That brings back memories. As a kid, I had a kit to build an electric bell. The armature connected the battery to the electromagnet, which pulled the armature toward the bell and away from the contact, which disconnected the electromagnet which allowed the armature to return to the contact after hitting the bell. There was a screw that adjusted the contact position. Educational toys of the 1970's.
Yes, designed for a 20 Hz ring signal.
Not really.
For the morbidly curious, Western Electric published a full article on the design of that ringer in the Bell System Technical Journal in the
1950s. I don't recall the precise issue, but there are indices available.Joe Gwinn
Yes, the usual ones for altering mechanical resonance:
1) Increase frequency by reducing the mass of the clapper and increasing the stiffness of the support wire (shorther or thicker).2) Decrease frequency by increasing the mass of the clapper and secreasing the stiffness of the support wire (use a longer wire and bend it into a loop or a helix).
The overall amount of energy will be the same, but the frequency of maximum efficiency will change.
Yeah you can cut holes in the bell, like one of those "vented cymbals":
They still make them.
On the flip side, a lot of the "fun (new) stuff" to play with *only* comes as some spiffy no-lead micro-package that's impossible to work with unless you have a few "advanced" level tools.
I'd sure like to see you dead-bug an AS621x temp sensor with naught but a generic hobby-grade pencil iron. (For anyone keeping track; this chip is approx 1500 x 1000μM package with a 3x2 BGA on 400μM center-to-center spacing.)
It's not like when you were a kid, and the smallest component was a
12AX7, and you could just wire-wrap everything. :P
Check out Schmartboards. They use extra thick solder mask to locate fine pitch parts.
Phil Hobbs
I've actually used their breakouts once or twice. They're okay enough; although I prefer adafruits because I can get 3 or 4 for the same $5 (granted nowadays I've moved off to just sending a gerber to jlc, etc.)
That being said, Sparkfun sells the already completed breakout board for under 10 bucks (okay, it might be 9.99, I can't remember and don't wanna double-check ;) ). There are a few extras I don't particularly care for (those "Qwiic[1]" connectors, power LED, and passives), but I can completely understand why they're on there.
Really though, I'm taking issue with the mentality of "look at the stupid kid, needing a breakout board for this microchip that I can't even see in the first place".
[1] They're just JST 'SH' series connectors, with a memorable name for people.
change the mass or material of the hammer. change the arm length or material. move gongs closer or further muffle the gongs cut or drill the gongs replace the gongs with cowbells etc. run the setup underwater.
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