Electric Organ Foot Pedal

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ShaharKlinger
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2021 12:41 pm

Electric Organ Foot Pedal

Post by ShaharKlinger »

Hey everyone. Long time anonymous reader, first time poster.

I inherited a very old Viscount RBX-850 electric organ. Vintage stuff - all wood and nails.
IMG_20211119_164222.jpg
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Each and every one of its 8 long plastic foot pedals, most likely from material fatigue, have exploded into a thousand pieces, making the foot notes unplayable. I set off to try and recreate the pedal and 3D print it. I managed to salvage pieces and glue them together into an almost complete pedal, and started modeling it in FreeCAD. This whole process didn't take too long, and was actually pretty fun.
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Apparently the pedal was too long to print on my modest Ender Pro 3, and I didn't want to break it in two and glue it, so I needed a larger printer. Since I work at Stratasys, I was given permission to print the models on one of our large FDM printers. After several test prints and corrections, I got the prints and started assembling them.
IMG_20211117_184642 comp.jpg
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IMG_20211117_181407.jpg
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And after all this work and effort, some pedals don't play well because there's some problem with the contacts inside :? so I'm not finished yet.

I don't have a lot to say about the modeling process, as I'm not a professional (or even amateur) CAD modeler. I just sort of winged it, and it came out fine. Here's a link to the FreeCAD file: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AoQ9rCp56pzCgbha010 ... w?e=HvjW0g, you can have a look at my workflow for yourself.

Thanks for reading!

Interesting Stuff:
OS: Windows 10 Version 2009
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.19.24291 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: releases/FreeCAD-0-19
Hash: 7b5e18a0759de778b74d3a5c17eba9cb815035ac
Python version: 3.8.6+
Qt version: 5.15.2
Coin version: 4.0.1
OCC version: 7.5.0
Locale: English/United States (en_US)
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Shalmeneser
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Re: Electric Organ Foot Pedal

Post by Shalmeneser »

Great story.

btw, using the XY-plane for the opposite side should ease sketch placement.
Sketching on face is dangerous (Topological_naming_problem :twisted: )
chrisb
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Re: Electric Organ Foot Pedal

Post by chrisb »

Thanks for sharing and good luck with the electric restauration!
A Sketcher Lecture with in-depth information is available in English, auf Deutsch, en français, en español.
ShaharKlinger
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2021 12:41 pm

Re: Electric Organ Foot Pedal

Post by ShaharKlinger »

Shalmeneser wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 5:31 pm Sketching on face is dangerous (Topological_naming_problem :twisted: )
Thanks, Shalmeneser, for taking the time to look at the model and comment! I'll read the article in depth.
ShaharKlinger
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2021 12:41 pm

Re: Electric Organ Foot Pedal

Post by ShaharKlinger »

chrisb wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 5:49 pm Thanks for sharing and good luck with the electric restauration!
Thanks! It looks pretty bad inside there, but I'm not giving up yet.
Last edited by ShaharKlinger on Fri Nov 19, 2021 7:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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M4x
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Re: Electric Organ Foot Pedal

Post by M4x »

Thanks for sharing, looks like a great project! May I ask why you've chosen to adapt the inner structure of the original part? I assume those where produced via injection molding. With 3D-printing, you're having more freedom.
ShaharKlinger
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2021 12:41 pm

Re: Electric Organ Foot Pedal

Post by ShaharKlinger »

M4x wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 6:32 pm Thanks for sharing, looks like a great project! May I ask why you've chosen to adapt the inner structure of the original part? I assume those where produced via injection molding. With 3D-printing, you're having more freedom.
Actually, that's the first thing I thought of when I started modeling the part. My guess was that I didn't need to model the inner supports precisely, but nevertheless I did it, both as an exercise in CAD modeling, and because I didn't know what would happen to the structural strength of the model if I changed the supports. I don't have any experience in mechanical design, and I didn't want to gamble on the results.

Thanks!
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M4x
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Re: Electric Organ Foot Pedal

Post by M4x »

I understand. Regarding 3D-printing, it can be a good idea to model a solid part and let the slicer handle the infill pattern and density.

What material did you choose?
ShaharKlinger
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Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2021 12:41 pm

Re: Electric Organ Foot Pedal

Post by ShaharKlinger »

M4x wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 10:37 pm I understand. Regarding 3D-printing, it can be a good idea to model a solid part and let the slicer handle the infill pattern and density.

What material did you choose?
The parts were printed using ABS. I think modeling and printing the part as a solid (even with low density infill) would have an unknown effect on the part's weight and performance. I actually measured the weight of the original and printed parts, and the printed is just 5 grams heavier than the original.
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M4x
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Re: Electric Organ Foot Pedal

Post by M4x »

I wasn't aware of the fact that the weight.is that important. Interesting!
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