Suitable switches for 32 notePedal board

[robinfawell]

I seem to recall that reed switches were mentioned on the forum in connection with the above.

Has any one any suggestions ie  optical.  The organ I am rebuilding has leaf spring mechanical switches.  I would prefer not to use these.  They are fairly old and I think that there must be another better  way.

Regards Robin

[MMorph]

I suppose the solution depends on how much of money and effort you are willing to waste. Reed swtiches are quite easy solution but you need to hassle with the magnets then. Then again you could take a look on any hall-effect switches you can find. These may be quite expensive though.

For the optical solution there are many kinds of opto switches around. This could be one candidate to replace old mechanical switches (Mfr. Optek):

However, besides that it's expensive I'm not quite sure if it fits on your construction. But, since it seems that it's being a sort of habit to recycle the old stuff, you could scrape up all computer mice you can find and use the light gates from there and make even better switch than the image above  :)

Regards, Petri

[jimhenry]

Some of that clunky outdated electromechanical hardware you find in organ consoles actually works quite well.  I'd test the switches you have before you consider replacements.  I've seen "switches" that were nothing more than a metal plate that got shoved into a pair of spring wire contacts which still worked perfectly after 80 years of hard service.  Don't sell the organ builders of the past short just because they didn't have all the modern electronic stuff to work with.  You'll find it hard to beat what they accomplished.

[robinfawell]

My thanks to Jim and Petri for their input.  I will try out the "old" switches first.  I can always replace the "old" switches when needed.  I've enough to do with other problems.

Regards Robin

[Davo]

Among arcade game collectors, leaf switches are considered superior to microswitches.  A big  reason is that they don't add any feedback to the buttons.  Find an arcade machine from the 80s.  Notice how smooth the buttons feel?  Now compare this with a more modern machine.  The button has a click to it.  If anything else, your leaf switches can be very cheap to replace by making them yourself.  They're probably little more than some spring steel coated with something like brass, copper, or nickel riveted to some bakelite.  I don't know about plating spring steel, but perfboard and pop rivets should do the trick for putting new switches together.