Well educated people usually get a well paid job and don't have to steal. And if a burglar would be smart, he wouldn't be robbing garages himself, but he would set something up to decrease his own risk. (hire someone else, setup online scamming, hacking a bank account, etc) Just breaking open a garage is really one of the most primitive ways to steal someone's property.
Half of prototyping is knowing when a design is a dead-end. Great explanation of your process. I guess the good news about burglars is that if there was a Venn diagram of "Can identify expensive scientific equipment" and "steals things from people's garages" the overlap is incredibly small.
You should market these as TIG finger pedals. Old 2 button TIG torches are awkward to operate and foot pedal doesn't work if you're like lying under your car or in standing position, so that thing somewhat nicely integrated into a TIG torch would be totally nice.
I can tell you it's very hard to push a wheel barrow with one arm so be on the lookout for a two armed man that may be carrying out small paid jobs like moving some bricks or getting rid of some lawn clippings. Probably called Barry or something. Bazza. Lives within walking distance...
This format of video should be mandatory for capstone projects, masters and PhD dissertations as preamble for final product presentation. There is SO much knowledge and value in being able to follow the path of reasoning, trials, errors, obstacles (burgled!!). And the key I think is that it's not 'judged', it's so relaxed and conversational. It's just, "I wanted to achieve A, by doing B, but ended up with C. I'm kinda okay with C."
How would your singing be affected by one of these? I'm wondering if a pad of some sort that you could tilt your head to engage and manipulate might be a better solution.
@@sumduma55 might be tricky because somebody without legs uses their whole upper body to balance when sitting usually, it’s more difficult than it is for able bodied people. So making it a head movement thing could put them off balance potentially. Could be wrong, just throwing out thoughts
@@sumduma55 Was thinking about that while watching the video and quickly realized that the kind of motion used on a sustain pedal could quickly become uncomfortable as it often requires quick dampening between two notes on different cords
An interesting point, that super white lithium grease is what’s used in a lot of manual paper towel dispensers because it works so well with those types of plastic. My father did property management work (janitorial mostly) for a college and he would occasionally replace the grease in the dispensers on campus to keep them moving smoothly and it’s something I learned myself for use in some of my own projects.
Every time you post a long form video I tell myself "Ah I'll watch some of it". Always end up sitting through the whole thing. This is the clear hallmark of an effective presenter
As an amateur pianist, I do want to point out that (acoustic) piano pedals are not linear: they have a clear pickup point, where resistance suddenly increases and the transition of dampeners on the strings to off the strings happens, usually within only two or three centimeters of pedal movement. This has the benefit of enabling much faster pedalling (by limiting the effectively used range), and marking the half-pedal point. However, the original electronic pedal probably didn't emulate this, and given the short range of your sensor, it's probably not beneficial to do this and further shorten the effective range. Random tidbit: Grand and upright pianos have different dampener mechanisms (I think grands have gravity-return dampeners, which obviously wouldn't work for an upright), which leads to drastically different pedal feel between them: some uprights can have almost linear responses, while grand pianos tend to have very defined pickup points with sometimes annoyingly small effective ranges. As a result, half-pedal tends to be much easier to hit consistently on an upright than on a grand (but also has different effects, ...) Edit: Disclaimer: I play pretty much only acoustic pianos, so there may be some nuances to pedalling on electronic pianos that I am completely unaware of.
A feel similar to that can be re-created by slightly changing shape of the ramps from basic slope. From what you're saying it would probably be better to have it steeper at first (less force, more travel of jaw. Easier to hold.), then to 45 around half way (linear, but the transition can be felt), then flatter (more force, less travel) near the end. Or maybe just two slopes with the transition half way?
Every non-engineer executive or manager needs to watch your channel. Especially this episode. This is excellent in clearly explaining R&D work and how prototyping without fully defined requirements is necessary. So many requirements can only be determined through prototyping. Excellent video!!!
I was wondering how you were going to glue those silicone parts together. Always fun to learn about a tool/product you didn't know existed but could come in handy in the future.
That ramp design was pretty cool. I really like how the pressure distribution should be irrelevant. I wonder if this would be applicable for keyboard designs.
Probably someone with a serious drug addiction. There's only one thing that matters. Explains why all they took were tools, too. You know you can sell them to a pawn shop, and all that other stuff, although you and me know it's really awesome or expensive, is just an unknown variable.
@@jhonbus That seems like an extremely prejudiced assumption to me. As a consequence of the pandemic lots of people have it really bad right now - aside from that there's a million possible reasons why you would need to resort to stealing. Glad to hear nothing irreplaceable was stolen, but I feel mostly sorry for the poor soul who was forced to resort to such extreme measures, no matter their reasons
Another plus for the ramp design is you could change the shape of the ramp to create perceivable 'steps', or even give it a curve to change the felt spring rate.
I can't thumb up enough. Thanks for helping out someone who lost a "normal" ability. I'm not handicapped in any conventional way, but I ride a motorcycle and know I could be in half a heartbeat. Years ago I ended up in crutches while my foot healed. I took the time to "learn" what it would be like being handicapped. I still get chills when I see wet tile. But that effort made me extremely aware of the difficulties people face. I participate at work with evaluating our efforts to make our software highly usable by anyone. Besides, many of the enhancements we make for these folks, make us "normal" folks life so much easier.
Some dude really broke into that shop and thought to himself "nah, expensive rubidium lasers and electron microscopy equipment - I’m just gonna steal a wheelbarrow and some cordless drills"
They thought what am I going to pawn for my next fix? Burglars aren't looking for some unique thing that is going to attract attention or hard to get rid of.
Anyone who's going to go around stealing out of garages is a fucking idiot so they probably didn't know what anything was besides the basic power tools.
well burglars are usually poor and have very little education meaning they cant get a job. Not too surprising they wouldnt know what is worth something in Ben's garage.
Sorry to hear about your workshop Ben, but luckily you managed to make a very good video despite everything. Also nice to see the design versions and failures, not just the final product. By the way, it made me curious about the feedback mechanism (apart from audible effects) that the singer of Foxy used with his mouth in 1978: ua-cam.com/video/cfj7Nw5FwKs/v-deo.html
Two things that came to mind watching this: 1, have you taken into account possible toxicity of the glue and grease? 2: Once hermetically sealed, won't crushing the device increase internal pressure and add back some of that pneumetic 'bounciness'?
Thank you for breaking breaking down the most difficult part of design down into bites Pun intended. Showing the reality that the first, sometimes simplest idea convinces the builder he has found the ultimate solution. At least I have done that too many times. I will beat my original idea to death before I realize it wasn't such a great idea.
Hold on a second. This channel is still sub 1M!?!? What the...? I've been watching for several years by now, and always assumed that he is way over 1M even back then. I've never actually looked at the number. Heresy!!
It's the little things in these projects, those little tips and tricks that can be used for so many other things I find most valuable. Excellent video thank you
The fun in inventing something that currently doesn’t exist is the thousand things you learn along the way. I came up with a patented LASER optical delivery device in my back yard, and I’ve never had so much fun!
That’s a pretty cool solution you’ve come up with. I’d be interested to hear the feedback from the musician. And will there be further tweaks...? Anyhow, thanks for sharing! Oh yeah, forgot to send my condolences along for your tools. I’m glad you weren’t hurt, tools can usually be replaced. God bless!
The first thing I would've try is to make something using a bicycle brake cable with, of course, a potentiometer and a spring at the end of it. For the mouth piece you can just 3D-print something, not quite sure exactly what would be best shape/mechanism, and also I'm not sure if the brake cable would have a bit too much friction to work well...
A PTFE lined bowden cable was my first thought as well, stiction should be acceptable. It could even be routed through a gooseneck pipe mounted to the keyboard. That would allow the user to position and "store" the mouthpiece relative hygienic in air.
You are an inspiration to me for gaining knowledge! You remind me so much of my hero/grandfather who was pursuant on precision in engineering, and inspired me as well. Thank you for sharing your videos with everyone publicly. I feel very grateful. :)
This channel imo has the highest content quality on youtube when it comes to interesting science projects. i usually don't bother to comment on anything but sometimes you just have to drop in to give credit where it is due. excelent work as always and great representation. a solid 5/7 would watch again.
Sorry you got burglarized during the holidays and no worries about the lack of videos! I'm just glad you're okay and they didn't steal anything exotic. I found your struggle to find the right lubricant very interesting and useful in the future if I ever use the same silicone for a project.
Breath controllers are pretty standard, but they are not very good for a pianist as a pedal replacement. Because you can continuously press down on the pedal for pretty long phrases - potentially indefinitely - but you can't really breathe out continuously, you have to breathe in once in a while. Also breath strength control is not so precise, you get expressive phrases, but you can't just hold the same exact airflow. Also i think they're digital and connected via MIDI.
Amazing! I want something like this to control the pedal on a TIG welder. The thing about it is that it's much larger, so I'm not sure if there's a way to do that. Maybe have one small one that controls a motor that controls a larger one. Use one of those to simple control a powerful stepper motor that controls the pedal. Make it into a trigger control and put it on the TIG torch. Interesting.
Really love this insight into your brainstorming and trial and error process. Thanks for sharing Ben! This is a really cool device and seeing how you worked through ideas and challenged your own assumptions was enlightening.
Are there any concerns about health safety with the silicone, and more importantly, the epoxy and the high temp pads? For something that goes into someone's mouth, I'd be a bit concerned about that, besides just waterproofing.
Epoxy is not a health concern. It crosslinks completely (after a while - maybe wait a week after it has cured until you declare it safe) and becomes pretty close to inert. Even if you break off and swallow a chunk, even if it's slightly contaminated, you can pretty much assume that nothing will come out of it. Silicone is not generally known for potential contamination during manufacturing, but if there was a contamination, it would potentially leech out. Eh, small risk i guess :D
@@JeffDriskill Many people have accidentally ingested small amounts of grease and lived to tell the tale, it's probably not good for you, but it's not highly toxic either. But since the silicone is slightly water permeable, it seems like it would potentially breed bacteria, especially as it accumulates damage. I think the device should simply be re-shelled regularly. Or maybe used in a protective sheath of some kind, like a piece of medical glove, a finger cot, a... pardon me, what's your first Google hit on "latex dry bulk disposable microphone cover"? :D
Disheartened to hear about the burglary, but glad to see it didn't get you down! I wasn't aware of anything that could adhere well to cured silicone, which got me to thinking: a video about adhesives (especially for plastics/difficult to bond materials) similar to your video regarding cleaning solvents/detergents, would be amazingly helpful to a wide range of viewers.
The way you are able to step away from a design and come-up with something totally different is amazing. That is the hardest to do in a project like this for me. Really cool reason to look up to you Ben!
For the pneumatic version, you could try using a MAP sensor from an old GM to read the pressure, they're a couple bucks at the junk yard. Maybe use an arduino to read it and flatten the response curve in software, have it drive a digital pot for the output, it'll probably be fine. Chewing on squishy things is fun
Im only 13 minutes into the vid but i got a suggestion..... what about using the tongue. The lips and teeth anchor the device and the tongue operates a lever within the mouth cavity. the paddle could stay low and you lift the paddle to activate. that would allow for both rapid and incremental/analog positioning. Sorry to hear about the robbery, you're a great guy that just wants to teach. Thanks for the great content!
@Applied Science , Could you explain how you went about finding safe adhesives/materials for interfacing with a mouth. I know smooth on makes a number of food safe materials. But It seems like adhesives and possible after tastes from compounds could be a problem. I know you have many years of developing human interfaces. But this one certainly seems to add additional problems.
We'll soon have some good demos done with the new optics toys! It's also amazingly convenient for mechanical fixturing and adjusting of all sorts assemblies.
linear-output Halls output a voltage, not a variable resistance, so it may or may not work properly as he mentioned not knowing exactly how the "inside" circuit is constructed.
Yes, I admire that guy's brains! But if he has access to so much technology and brains, shouldn't he make himself some sort of burglar alarm? Maybe an "idiot sensor" that would capture the burglar, put him in a big box, fill the rest of the box with his styrofoam peanut dispenser he has in his shop, then ship the criminal to the police automatically? :-) Still, I envy his brains and his workshop!
Very interesting! I'm going to have to get some Silpoxy. Pen springs are just one of those packrat things that come in handy when prototyping. Thanks for the tutorial Ben!
It's a good GUESS that it's likely nontoxic, even if the materials don't come with FDA or equivalent approval, the reactions used in manufacturing aren't known for toxic side products. I'd say the poisoning risk is pretty much zero, even if it turns out that something in the surface layers isn't entirely kosher. Also biting all the way through and ingesting grease wouldn't be great, but it seems a little too inert to be really dangerous. Now that you got me thinking and Ben mentioned that silicone actually has quite a bit of water permeability, i'm wondering about hygienic situation though, what the replacement regimen on the outer cover should be.
It also was the first thing that worried me. Lithium grease is not the best choice for the device in mouth. I would also avoid MoS2 etc. In fact silicone grease is wide used in food production machines, but pity its not working here well.
I hate to hear that about your shop being burgled. Even when it's just stuff, it's still a violation and the emotional hit of "someone was in my shop/garage/car/house" sucks. I cannot abide a thief. Now, before anyone might say to think of the other guy who might be so down that he saw no other option, I call that victim-blaming. I've never turned away a person who, coming to me, asked for help. I have had my offers of help rejected far more often than not!I've had to ask for help, been turned down but kept trying until I found it.
Yeah, a lot of comments here talking about how valuable that scientific gear supposedly is, but stolen goods are only worth what you can easily sell them for.
Yeah I'm in a trade school ATM and the teachers have a thousand stories about students stealing things, and then them finding it online only a few days later. All of our tools and machines have our school's name physically etched into it, so someone steals a 500 dollar multimeter and they don't even bother to grind off the goddamn school's name before they put it up for sale. Many such cases.
Or some item that looks like a nice power tool but is actually a smoke bomb. So it gets stolen and then 5 minutes after the thief leaves with the loot, there's suddenly a huge amount of stinky smoke. Another idea is a radio jammer that activates if stolen, if such a device is legal to own but not operate.
@@NiHaoMike64 As much fun as thinking about setting traps is, i wonder if they in turn make for legal pitfalls for the property owner. What if the burglar trips because he's frightened by a smoke bomb and injures his ankle? Might sue the property owner.
The best thing I can think of that has full feedback is Hydraulics, like what's on a vehicle. Or at least partially hydraulic. I cannot wait to finish watching the video & see what you came up with.
Cool! Im learning from your design process... I have a tendency to stick to my first prototype (and make them work) when I create stuff so watching this guy go tru the painful process of trial and error while actually improving his final product teaches me a lot!
@@mckenziekeith7434 It doesn't strictly HAVE to be all passive if you can find a purely resistive way of interfacing, such as via two LDRs - but that is prone to issues too. Passive is the best solution for sure. I think you don't even have to use that particular input - you can use MIDI IN on the instrument and just feed it CC64 on all channels or on a channel mask or channel selector.
Sounded to me like they stole stuff that could easily be sold on the secondhand market, no questions asked. Nothing stupid about that, if you're a burglar.
I've gotten into silicone casting and have been having a lot of problems with bubbles. I love how you barely mention your process and all of your castings look perfect.
@@Steve_Just_Steve I’d second this. Did it myself. A slab of acrylic and an old pressure cooker are all you need. Cut a ledge into the acrylic and make a seal using silicon, then plumb some sort of fitting for the vacuum hoses. It doesn’t need to be super precise if you’re not getting down to super lower vacuums, cause the vacuum will pull all the parts tight and prevent leaks.
You mean there are burglars that won't appreciate a scanning electron microscope or plasma sputter chamber?
Prob thought it was an old tv
Sounds like they weren’t fans of the channel so at least its not a someone targeting him specifically from the channel
Don't forget that oscilloscope 😳
Well educated people usually get a well paid job and don't have to steal.
And if a burglar would be smart, he wouldn't be robbing garages himself, but he would set something up to decrease his own risk. (hire someone else, setup online scamming, hacking a bank account, etc) Just breaking open a garage is really one of the most primitive ways to steal someone's property.
@@sasjadevries sure, but I'm surprised Applied Science did not booby-trap his shop with all that stuff inside
Half of prototyping is knowing when a design is a dead-end. Great explanation of your process.
I guess the good news about burglars is that if there was a Venn diagram of "Can identify expensive scientific equipment" and "steals things from people's garages" the overlap is incredibly small.
Maybe he didn't want to be the only guy at the pawn shop trying to hock a homemade SEM
You should market these as TIG finger pedals.
Old 2 button TIG torches are awkward to operate and foot pedal doesn't work if you're like lying under your car or in standing position, so that thing somewhat nicely integrated into a TIG torch would be totally nice.
Sorry to hear about your Christmas “anti-present”. It’s awesome how you were so light hearted about it!
He needs to design an "anti-burglar" system to prevent these "anti-present" and "anti-pleasant" situations.
Where were Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci on Christmas Eve?
I can tell you it's very hard to push a wheel barrow with one arm so be on the lookout for a two armed man that may be carrying out small paid jobs like moving some bricks or getting rid of some lawn clippings. Probably called Barry or something. Bazza. Lives within walking distance...
When your equipment requires so much education to sell that it's not even worth stealing
How much for a 10-gram baggy of sourcemeter? Asking for a friend.
Tweaker only after what they can pawn... Pawn shop wouldn't know what to do with most of his stuff.
What about the bong, sorry the molecular pump?? Did the pump survive?
This makes me very sad that some idiot is trying to smoke weed with that
@@nomadpilot6442 it probably didn't get touched and if it did could you imagine inhaling oil mist?
I appreciate the honesty, or at least directness, of calling a product "Sorta-Clear"
"is it clear? "
"nah- sorta clear though! "
"but how clear is that? "
"40...it is about 40 clear "
@@olik136 Pretty sure he said 40 refers to the rigidity or durability of the silicone
well be careful kids if you get sued a lawyer might pick your products name
@@DrakeOola it's a joke
@@vintyprod its sorta funny
"you might be thinking" yes that's exactly what I was thinking.
This format of video should be mandatory for capstone projects, masters and PhD dissertations as preamble for final product presentation.
There is SO much knowledge and value in being able to follow the path of reasoning, trials, errors, obstacles (burgled!!).
And the key I think is that it's not 'judged', it's so relaxed and conversational. It's just, "I wanted to achieve A, by doing B, but ended up with C. I'm kinda okay with C."
As a pianist, and someone with a working jaw, I really appreciate this!!
How would your singing be affected by one of these?
I'm wondering if a pad of some sort that you could tilt your head to engage and manipulate might be a better solution.
@@sumduma55 might be tricky because somebody without legs uses their whole upper body to balance when sitting usually, it’s more difficult than it is for able bodied people. So making it a head movement thing could put them off balance potentially.
Could be wrong, just throwing out thoughts
@@sumduma55 Was thinking about that while watching the video and quickly realized that the kind of motion used on a sustain pedal could quickly become uncomfortable as it often requires quick dampening between two notes on different cords
I can't believe you were robbed by the grinch
Many thieves watch the obituaries to see when a whole family will be at a funeral.
Like its not bad enough you've just lost a loved one.... 😡
My brother in law was not there!
I guess the burglar didn't recognize a turbomolecular pump when he saw one.
To be honest, i think he barely understood the difference between screwdriver and a hammer...
Burglars are not know for their intellect.
An interesting point, that super white lithium grease is what’s used in a lot of manual paper towel dispensers because it works so well with those types of plastic. My father did property management work (janitorial mostly) for a college and he would occasionally replace the grease in the dispensers on campus to keep them moving smoothly and it’s something I learned myself for use in some of my own projects.
There are "mouthpiece pads" at music shops sold for woodwind insturments. That's what musicians use against bite damage.
Every time you post a long form video I tell myself "Ah I'll watch some of it". Always end up sitting through the whole thing. This is the clear hallmark of an effective presenter
As an amateur pianist, I do want to point out that (acoustic) piano pedals are not linear: they have a clear pickup point, where resistance suddenly increases and the transition of dampeners on the strings to off the strings happens, usually within only two or three centimeters of pedal movement. This has the benefit of enabling much faster pedalling (by limiting the effectively used range), and marking the half-pedal point. However, the original electronic pedal probably didn't emulate this, and given the short range of your sensor, it's probably not beneficial to do this and further shorten the effective range.
Random tidbit: Grand and upright pianos have different dampener mechanisms (I think grands have gravity-return dampeners, which obviously wouldn't work for an upright), which leads to drastically different pedal feel between them: some uprights can have almost linear responses, while grand pianos tend to have very defined pickup points with sometimes annoyingly small effective ranges. As a result, half-pedal tends to be much easier to hit consistently on an upright than on a grand (but also has different effects, ...)
Edit: Disclaimer: I play pretty much only acoustic pianos, so there may be some nuances to pedalling on electronic pianos that I am completely unaware of.
A feel similar to that can be re-created by slightly changing shape of the ramps from basic slope. From what you're saying it would probably be better to have it steeper at first (less force, more travel of jaw. Easier to hold.), then to 45 around half way (linear, but the transition can be felt), then flatter (more force, less travel) near the end. Or maybe just two slopes with the transition half way?
Every non-engineer executive or manager needs to watch your channel. Especially this episode. This is excellent in clearly explaining R&D work and how prototyping without fully defined requirements is necessary. So many requirements can only be determined through prototyping. Excellent video!!!
Next up in Prototyping with Applied Science: Home security system
Home human disposal unit.
Trunk Monkey Theft Retrieval System:
ua-cam.com/video/zin26ezvgO0/v-deo.html
Yeah I want to see this guy do some high tech 'Home Alone' traps
That's awesome. Everything: you helping disabled person, design process and showing it to us
"building and trying is faster than trying to estimate what it is you want to achieve" -- there's some true hacker spirit right there.
You can tune the useful rotational range of a pot with silver conductive paint. It works with composite or wire wound.
That's a great idea!
I was wondering how you were going to glue those silicone parts together. Always fun to learn about a tool/product you didn't know existed but could come in handy in the future.
That ramp design was pretty cool. I really like how the pressure distribution should be irrelevant. I wonder if this would be applicable for keyboard designs.
spacebars already have a mechanism to achieve that, but it's different
I'd imagine using such a stabilization method would be incompatible with everything too
Guitar hero frets yo.
Imagine what a complete shit you'd need to be to burglarize someone's lab on Christmas Day and steal their tools.
Especially Ben's, he seems like such a nice guy :(
Probably someone with a serious drug addiction. There's only one thing that matters. Explains why all they took were tools, too. You know you can sell them to a pawn shop, and all that other stuff, although you and me know it's really awesome or expensive, is just an unknown variable.
someone else got their presents though, slightly used, without invoice, but working
@@jhonbus That seems like an extremely prejudiced assumption to me.
As a consequence of the pandemic lots of people have it really bad right now - aside from that there's a million possible reasons why you would need to resort to stealing.
Glad to hear nothing irreplaceable was stolen, but I feel mostly sorry for the poor soul who was forced to resort to such extreme measures, no matter their reasons
@@horrorhotel1999 Not sure why that's a prejudiced assumption. It seems to me you two are pretty much in agreement with one another
I love how you show what you're thinking while you were building and all the tips and tricks. You are an excellent prototyper!
Another plus for the ramp design is you could change the shape of the ramp to create perceivable 'steps', or even give it a curve to change the felt spring rate.
I can't thumb up enough. Thanks for helping out someone who lost a "normal" ability. I'm not handicapped in any conventional way, but I ride a motorcycle and know I could be in half a heartbeat. Years ago I ended up in crutches while my foot healed. I took the time to "learn" what it would be like being handicapped. I still get chills when I see wet tile. But that effort made me extremely aware of the difficulties people face. I participate at work with evaluating our efforts to make our software highly usable by anyone. Besides, many of the enhancements we make for these folks, make us "normal" folks life so much easier.
Some dude really broke into that shop and thought to himself "nah, expensive rubidium lasers and electron microscopy equipment - I’m just gonna steal a wheelbarrow and some cordless drills"
They thought what am I going to pawn for my next fix?
Burglars aren't looking for some unique thing that is going to attract attention or hard to get rid of.
Anyone who's going to go around stealing out of garages is a fucking idiot so they probably didn't know what anything was besides the basic power tools.
I wonder what the street price of an electron microscope is...
I think Jim is closest, power tools can be sold with litre suspicion. Electron microscopes tend to have to small of a sales pool to blend in.
well burglars are usually poor and have very little education meaning they cant get a job. Not too surprising they wouldnt know what is worth something in Ben's garage.
Sorry to hear about your workshop Ben, but luckily you managed to make a very good video despite everything. Also nice to see the design versions and failures, not just the final product. By the way, it made me curious about the feedback mechanism (apart from audible effects) that the singer of Foxy used with his mouth in 1978: ua-cam.com/video/cfj7Nw5FwKs/v-deo.html
Two things that came to mind watching this: 1, have you taken into account possible toxicity of the glue and grease? 2: Once hermetically sealed, won't crushing the device increase internal pressure and add back some of that pneumetic 'bounciness'?
I would also add: how many volts does the piano send into that potentiometer? Is there a risk of electrical shock?
1: It looks like the tube with the wire in it will equalize the pressure.
You're so right about how the best solution looks simple but required all the steps to get there and a process that was not simple.
most of that is incredible, but the most incredible is that you 'found' what you were looking for on digikey.
har! exactly. only search Digikey when you already know what you are searching for...
Kind of insane - fortunately they don't carry the cheap knockoffs too, as far as I know.
Thank you for breaking breaking down the most difficult part of design down into bites Pun intended. Showing the reality that the first, sometimes simplest idea convinces the builder he has found the ultimate solution. At least I have done that too many times. I will beat my original idea to death before I realize it wasn't such a great idea.
Congrats on reaching 700k!
Hold on a second. This channel is still sub 1M!?!? What the...? I've been watching for several years by now, and always assumed that he is way over 1M even back then. I've never actually looked at the number. Heresy!!
How can the best channel on youtube only have 700k subs. I send shares to all my geeky friends!! Do your best fellow science nerds :)
It's the little things in these projects, those little tips and tricks that can be used for so many other things I find most valuable. Excellent video thank you
That design is so simple yet so effective, and sad to hear that your shop was robbed
The fun in inventing something that currently doesn’t exist is the thousand things you learn along the way. I came up with a patented LASER optical delivery device in my back yard, and I’ve never had so much fun!
That’s a pretty cool solution you’ve come up with. I’d be interested to hear the feedback from the musician. And will there be further tweaks...? Anyhow, thanks for sharing!
Oh yeah, forgot to send my condolences along for your tools. I’m glad you weren’t hurt, tools can usually be replaced. God bless!
The potentiometer laparoscopy was amazing!
Fiber coupled microscope lense would be supper cool. Also did you know they did surgery on grape. "Allegedly" :B
The first thing I would've try is to make something using a bicycle brake cable with, of course, a potentiometer and a spring at the end of it.
For the mouth piece you can just 3D-print something, not quite sure exactly what would be best shape/mechanism, and also I'm not sure if the brake cable would have a bit too much friction to work well...
A PTFE lined bowden cable was my first thought as well, stiction should be acceptable. It could even be routed through a gooseneck pipe mounted to the keyboard. That would allow the user to position and "store" the mouthpiece relative hygienic in air.
You are an inspiration to me for gaining knowledge! You remind me so much of my hero/grandfather who was pursuant on precision in engineering, and inspired me as well. Thank you for sharing your videos with everyone publicly. I feel very grateful. :)
I'm adding this to a list of HIDs for an OS version of that "Xbox Adaptive Controller" system. Amazing Project (As Always lol)
This channel imo has the highest content quality on youtube when it comes to interesting science projects. i usually don't bother to comment on anything but sometimes you just have to drop in to give credit where it is due. excelent work as always and great representation. a solid 5/7 would watch again.
Been rough without a video these past few months
I am sure being burglarized on Christmas supersedes your feelings of perceived loss for something that is given to you for free.
@@jong2359 He was joking, no need to be so edgy about it.
Sorry you got burglarized during the holidays and no worries about the lack of videos! I'm just glad you're okay and they didn't steal anything exotic.
I found your struggle to find the right lubricant very interesting and useful in the future if I ever use the same silicone for a project.
Yamaha used to have breath controllers ( introduced back with the DX7 )
Breath controllers are pretty standard, but they are not very good for a pianist as a pedal replacement. Because you can continuously press down on the pedal for pretty long phrases - potentially indefinitely - but you can't really breathe out continuously, you have to breathe in once in a while. Also breath strength control is not so precise, you get expressive phrases, but you can't just hold the same exact airflow.
Also i think they're digital and connected via MIDI.
Great point!
Amazing! I want something like this to control the pedal on a TIG welder. The thing about it is that it's much larger, so I'm not sure if there's a way to do that. Maybe have one small one that controls a motor that controls a larger one. Use one of those to simple control a powerful stepper motor that controls the pedal. Make it into a trigger control and put it on the TIG torch. Interesting.
Gotta wonder what kind of burglar would fail to second guess themselves after a quick glance at the contents of your garage!
@@pleaseyourselfsir gosh, bring your political bullshit somewhere else.
@@fischX Thank you! 😎
Well, the idea of being a burglar, and the idea of being a deep thinker don't really mesh well in my head, so I'd say probably the normal kind.
Really love this insight into your brainstorming and trial and error process. Thanks for sharing Ben! This is a really cool device and seeing how you worked through ideas and challenged your own assumptions was enlightening.
This is basically what I do at work, and it's really cool (and educational) to see someone go through the same process! This was great!
I really appreciate you talking through your thoughts during the design process
Are there any concerns about health safety with the silicone, and more importantly, the epoxy and the high temp pads?
For something that goes into someone's mouth, I'd be a bit concerned about that, besides just waterproofing.
Epoxy is not a health concern. It crosslinks completely (after a while - maybe wait a week after it has cured until you declare it safe) and becomes pretty close to inert. Even if you break off and swallow a chunk, even if it's slightly contaminated, you can pretty much assume that nothing will come out of it.
Silicone is not generally known for potential contamination during manufacturing, but if there was a contamination, it would potentially leech out. Eh, small risk i guess :D
...and if the silicone fails what about that lithium grease?
@@JeffDriskill You'll taste it immediately, lol. Highly caustic.
@@JeffDriskill Many people have accidentally ingested small amounts of grease and lived to tell the tale, it's probably not good for you, but it's not highly toxic either. But since the silicone is slightly water permeable, it seems like it would potentially breed bacteria, especially as it accumulates damage. I think the device should simply be re-shelled regularly. Or maybe used in a protective sheath of some kind, like a piece of medical glove, a finger cot, a... pardon me, what's your first Google hit on "latex dry bulk disposable microphone cover"? :D
@@jorje58965 The silicone glue is for sure a complete misnomer, it's a weld, not a glue.
Disheartened to hear about the burglary, but glad to see it didn't get you down! I wasn't aware of anything that could adhere well to cured silicone, which got me to thinking: a video about adhesives (especially for plastics/difficult to bond materials) similar to your video regarding cleaning solvents/detergents, would be amazingly helpful to a wide range of viewers.
Can your next project be a homemade security system?
Perhaps with some energetic yet safe chemical reactions as the alarm? (Like firecrackers but substantially less likely to start a fire?)
@@NiHaoMike64 or maybe active denial system using mid-power microwaves like those on US military?
@@wahyutriwibowo1803 High power laser beam with OpenCV based eye tracking.
@@anonymousarmadillo6589 High-power Infrasound speaker for some artificial spooky feeling
Time for a LockPickingLawyer colab
You can also sandwich some conductive foam between to metal contacts and create a variable resistance source.
Very cool! Thank you for sharing. I'm curious, have you ensured that all of the exposed surfaces of the sensor are made of non-toxic materials?
Another great build and explained really well. Love to see a quick clip of it at work with it’s new owner. 👍
Ironic that the answer to a bite sensor was "Teeth" :-)
The way you are able to step away from a design and come-up with something totally different is amazing. That is the hardest to do in a project like this for me. Really cool reason to look up to you Ben!
I had to look up "lubricious". Turns out there are two definitions, one of which is not in any way applicable in this context.
I googled. I laughed.
For the pneumatic version, you could try using a MAP sensor from an old GM to read the pressure, they're a couple bucks at the junk yard. Maybe use an arduino to read it and flatten the response curve in software, have it drive a digital pot for the output, it'll probably be fine. Chewing on squishy things is fun
Probably waring a gum shield might be a solution for puncturing the silicone
Im only 13 minutes into the vid but i got a suggestion..... what about using the tongue. The lips and teeth anchor the device and the tongue operates a lever within the mouth cavity. the paddle could stay low and you lift the paddle to activate. that would allow for both rapid and incremental/analog positioning.
Sorry to hear about the robbery, you're a great guy that just wants to teach. Thanks for the great content!
@Applied Science , Could you explain how you went about finding safe adhesives/materials for interfacing with a mouth. I know smooth on makes a number of food safe materials. But It seems like adhesives and possible after tastes from compounds could be a problem. I know you have many years of developing human interfaces. But this one certainly seems to add additional problems.
agreed. I was hoping to hear the words "biocompatible" or at least "non-toxic" - though, to be honest, most Silicones are...
Really enjoy watching the evolutionary process behind an engineering build, and all the tips and tricks, this video has taught me so much!
As a laser guy, I can't stop looking at your breadboard.
Next christmas, I will take that instead of tools - I now know it is worth more.
We'll soon have some good demos done with the new optics toys! It's also amazingly convenient for mechanical fixturing and adjusting of all sorts assemblies.
@@AppliedScience My go-to phrase is "Hand me a 3/16" ball driver."
Nice project. I use those pots as low-cost extensometers. They are great because they are disposable when things go wrong!
A hall effect sensor with a rotating/sliding magnet should be able to work as a potentiometer with low friction.
linear-output Halls output a voltage, not a variable resistance, so it may or may not work properly as he mentioned not knowing exactly how the "inside" circuit is constructed.
Your ingenuity never ceases to amaze me.
Yes, I admire that guy's brains! But if he has access to so much technology and brains, shouldn't he make himself some sort of burglar alarm? Maybe an "idiot sensor" that would capture the burglar, put him in a big box, fill the rest of the box with his styrofoam peanut dispenser he has in his shop, then ship the criminal to the police automatically? :-)
Still, I envy his brains and his workshop!
I assume a elabrate alarm system will be added or mods to one already there to raise hell if somebody comes in. It is sad this happens.
Heart warming project, great example of problem based learning, great video!!!!!! Cheers mate
COOL!
Very interesting!
I'm going to have to get some Silpoxy.
Pen springs are just one of those packrat things that come in handy when prototyping.
Thanks for the tutorial Ben!
Is the final product completely non-toxic?
It's a good GUESS that it's likely nontoxic, even if the materials don't come with FDA or equivalent approval, the reactions used in manufacturing aren't known for toxic side products. I'd say the poisoning risk is pretty much zero, even if it turns out that something in the surface layers isn't entirely kosher.
Also biting all the way through and ingesting grease wouldn't be great, but it seems a little too inert to be really dangerous.
Now that you got me thinking and Ben mentioned that silicone actually has quite a bit of water permeability, i'm wondering about hygienic situation though, what the replacement regimen on the outer cover should be.
That reinforced silicone is likely cured with something pretty nasty. Good (excellent) proto version though!
This was my concern as well. This is something that would be in the pianist's mouth A LOT.
@@gth042 Actually, it is FDA compliant for contact with food.
@@AppliedScience Sweet, fiber reinforced too. Handy for ...things :)
So sorry to hear about the burglary (on Christmas, no less!) but happy to hear you're almost back. Fantastic video as always!
lithium grease in someone's mouth....? also is the smooth on food safe?
Yes. There are food grade lubes over there. I would try then before go to the lithium.
It also was the first thing that worried me. Lithium grease is not the best choice for the device in mouth. I would also avoid MoS2 etc. In fact silicone grease is wide used in food production machines, but pity its not working here well.
Impressive design, great to follow the evolution of the design 👍
Thanks for sharing your knowledge to all of us 👍😊
You can't use elastic hoses in a hydraulic system. 😁
Nice video, once again I learned a lot!
Sorry to hear about the burglary.
But everything is elastic.
@@Steve_Just_Steve everything is elastic, but some are more elastic than others...
@@Peter_A1466 Was just joshin' ya.
@Anifco67 changed it 😁
i loved the detail of you thinking, and the value of time in research
I hate to hear that about your shop being burgled. Even when it's just stuff, it's still a violation and the emotional hit of "someone was in my shop/garage/car/house" sucks.
I cannot abide a thief.
Now, before anyone might say to think of the other guy who might be so down that he saw no other option, I call that victim-blaming.
I've never turned away a person who, coming to me, asked for help. I have had my offers of help rejected far more often than not!I've had to ask for help, been turned down but kept trying until I found it.
easily the best and most information that I've found on UA-cam. I only wish you had more videos! Hat off to you Sir Ben. Seriously.
Sounds like they took stuff they felt they could easily sell, really.
Yeah, a lot of comments here talking about how valuable that scientific gear supposedly is, but stolen goods are only worth what you can easily sell them for.
Yeah I'm in a trade school ATM and the teachers have a thousand stories about students stealing things, and then them finding it online only a few days later. All of our tools and machines have our school's name physically etched into it, so someone steals a 500 dollar multimeter and they don't even bother to grind off the goddamn school's name before they put it up for sale. Many such cases.
This is such a cool project! And a very great hindsight into engineering processes in general!
You use the SpaceX design philosophy! You need an alarm. With a gamma ray emitter.
Or some item that looks like a nice power tool but is actually a smoke bomb. So it gets stolen and then 5 minutes after the thief leaves with the loot, there's suddenly a huge amount of stinky smoke.
Another idea is a radio jammer that activates if stolen, if such a device is legal to own but not operate.
@@NiHaoMike64 As much fun as thinking about setting traps is, i wonder if they in turn make for legal pitfalls for the property owner. What if the burglar trips because he's frightened by a smoke bomb and injures his ankle? Might sue the property owner.
Ben you are such a good teacher and brilliant mind, thanks for keeping me curious
This is something I can really sink my teeth in to!
Boooooo!
Me like pun
Love that you're uploading again! This project was fascinating. Watching the design flow had me interested the whole time
The best thing I can think of that has full feedback is Hydraulics, like what's on a vehicle.
Or at least partially hydraulic.
I cannot wait to finish watching the video & see what you came up with.
I think the final design is like abstract art where everyone thinks they can do it, but as an art teacher said "well then why didn't you do it?"
Cool! Im learning from your design process... I have a tendency to stick to my first prototype (and make them work) when I create stuff so watching this guy go tru the painful process of trial and error while actually improving his final product teaches me a lot!
Surprised you didn't use a hall sensor.
Watch the video again. He explains that it has to be all passive in order to mimic the existing pedal. Hall sensor is a powered circuit.
@@mckenziekeith7434 It doesn't strictly HAVE to be all passive if you can find a purely resistive way of interfacing, such as via two LDRs - but that is prone to issues too. Passive is the best solution for sure.
I think you don't even have to use that particular input - you can use MIDI IN on the instrument and just feed it CC64 on all channels or on a channel mask or channel selector.
Outstanding video! Really enjoy the way you shared the challenges and your thought process for solving them.
Within a two week period they stole most of my mechanics tools in my garage and then the tools I had at my sons cottage which I was renovating.
These 45° potentiometers are used in gaming controllers for both the joysticks and the triggers.
Thanks for the interesting videos!
Dam good thing that burglars are stupid , I would have had a field day in your shop! Lol but I’d never steal
I'd get caught for sure. After entering I don't think I could muster the strength to leave the Cave of Wonders.
Sounded to me like they stole stuff that could easily be sold on the secondhand market, no questions asked. Nothing stupid about that, if you're a burglar.
Love the design process and all the considerations!
That's a byte sensor, useful for measuring Internet speeds 😂
I've gotten into silicone casting and have been having a lot of problems with bubbles. I love how you barely mention your process and all of your castings look perfect.
I think he's shown it the past and he did mention how to prevent bubbles.
@@Steve_Just_Steve Yes, the solution is to just buy a vacuum chamber but Ben's so blasé about it it kills me.
@@DanieleGiorgino Or make one. Or I think you can find a cheap old pressure cooker and use it as pressure pot, but I know what you meant.
@@Steve_Just_Steve I’d second this. Did it myself. A slab of acrylic and an old pressure cooker are all you need. Cut a ledge into the acrylic and make a seal using silicon, then plumb some sort of fitting for the vacuum hoses. It doesn’t need to be super precise if you’re not getting down to super lower vacuums, cause the vacuum will pull all the parts tight and prevent leaks.
What the heck is up with that thief
Thanks a lot for this nice assortment of techniques and parts useful for a variety of projects!
You mean the guy didn't yell "What the h*ll" when he looked in your garage?