Just a thought - to actually make this Pedal Steel The Next Generation, I'm going to need a bit more cash than the taxpayer is willing to dole out (and under protest, it would seem from various comments in the likes of the Press etc, that I've seen over the years).
I'm undergoing a Diploma in Business System (Programming) course at Computerpower, which is intended to give me the certification to say I can do what I already know how to do, just to get my foot in the door, so as far as the "No one gets fired for [insert variable here...]" goes, businesses should feel safe. I know a bit of C and Pascal, and can look at assembler and Cobol without freaking out; the closest I have come to gaining complete degree-level depth of knowledge is when, immediately after a Traumatic Brain Injury in 1988, I - in order to find out about it - sat down with some neuroscience books - AR Luria's "The Working Brain", Dr Muriel Lezak's "Neuropsychological Assessment", Guyton's "Basic Neuroscience: Anatomy and Physiology", etc, and worked my way through, in order to understand and work out survival strategies for myself. I later realized that the books were the basis for second and third year University courses in neuroscience, and I'd never touched the subject prior to that accident .... I regard the certificates/diplomas in Organizational Psychology most HR seem to have, as little more than witch-doctoring ... I think I have my reasons. Are there any employers on this list ready and willing to allow me to work, initially part-time? (Sorry, I regard any use of the word "attitude" without suitable qualification and definition, as little more than random witch-doctoring ... and again, I think I have my reasons.) I have thought that maybe someone with skill in programming and knowledge of the neurosciences would be considered useful at at least one wheelchair manufacturer's, but I'm withholding judgement. And again, my thoughts are now out in public, and it would not take much for someone overseas to take them up and run with them. In innovation the key is speed, not (patent) fortifications; I would like to think that in that song of Dave Dobbyns' "Loyal", there is an ounce of truth in the way it was used for the America's Cup campaigns ... but I'm withholding judgement. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090601/0007575076.shtml#comments Wesley Parish On Tuesday 02 June 2009 23:27, Wesley Parish wrote: > On Tuesday 02 June 2009 13:37, Craig Falconer wrote: > > Wesley Parish wrote, On 02/06/09 13:11: > > > Sorry to be so off-topic, but are there any stepper motor suppliers in > > > Christchurch? I'm wondering if there are any small enough to fit in a > > > cramped location, yet powerful enough to change tension on a wire > > > already under considerable tension? And electrically robust enough to > > > handle regular on-off switching, while using as minimal an amount of > > > current at as low a voltage as possible? > > > This is for my Pedal Steel Guitar The Next Generation ;) > > > > You want to make it self-tuning or something ? > > No. The pedal changes the tuning of a string from say B to C or C#, while > you play it; it gives you all sorts of nice effects, eg, the strings BDEF# > get changed to ACEG or ADEF or BDFG which are totally different chords. My > idea is to make the changers electrically-powered and use the amp to power > them, instead of using the bulky rodding system they have now. It wouldn't > be the first time the changer system's changed - the first ones used > cables, the current ones use rods. > > > Possibly need some kind of reduction gear instead of making the stepper > > do it all. > > That could make sense. But you'd have to do it for every motor on every > string. And the distance between B and C or C# or Bb or A isn't that great > when you've got strings this thin and under this sort of tension. > > > And it would have to lock still under no-power, else the string would > > pull back to slack. Probably need some other controlled clamp to hold > > the string once its been tensioned. > > There is a working system for that already in place; it's called the > all-pull changer system and it is a thing of technical beauty. The only > movement it allows is to pull on the changer finger: the changer finger is > a lever and to raise the string it pulls on one side of the lever while to > lower it it pulls on the opposite side of it; the default position is the > basic tuning of the string. A thing of technical beauty. The only thing > I'm proposing to change is the means of making the changes. > > The biggest challenge I can see is ensuring that one can use the one motor > to make all the raises and lowers, no matter whether they are a mere > semitone or something drastic like a couple of tones. And that's where the > control offered by the stepper motor comes in - you want to be able to turn > it in both directions to specific positions, controlled by the voltage and > amperage you feed it. I think you'd be wanting short woven-metal straps to > link the motor with the changer finger. > > (BTW, this must be the strangest discussion ever seen on a LUG - discussing > a quite technical matter relating to a twentieth-C. musical instrument, the > sort of discussion that Yamaha or Fender or Gibson would be having behind > closed doors and with lawyers at ten paces at dawn, and that sort of thing! > But LUGs are more civilized, it would appear! ;) > > Wesley Parish -- Clinersterton beademung, with all of love - RIP James Blish ----- Are couch potatoes good to eat? A nose by any other name would smell as sweet. (By Bacon under the pseudonym of Shakespeare) ----- Mau e ki, he aha te mea nui? You ask, what is the most important thing? Maku e ki, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata. I reply, it is people, it is people, it is people.
