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Silicon Mallet FSRs

Silicon Mallet FSRs

2018-08-28 by edrose1@...

Hey All.


Just picked up a Silicon Mallet and it has a few sporadic dead keys plus one dead octave. The dead octave is probably just connection or logic related although it may have a few clinkers in it, too. So, does anyone have any spare FSRs? And, those of you who've been brave enough to dig into it, let me hear your advice on cleanly getting to the FSRs and any tips regarding common faults/things to look out for.


Thanks!


Ed

Re: [Simmons Drums] Silicon Mallet FSRs

2018-08-29 by José Duarte Antunes

Been there some years ago.
The first thing I was told to do was to buy a conductive pen like this one.
They are expensive but worth it. There are cheap ones but they don't do the work.
With this pen you can retrace every single line in the FSR and the keys will magicly start to work.
Probably even the "malfunctioning" octave is just the ground connection that need some retracing.
To verify this, just connect another octave to that "malfunctioning" octave multipin socket to see if it's the FSR or other board issue.
This method will put every single "key" working but sensivity will never be 100% like new.
One other important issue is the FSRs connector plug that connects to the board.
Since it's "stapled" to the the FSR it's very very unstable.
After a lot of work I managed to find the name for the plug and buy new.

I can't recall how many pins that FSRs are. Check it out. If you can't find the exact number of pins buy one with more pins, it will fit on the board.

Some years ago a guy was selling like brand new FSRs for the sillicon mallet. I bought 3 just in case but he said he had like a dozen of them. 
Contact the seller on that page and check with him if he still has anything related.

Hope it helps.

Re: [Simmons Drums] Silicon Mallet FSRs

2018-08-29 by edrose1@...

Many thanks for this, Jose! Exactly what I was looking for! And, luckily enough, I have one of those conductive pens. Oh, and after being on a few hours, the dead octave came back to life!

Re: [Simmons Drums] Silicon Mallet FSRs

2018-08-29 by José Duarte Antunes

Any aditional useful info, please inform me also :)
Glad to help.


Em qua, 29 ago, 2018 às 15:32, edrose1@... [Simmons_Drums]
<Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com> escreveu:
 

Many thanks for this, Jose! Exactly what I was looking for! And, luckily enough, I have one of those conductive pens. Oh, and after being on a few hours, the dead octave came back to life!

Re: [Simmons Drums] Silicon Mallet FSRs

2018-08-30 by edrose1@...

Will do! It'll probably be a month or so before I get into it, but, yes, anything I find of note I will report.

Also, does anyone have a digital copy of the Silicon Mallet manual? If so, please let me know. And, if nobody has done this yet, I'll gladly pay someone for their time to scan it and send it to me.

Re: Silicon Mallet FSRs

2019-03-10 by ptmetcalf3@...

If the dead octave came back to life after being on for a few hours, chances are there's an electrolytic cap in the circuit somewhere that was bad, but needed time to "reform"....probably best to do a recap on it for reliability sake....yes I know that statement is a bit of an oxymoron.... British/Simmons "reliability" lol!