From jake92028@yahoo.com Fri Dec 26 03:08:31 2003
Subject:Re: Speed Control Pedal

Yeesh! Disclaimer! Can I call my lawyer? :-(

This really turned into a long thread after my first off-the-cuff
response about the Farfisa pedal. Sometimes I just think of things
in "tunnel vision," i.e., I was simply thinking of the mechanics and
basics of making a control pedal of some kind - using the "right" pot
and wiring connected to the "right" place - all of which information
could be found before trying to fry oneself. I wasn't suggesting
that someone should just grab any pedal and connect the lamp cord to
it, just the opposite, as in "go to an electronic shop" - and I
should have added get a schematic or ask someone who knows about the
power scheme to the motors on the specific Leslie. Almost anyone
familiar with basic electricity and wiring could look at the Leslie
and tell you, "Them wires right there."

Electricity doesn't seem as dangerous to me as it SHOULD to anyone
not having a good working knowledge of it: I was a Navy electrician
on a minesweeper in the Vietnam days = DC motor controllers with
power supplied by the diesel engines ran everything including the
electric motors to the propellors. In any case, all the safety and
electronic item issues brought up and responded to are well-founded
and good advice.

I still pull my onstage "personal" fan's plug out of the power strip
with the strip and fan power on and don't even notice the tiny sparks
and expected momentary buzz from speakers, since I am so habitually
careful about where my fingers are and what else is in the immediate
vicinity of a disconnect like this. I wouldn't do it with my amps or
the PA, but I'm aware of which is which and any potential results.
It's not a big deal IF you have become instinctively careful about
electricity and know what you can and cannot do. I probably should
think of it as setting a bad example for anyone watching. If you've
ever watched some electricians at work; not following the safety
instructions to the letter is commonplace, almost not practical;
they'd never get anything done - they do You-can't-do-that's VERY
carefully. That doesn't make it right, and those two or three that
fry themself in a year were duly warned. Conclusion: Follow all the
safety instructions.

I would be comfortable with plastic shielded phone connectors in/out
of plastic + grounded small utility AC/DC boxes. The amount of
voltage involved is like the decorative lights over the dining room
table. If you forgot and disconnected without turning off the power,
it's like the vacuum cleaner cord pulling out of the wall when you go
around the corner to another room - it ain't Hiroshima.

The first time I tried a speed control, it was with a household
dimmer switch mounted on a small utility box on my mike stand. The
You-can't-do-that's were just what has been mentioned: A dimmer
switch won't work. The motors weren't designed to operate that way.
They will burn out if you try to run them too slow - why would I want
to do that? Well, the motors didn't know and disobeyed for a couple
of years until I sold that Leslie after reconnecting and taping the
power cables. The old mike stand is in the garage with the dimmer
switch still on it ..and I can still make a variable speed control
pedal - can't find the old one.

OK now? Walter J bzzzz[ ]zzzzz