Durable, simple mechanisms to make noise from pressure
August 26, 2011 12:15 PM Subscribe
I'm making a set of sound sculptures which will make noise when stepped on. Please help me brainstorm simple, durable noise-making mechanisms.
Each is a box 2x2 feet square and about 5 inches tall. Under a person's weight, the lid of the box sinks about 1.5 inches, and has compression springs to return after the person steps off.
So we have a hollow box, and about 1.5 inches of linear motion and 100 lbs force to work with. How to convert that motion and pressure into interesting sounds? I'm looking for 100% mechanical contraptions that can hold up to being stepped on thousands of times, and can be built fairly quickly from mostly aluminum, wood, and/or steel hardware. Should be amenable to amplification with either a contact microphone or a small acoustic microphone.
One sound I'm particularly looking for is the squeak of squeaky floorboards. It's easy to find examples in the wild, but hard to build it on purpose (at least for me)!
Each is a box 2x2 feet square and about 5 inches tall. Under a person's weight, the lid of the box sinks about 1.5 inches, and has compression springs to return after the person steps off.
So we have a hollow box, and about 1.5 inches of linear motion and 100 lbs force to work with. How to convert that motion and pressure into interesting sounds? I'm looking for 100% mechanical contraptions that can hold up to being stepped on thousands of times, and can be built fairly quickly from mostly aluminum, wood, and/or steel hardware. Should be amenable to amplification with either a contact microphone or a small acoustic microphone.
One sound I'm particularly looking for is the squeak of squeaky floorboards. It's easy to find examples in the wild, but hard to build it on purpose (at least for me)!
Not a complete explanation of how to make one but worth looking at if you are interested in floor squeak sounds. Nightingale Floor of Nijo Castle in Kyoto
posted by Babblesort at 1:17 PM on August 26, 2011
posted by Babblesort at 1:17 PM on August 26, 2011
Best answer: Think about something like a kick drum pedal, but spring loaded such that stepping on it first triggers the pedal, then resets the spring for the next visit; design such a contraption and you can put all manner of fun stuff inside for the mallet to hit: cymbals, a bag full of coconut shells, a bunch of BB's in a tin can, a deconstructed wind chime, a vibraslap, a prepared autoharp (or just a bunch of guitar strings stretched across a wooden box, tuned with zither pins), a small gong, a metal trash can lid, etc.
You could mate a spring-loaded bellows to a harmonica pretty easily. Or have the bellows fill a weighted bladder that blows out through a harmonica, samba whistle, bagpipe drone, or other suitable noisemaker.
BB's are all kinds of fun noise. Set it up so they roll down a washboard, or across a drum head, or around inside the bottom of a plastic water cooler bottle.
With a rack-and-pinion, you can convert the vertical motion into rotation; with some gearing it could work a ratchet, a music box, a hurdy-gurdy type rosined wheel against drones, etc. It would be easiest to make the vertical motion spin up a flywheel or wind a spring, rather than trying to use it directly. There are kids toys that look like a car, that you push the driver's head down, which winds up a spring that makes the wheels go forward-- you could reuse the mechanism from one of those to do your bidding.
Since you're limited to 1.5" travel, you'll probably have to get creative with levers and gears, but you've got plenty of force to spare.
This sounds like a fun project. I'll think about it more and come back later if anything else comes to mind.
posted by leapfrog at 1:43 PM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
You could mate a spring-loaded bellows to a harmonica pretty easily. Or have the bellows fill a weighted bladder that blows out through a harmonica, samba whistle, bagpipe drone, or other suitable noisemaker.
BB's are all kinds of fun noise. Set it up so they roll down a washboard, or across a drum head, or around inside the bottom of a plastic water cooler bottle.
With a rack-and-pinion, you can convert the vertical motion into rotation; with some gearing it could work a ratchet, a music box, a hurdy-gurdy type rosined wheel against drones, etc. It would be easiest to make the vertical motion spin up a flywheel or wind a spring, rather than trying to use it directly. There are kids toys that look like a car, that you push the driver's head down, which winds up a spring that makes the wheels go forward-- you could reuse the mechanism from one of those to do your bidding.
Since you're limited to 1.5" travel, you'll probably have to get creative with levers and gears, but you've got plenty of force to spare.
This sounds like a fun project. I'll think about it more and come back later if anything else comes to mind.
posted by leapfrog at 1:43 PM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
Every time I crush a plastic water bottle it makes a satisfying sound. Maybe put a few of those in a box.
Consider drilling a hole out the side of one of the boxes and plugging it with a whistle. When the person steps down and displaces the air the whistle will sound.
Make a lever mechanism in the box so that when the step goes down, it hits something like a seesaw that will knock itself back up against the step. So every step will thump itself.
posted by Sully at 1:50 PM on August 26, 2011
Consider drilling a hole out the side of one of the boxes and plugging it with a whistle. When the person steps down and displaces the air the whistle will sound.
Make a lever mechanism in the box so that when the step goes down, it hits something like a seesaw that will knock itself back up against the step. So every step will thump itself.
posted by Sully at 1:50 PM on August 26, 2011
Dammit, missed the stepped on thousands of times part.
posted by Sphinx at 4:38 PM on August 26, 2011
posted by Sphinx at 4:38 PM on August 26, 2011
My dog has jaws of steel, and can eviscerate a stuffed animal in hours. So I buy Kong's Dr. Noys stuff toys, which come with these awesome replaceable squeaker things that last months and months. They're cheap at PetsMart.
posted by Brittanie at 5:18 PM on August 26, 2011
posted by Brittanie at 5:18 PM on August 26, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks for all the great suggestions! (Keep 'em coming...)
Babblesort -- this whole project was actually inspired by the nightingale floor of Nijo Castle in Kyoto! I haven't yet found detailed instructions for making my own nightingale floors, though.
posted by moonmilk at 10:18 PM on August 26, 2011
Babblesort -- this whole project was actually inspired by the nightingale floor of Nijo Castle in Kyoto! I haven't yet found detailed instructions for making my own nightingale floors, though.
posted by moonmilk at 10:18 PM on August 26, 2011
Response by poster: Followup: I ended up making levers that rubbed pairs of rosined cedar tongues together.
You can hear it starting around 1:20 in this video.
posted by moonmilk at 11:23 AM on April 28, 2012
You can hear it starting around 1:20 in this video.
posted by moonmilk at 11:23 AM on April 28, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ian1977 at 12:28 PM on August 26, 2011