This new Page is dedicated to my homemade MIDI pedalboard

It's a BDO concave pedalboard with 30 parallels key (c - f)

I. Plans

The plans were made by computer following the BDO dimensions

II. Construction of the pedalboard

The pedalboard is fully made in oak, except for the sharps in mahogany

a ) the keys

Two widths : one for the natural keys and one for sharps

Each piece is then cutted in two parts

router jig for machining the rear as natural keys

The arc shape is printed and glued to another jig.

The jigt under the router will rotate on the axis of the arc

arc

the arc jig is carried over to the final jig that will be used to machine all natural keys

Final jig

First natural key

Detail of arc shape

drill to round the top of keys

rounded keys

The natural keys are finally cut to final length

The sharps is made in two parts

Test

Each sharp has a different length

The front is cut with an angle of 15 ° and the top rounded

Jig to make mortise with the router

Dominos

The sharp is assembled to the key with two dominos

Testing the key layout

Varnishing

Key mounting plate

Springs

b ) The frame

wood for the frame

 

Jig for the sides

 

The shape is first cut coarsely

 

Final form performed using the jig

 

Jig for cutting joints

cutting ...

Cutting joints on the sides parts

Detail

Joints on the front element

assembly

Detail of the assembly

Assembly of rear parts

jig for rear elements

Detail

Arc jig

Block where the keys will be fixed, coarse cut

Arc cutting using the jig

Machining the top of the block (here the block is returned)

Final form of the block

Jig for cutting keys slots

Keys slots

Placement test frame before gluing

Gluing

Glued

The frame is then fully sanded

Detail

varnishing

Details of the slots, we can see the holes springs below

Rear c over

Detail

Rear view of the front element. We can see that the holes springs ares greater on this side

Punchings

Plates

Springs

Pedalboard finished

Detail

III. Midification

The midification is easy. A MIDI board transforms the sensor signals located front of each key to MIDI signal.

The MIDI signal is then sent to the keyboard or computer

I used Hall effect sensors. They allow to have no physical contact between the keys and the sensor.
A small magnet is simply stuck on each key. When you press a key, the magnet is placed facing the sensor. It sends information to the interface.

MIDI Board

The electronic elements are arranged in a box to be fixed on the front part of the pedal

The MIDI interface and RibbonTail connected to the 30 sensors

sensors

Overview. We can see that the sensors position follows the curve of the keys

MIDI connector and power connector

Installation behind the pedalboard

The box is simply clipped into the springs holes

box installed

The 9 jigs I used

The 4 drills I used

Back