# Mechanical Switch



## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

I am building a "high striker" for my HOA Halloween party. It is one of those strongman things you see at carnivals, where you hit a lever with a hammer and make a weight slide up and ring a bell.

My question, for the brilliant technical ghouls out there is this. I would like to make it so lights go on when the bell is struck, but just stay on for just a few seconds. Because of where this is set up I cannot use any electronics for timers or anything. It would all need to be mechanical for the most part. Any ideas would be helpful.


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## BillyVanpire (Apr 22, 2015)

battery hooked to the striker & the bell cover? 
when the metal striker hits the metal bell to ring, it also makes electrical contact and flashes a light.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Sounds like a good start to me.

For details, I suspect you would need the bell to be wired as one sensing 'terminal'. Then your metal guide rod and striker would be wired as the other sensing terminal. The two would be electrically insulated, but when your striker hit the bell, it would complete the circuit between the metal rod and bell, triggering the circuit.

You could use a countdown timer, or a delay off relay so the bells and whistles would run for a set amount of time once triggered. Or you could likely throw an arduino in there to handle all the sensing, timing, resetting functions...with the proper break-out / relay board, of course.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I'm not, of course, a technical guru, so my first thought on reading this was to use one of those dog toys that light up on impact, cleverly disguised as a bell:jol: This one flashes for 8-10 seconds after striking/bouncing:

https://www.amazon.com/Multipet-Lig...68178-4222314?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0


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## BillyVanpire (Apr 22, 2015)

RoxyBlue said:


> I'm not, of course, a technical guru, so my first thought on reading this was to use one of those dog toys that light up on impact, cleverly disguised as a bell:jol: This one flashes for 8-10 seconds after striking/bouncing


great idea Roxy, off the shelf solutions are usually easier for temp/prototypes.


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## DarkOne (Oct 16, 2012)

I'm confused as to why you cannot have any electronics because of location. Is it an HOA issue? Is battery operated ok? Obviously it needs some electricity for lights to work. I'm for the arduino solution for the realism aspect that could be programmed into it.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Oh - I didn't see that little tidbit buried in there. ...so pretty much disregard my earlier post. Guess I'm a bit fuzzy, too ...assuming the lights aren't going to be fireflies or something... electricity OK for them, but not OK to power a relay?


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

corey872 said:


> Oh - I didn't see that little tidbit buried in there. ...so pretty much disregard my earlier post. Guess I'm a bit fuzzy, too ...assuming the lights aren't going to be fireflies or something... electricity OK for them, but not OK to power a relay?


Yeah, I'm a bit confused about that part as well. I can think of a few low-cost solutions (one-shot timers that turn on blinking LEDs or a fluorescent-starter circuit if brighter lights are wanted).


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

I meant large, complex electronics, like a computer hook up, etc. The amount of space required limits what I can use, since I want everything to remain hidden and inaccessible to little hands. Cost, time to build and complexity (I am a bit electronically challenged) are also a factor. A relay and a few other parts would be fine, and battery operated would be perfect. So tell me about these one shot timers...


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