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Interfacing swappable Control Panels..

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Minwah:

Cool job mahuti :)

I've seen the idea on cars before, some use these kindof connectors for doors / boots for power to lights or speaker connections.  I had my doubts about those getting corroded and dodgy contacts, but in a home cab I don't think that would be a problem.

Wish I had done that now, unplugging Molex connectors seems like quite an effort!

mahuti:

When I setup my original connectors, I had to solder all the contacts in 'cause I didn't use printer cables.... what a pain! I was never perfectly happy with my setup. It worked, and better than just one panel, but I knew there was a better way. I wanted to make it a no brainer for guests to swap these panels. And I wanted it easier for me as well.

I was working on a solution using an edge connector & a jamma harness, but that might be prone to breakage & tough for positioning. This system seems to be very sturdy, easy to install on multiple panels, and easy to maintain. Once I make a few modifications to this design (thinner copper connectors, etc) this will be a much better system than either edge connectors or cables.

I had thought about doing this before Nannuu had mentioned it, but only in a vague "how can I make the contact points really big" sort of way. His little drawing put all the pieces together. It's his idea, and a remarkably simple one.

Right now my copper's too stiff, though, and provides resistance against my panel (which is probably just a tiny bit warped. Since the copper is flush mounted to the wood, if any of the pieces are a little to high or too low, contact isn't made. I'm going to go back an install something more similar to regular leaf switches, now that I know that idea will actually work.  I want to keep the price under 10$, though. Actual leaf switches are about $4-$5 each, though, and don't do what I want. I'm going to kind of have to build my own.  

Oh, and about those contacts on cars.... I have those on my mini-van, and they work AWESOME! No corrosion. I think they are gold plated, and I'm sure they are EXPENSIVE!!



paigeoliver:

I was originally going to do pseudo jamma wiring with fingerboards for the different panels.

But, I looked at things, and I ended up ordering ten of the 16 pin molex connector sets from Bob Roberts. I think only ONE panel will need two of them, all the other panels will only need one, thus allowing me to do as many as 9 swappable control panels.

DrewKaree:

About those "car-door" connectors, I now know the name for them, as I needed them for hooking up door speakers and whatnot last week, they are called "Jamb Tacs" and I think they would be prohibitively expensive for a cab.  A 4 contact point version costs $30, so unless there's some way to daisy chain your whole friggen panel....WOW!.

Nanuu, DAMN good idea, and mahuti, EXCELLENT work in giving it a go!  To add my idea after hearing your issues with the copper, what about using just screws to make the connection?  One screw head touches the other, CONTACT!  Also, you could use a panel clamp to give better assurance of contact and fool around with the screw height to fine tune the whole thing (loosen for more contact, tighten to remove any CP "wobble" from sitting too high up)?

Thanks for letting us know the idea would work and giving a prototype to springboard from.  I was going to do 25's but now, I like this idea mo betta

mahuti:

I went to the craft store today.

I bought a thin stick of wood. Glued that down. Got some medium weight stainless steel strips nailed holes through them, and then screwed them down in position, bent them over the wood strip. Now there is a 1/4" negative space beneath the strips, and those strips are MUCH more flexible than the copper, and they seem to conduct pretty well. Basically, with that negative space, I don't need to worry about screw hight, the contact is very easy to make. It functions more like Nannuu's picture. I'll post pictures tomorrow. I'm too busy building the rest of the connections to take any tonight. So far I'm up to 8 switches wired this way across the panel and they all function just fine.

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