Identifying (and uses for) big old rotary switches

[bwanasonic]

As part of the continuing salvage chronicles:

I have a few of these cold war era ITT (made in Germany) open frame rotary switches:



In their native habitat




Mostly desoldered. A couple of residual resistors remain.



Alas, poor Yorick...

Of course new these babies would go for about $150-200. But they are far from new - I personally have wanged them around a few trillion times. They are old and a bit fragile, but I bet they still have some life in them. I would appreciate any help in figuring out exactly what kind of 12-position switches they are. I would also like to hear of any maniacal audio projects that just needed a weird old 12-position rotary switch for completion. There might be a prize for the essay winner. Conditions would be actually building said device, and posting photos/sounclips of completed project in a timely manner. <fine print>Anything I left out goes here.</fine print>

Kerry M

[guitarhacknoise]

:shock:  WOW!
AND a cool idea!
cap and resister switching for an lfo.......................
classic clipping diode dreams..............
switching input and output caps.........
misc. tone stacks......
.......just to get a out a few of the first to mind uses.
love it, I jut love it!
What are they out of?
-matthias

[bwanasonic]

:shock:  WOW!
AND a cool idea!
cap and resister switching for an lfo.......................
classic clipping diode dreams..............
switching input and output caps.........
misc. tone stacks......
.......just to get a out a few of the first to mind uses.
love it, I jut love it!
What are they out of?
-matthias

http://home.earthlink.net/~bwanasonic/html/dc350.html

forum post:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/sboxforum/viewtopic.php?t=28314

Kerry M

[Regan]

Thats what I was thinking of as I saw those switches!
I would measure up some resistors and caps and make some resistive capacitive substitution boxes like eico and heathkit used to have. I have a couple of those and they are a lifesaver when it comes to chosing combinations on the fly. I could even see using a switch to set up the bias setup for transistors etc.
Hmmmm, I have some of those,,,,,,,,,
Regan

[H.Manback]

Maybe I'm reading the reactions the wrong way or something, but to me it reads like rotary switches are a totally new concept here :?

They should be readily available at any electronic store, the only thing that you might not be able to find so easily are 4 throw switches like shown here...

They are certainly damn handy, the only downside to switching caps with it is that you get a little pop if it's in a audio part of the circuit (the only sensible place to switch in effects of course). I think connecting a 1 Meg resistor to ground should be able to fix that.

[bwanasonic]

They should be readily available at any electronic store, the only thing that you might not be able to find so easily are 4 throw switches like shown here...

Take a look at what Mouser charges for a similar one...

I have my doubts on how practical it would be to use one, but I thought someone here might figure an interesting use for one.

Kerry M

[guitarhacknoise]

Bwanasonic:
I thought maybe this was a DIFFERENT salvage, but the goodies just keep coming!
Mr. hanback,
Not a new concept as much as a new (for someone) reality.
And they seem like really good quality switches.
I can't wait to see how this all transpires!
-matthias

[birt]

you can switch 12 whole circuits with that
1blade for 9v
2for ground (with a led ofcourse)
3for in
4for out
Or only a couple circuits and then a couple of extras like 2 effects running into each other/parallel/feedback/extra gainstage....

[D Wagner]

How about switching four or five opamps into a circuit for an A, B, C, etc. test?  

I have an old printer switcher similar to what you show.  I left the wires attached to four of the switches for just that.  There are 9 poles to each, so I figure the 9th pole could be for an LED to indicate which opamp is in use.

Derek