Just a quick update, pending another one before Christmas with some piccies.

David popped over a few weeks ago with the newly-sliced right-hand (right-foot?) piston moulding. It was a perfect fit, and has been whisked away again for finishing. I will lose one toe piston, but that won’t kill me. Unfortunately David had already scurried away again before I thought to take a photograph. You’ll just have to imagine it.

My small brain is presently occupied with thoughts of drawstops. I have 34 Kimber Allen drawstops on the right jamb, and 35 on the left. I took one to pieces and David was kind enough to explain how they work. Each piston requires three connections. The first is the reed switch which turns a rank on or off and operates just like a thumb piston, except that it magnetic rather than kinetic. The other two connections drive the Stop Action Magnets (SAMs) which pull the stop out or push it in, turning the reed switch on or off. I have purchased a cheap-and-cheerful +18VDC PSU to power the electromagnets, which need a bit more welly than everything else.

The SAMs are activated, ultimately, by MIDI messages sent from the computer. This requires two discrete bits of magic: firstly to convert the MIDI message into an electrical signal, and secondly to relay the +12VDC electrical signal to the +18VDC SAM circuit. It’s all a bit confusing.

More coffee, I think. And possibly a mince pie.