On Friday lunchtimes at the pub we are not allowed to talk about work - a reasonable rule - and there is a 'virtual' bell that is rung should conversation stray that way. This is usually a shaking of an invisible bell accompanied by a 'ding' sound (although we do have one person that insists on pulling a virtual toilet flush and going 'spoosh').
A real bell was needed (OK, not needed - but making it was more fun that decorating).
Using the trusty lathe I turned down a single chunk of wood into a bell shape.
I took the end off the bell and hollowed out the chamber.
However wood is not known for it's bell like sound, so time to get creative.
I drilled a speaker grill in the base and with 4 screws it was back
together and still looking bell like - and now had somewhere to mount a speaker.
I have made several projects that used sound samplers (Be Happy, Talking Toaster and my doorbell)
so this presented no problem, bury this chip inside the bell and trigger with a tilt switch so the bell would play when it was shaken.
However, I discovered that the chip I had previously used was no longer available and the replacement part had one
very big difference.
It would replay the sample from the start every time it was triggered, even if it was in the middle of playback.
This meant the tilt switch
that was being used as a trigger would cause the sample replay from the start every time the bell was moved - no use at all.
Another problem looking for a solution, turn the page for the exciting conclusion....
