Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Weekend Projects – Optical Tremolo 2.0”.
Hi, I’m Mike CAC executive editor would make the optical tremolo 1.0 by make technical editor. Sean Michael Regan is an impressive project. It’S a guitar effects box that uses light and a spinning disc, to create a volume, modulating tremolo effect, but Sean’s optical tremolo 2.0 is a truly impressive upgrade. The idea comes from the book.
Make electronics by Charles Platt version 2.0 of the project adds a bunch of new features to the incredibly popular 1.0 version. Some of the changes include a single standard, 9 volt battery power source, a sophisticated speed controller, a brushless motor and now it reads reflected light. Instead of transmitted light, which eliminates the awkward transparency sheets changing the sound of the effect is as simple as drawing painting, taping or sticking a printed label directly to the disk surface sounds good right. Okay, let’s get started. You’Ll need the following parts to complete this bill. All the electronic components can be sourced at your local radio. Shack you’ll also need the following tools.
This is a difficult build, but if you take your time and check out the detailed build instructions on the project page after a weekend of making, you should be able to plug in your guitar and play away we’ll start by building the opto isolator circuit. This helps keep electrical noise from the motor circuitry out of the audio signal. Special components called opto isolator are manufactured for this purpose, but we’ll make our own start by sealing a five millimeter super bright white LED and a photo resistor inside a length of heat shrink. Tubing next solder, your opto isolator to pc board terminals and three jumper wires into a one inch round PCB check out the project page for detailed schematics testing procedures and other useful tips and tricks. Now we need a way to control the depth of the tremolo.
We will use a 50 kilo, ohm potentiometer in series, with the photo resistor to control. How strongly the tremolo effect is mixed into our audio signal start by using a haxor to cut the potentiometer shaft down then smooth the cut edges with a file next mount the opto isolator board on the back of the potentiometer using double-sided foam tape solder, the two Wires from the board to the potentiometer contacts, one wire to an outer contact and the other wire to both of the remaining contacts, the next parts we will add, are the two audio jacks. Now is a good time for a quick test plug in your instrument and try it out when you adjust the potentiometer, the volume should change drastically.
Next up we’ll build the tremolo sensor circuit. You will need a small piece of perf board, along with four resistors and NPM transistor, and a matching IR emitter and receiver solder them to the board, along with the two wires for the power and two wires for the opto isolator. Now we’ll start preparing the enclosure start by visiting the project page and download the templates for the project enclosure glue the templates to the enclosure and drill all the necessary holes for all the components. You’Ll use a cutout from the large hole saw as a base for the tremolo disc, use some double-sided tape and a fix it to the fans hub centered. As best you can. Next, using the same hole saw cut the center hub from an old CD case and attach it with some double-sided foam tape.
Now you can easily mount and swap repurposed CDs to the motor to serve as tremolo disks. Follow the directions on the project page to mount. All the necessary components to the enclosure use screws to mount the fan standoffs for the tremolo circuit and the supplied hardware to mount the potentiometer switch and jacks. Then we can add wires to the power jack in the switch install the dial of speed motor controller and connect it to the fan. The switch the power, jack and sensor board is shown check out the project page for more detailed instructions, as well as tips on how to make your tremolo battery power. The last step is to attach the two wires from the sensor head to the opto isolator board.
Close up the case – and you are ready to make some tremolo disks and test it out, simply draw or print your disc patterns onto either paper or adhesive labels and stick them onto an old CD. Now you’ve got a sturdy optical tremolo wheel that you can spin up and test out, set the depth of the effect to the desired amount and then dial the speed of the disc to suit the music. This project does an amazing job at combining mechanical optical and analog elements to create a truly satisfying sound, build one watch at work, and we think you’ll feel the same and be sure to share your own version of the optical tremolo with us on the project page. We can’t wait to see what its going to be in version 3.0, [, Laughter, ], .