On 23/04/2021 22:27, whisky-dave wrote:
On Friday, 23 April 2021 at 21:11:43 UTC+1, Peter Able wrote:
On 23/04/2021 11:31, whisky-dave wrote:
On Wednesday, 21 April 2021 at 19:42:11 UTC+1, Peter Able wrote:
On 21/04/2021 13:29, whisky-dave wrote:
On Wednesday, 21 April 2021 at 12:18:47 UTC+1, Peter Able wrote:
On 20/04/2021 22:17, whisky-dave wrote:
On Tuesday, 20 April 2021 at 20:09:11 UTC+1, Peter Able wrote:
On 20/04/2021 11:47, whisky-dave wrote:
Does anyone know where I can buy those old school type small potentiomenter with switch you know the ones like they had on the first hand held radios in the 60s-70s and on walkmans and stuff just a little wheel and the click for volume control. And cheap of course

I know I could by the standard rather large pots with DSPT but I want to put
this thing inside a mouse (computer mouse that is) .

Get one out of a scrap radio is the literal answer.

Tell us about the mouse project !

PA
It's for a small project to get students (those interested in hardware) to adapt an old mouse or we can supply one
so they can have rapid fire button with speed adjust. So need to switch it off for normal use too.
unfortunately these seem more expensive (over £3) than the mice we buy ;-)

yes I know there maybe a software solution but we need to attract more than just keyboard kiddies to hardware.

looking to buy 20-40

Respect! That's a brilliant project.

"thumbwheel potentiometer switch" produces 25 10k log taper for about
£30 on ebay.

Hope you don't need LINear. !

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/25-LOT-10...8AAOSwpNRe4-zG

PA

Cheers althouth TBA these type may be a problem mounting on a mouse. Currently using a finger preset
https://www.rapidonline.com/suntan-t...st-pot-68-0242

Although it appears just adjusting the frequence of a 555 or the M/S ratio doesn;t give a very good range.
Seem both frequency and M/S may need tweeking which is a pain.

now need to find a small , cheap, round mount hole switch.

We try to run 4 or 5 of these type activities a year for students they aren't marked or compulsary
just a fun activity but the days of using a LED , 555 based egg timer are well gone.
Need to think of something that can't be done on a phone or watch and students can show off to friends.

Good luck then.

Incidentally you could probably do what you want to do with two small
press or touch switches - and a microcontroller. Shoving your students
in at the deep end, I guess - but it could be a forward-looking approach.

Far to advanced and difficult to do., due to size restriction.
These are 1st year students even final year students would have problems with that.


And it could then simulate LOG, LIN, Ballistic or whatever.

No point as the interface on the computer wouldn't see that effect.



And make LEDs flash !

No that's more like it. :-)


PA
You might be surprised!

I'm sure you'd be more surprised by the level our student tend to be ;-)

s When I was at University - late 60s -

In those days the bright went to university, now it is more for those that can't get a job
after leaving school.

Yes, we must have been really thick in those days - it being expected
that no more than 10% would go onto University. And two-thirds of my
year were sent down at the end of the first year.

Now, "all shall have prizes".


nobody
seemed to have heard of devices with more than four pins - and the idea
of system engineering was unheard of. I broke the mould with a mass of
TTL -

TTL ! the first chips I can across were DTL when working as a school tech.


Oh, and RTL before that - and those Fairchild micrologic devices before
that. Not to mention ECL !


but the thing everyone came in the lab to be hypnotised by was a
relatively simple pseudo binary sequencer used to try to break the main
design. It ran at many megabits per second, but I included four
Lilliput bulbs driven by certain bits of the pbs, but only updated every
second.

A real crowd puller!

Well this is why we are trying to find activities that get their interest and put their smartphones away.

Well, good luck. I guess that the expectations of instant gratification
by a smartphone that costs so little is the issue. This old fart left
teaching - per se - about 40 years ago. When I started, a Sinclair
Scientific was the most advanced technology students had. I well
remember the amazement of one owner when I could look up a tangent
faster than it could calculate it (about 15 seconds). I placated the
owner by explaining that my result was from 4-figure tables, whereas his
gizmo had produces a 5-figure result !

PA