Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with bending

Behold the MT-10,000

tmcw — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:48:15 -0800

Messin with electronics.. filter. I'd like to slightly circuit-bend my Casiotone MT-100 - creating a switch that cuts one circuit when power is applied. Okay, so here's the deal. When I play a chord, and switch the Casio Chord mode, the chord is essentially triggered again - the notes start a anew just as I had played them right then.

The plan is pretty simple in my mind. The drums are controlled separately (fairly simple to locate the trimpots for each drum). There's also a LED which blinks each measure. I'd like to pilfer a tiny bit of this voltage in order to possibly run into a transistor that cuts the power to the Casio Chord selector. (Note: the selector is a slide switch).

Okay, so questions: Is a transistor the right thing to use for this purpose (essentially I want an electric switch activated by a current?) What would this effect be called?

Heres a spec on a similar keyboard if that helps
410V
Sound Club Article

Mexican spanish help please.

wilful — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:26:10 -0800

How would you say "bite my shiny metal ass" [sic] in Mexican Spanish?

Stretching Without Bending

meerkatty — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:31:27 -0800

Is there a way to stretch my quadriceps without bending my knees? My right knee doesn't bend all the way - a result of constant patella dislocation when I was a teenager. I cannot do standing, sidelying or prone quadriceps stretches (all demonstrated here) with my right leg. But I desperately need to stretch and am worried about damaging my knee again because I'm not. (I'm presently running 5 times/week.) Anyone have any suggestions?

Seeking some pipe table-legs

washburn — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 13:19:05 -0800

Help me bend or buy my way into owning 4 U-shaped pipes! I have a somewhat unusual wooden desk/table from perhaps the 1950's or so, which has long U-shaped pipes for legs. These can be removed, which makes the table easy to store and move. (Here's a picture of the desk)

The other day, I was thinking of buying a stand-up desk, when it occurred to me that I could save some money (and avoid accumulating excess furniture), if I could just obtain some longer metal legs for the small table I already have.

So, if i want to make this into a standing desk, I need 4 pieces of U-shaped pipe, 1" in diameter, with 3" of space between the parallel sides. The present legs are about 28.5 inches in length, and I'd want the new ones to be about 48" tall or so (so, about 102" before being bent in half?). (Here's a pic of one table leg)

So, I wonder, is there a way to cheaply obtain such U-shaped pipes? I was thinking that maybe the local home center would have a bender that would easily do this; however they don't seem to. Perhaps I could bend some pipe myself with a rented or (inexpensive) bought tool? Or else where could I go to have them bend me some pipe on the cheap? (I live in Central Illinois (Champaign), but regularly make it up to Chicago). Who knows, maybe there's a U-shaped pipe outlet store somewhere?

Much obliged for any suggestions.

Circuit bending for dummies

starscream — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 12:26:03 -0800

I have a simple Sony reel-to-reel tape deck from the 1960's that I'd like to install a speed control on. Since I have no electronics skills, can anyone here recommend an ace 'circuit bender' in the Los Angeles area? Thanks :)

Bending Platinum band?

UMDirector — Mon, 29 May 2006 17:32:20 -0800

My fiance has a platinum engagement ring and the bottom seems to be warping due to plat being a soft metal. We are not sure why this is happening. It is possible the ring is slightly too large for her finger but it needs to be larger so she can get it over her knuckle. We had a plastic ring guard thing on the bottom but it kept falling off. We thought about having the little metal balls added to the bottom to keep in from rotating on her finger but that wouldn't solve the bending platinum problem. Soooo any suggestions or resources...my google-fu has failed me (all the sites I find seem to be about MAKING rings not keeping them from being bent).