bit bad, but I'll see if I can add it to the video above.

Edit: I've uploaded a video to include the stick noise

[Nepo]

Hey ignotus,
tx for feedback.

Last question....how do you connect the cable with the copper foil?
(glue?, clamp?, soldering?)