[sdiy] optical retrofit for minis?

[Harry Bissell Jr]

A lot of reed switches break because the leads
have been bent, without strain relief.  This will
leave residual stress that could crack the glass.

Major impact can break them, maybe the whole
pedal assy was dropped off a truck ?

I have never seen one break from the action of the
contact close.

I would bend them by holding the leads with pliers
away from the glass body...

then bed them onto a circuit board with a bead of RTV
silicone underneath. (now shock loading should not
matter).  Leave enough lead so that any flexing can
be absorbed, should last a long long time.

They are usually made of glass to hermetically seal
the contacts, sometimes with a noble gas filling.
Yummy !!!

H^) harry


--- "Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason at blazenet.net> wrote:
> On Tuesday 22 March 2005 01:31 pm,
> david at therogoffs.com wrote:
> > /key (2 reed switches + magnet).
> >
> > > I worked on one old Hammond where somebody had
> removed the original pedal
> > > actuators and installed reed switches for some
> aftermarket bass feature. 
> > > The problem with those is they break...
> >
> > I don't understand why they would break.  They are
> very tough.  Of course,
> > if you hit the glass casing with a hammer...
> 
> It's the same effect -- only instead of a single
> blow with a hammer,  you're 
> talking about a lot of small blows with something
> smaller.  They're just not 
> all that robust,  or long-lasting,  in my
> experience....
> 
> Even if you mounted one in a pair of rubber grommets
> (or similar),  the 
> repeated cycling of the contacts over a period of
> time will eventually stress 
> the glass at one end or the other until it cracks.
> 
> I wonder why they use glass with those,  anyhow?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>