How To Make a Concrete Volume Knob 

+Tech By Matt I agree! That would make it next level awesome.

Glad to see someone was on the same train of thought I was!

+Tech By Matt im fairly certain the reason this was not done is because it would cause disturbance in the output and we know matt is all about quality :)

+Tech By Matt You could do that with an arduino micro. Then you could also feed the potentiometer position digitally into the PC. It's rather easy to emulate an usb HID device like keyboard mouse or joystick with an arduino pro micro.

+Tech By Matt You could always use a triple gang potentiometer to achieve that, a bit bulky though. Another alternative is to put a transistor or two on the power line that are controlled by one, or both,, audio channels for a similar effect.

" With the shaft facing upwards"

"to prevent it running down the shaft and making it stiff"😂😂

Wood....

Lmao

omg you guys i can't 😂😂😂

why not different colors of epoxy, it'll give it a swirly effect

Yes, this is what I meant by resin.. epoxy resin.

Cheers!

+DIY Perks What +Jason Patz said. Awesome presentation, explanation and supplying links for correct products etc. So many DIY guides does not and just assumes you know where and how to get what you need. And, as I have saw in a previous post, you could make audio books for sure. Great story voice! Keep the DIY videos coming, they are much appreciated!

totally agree. love your style of presenting. geeky yet understandable but professional and entertaining. top videos 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

100% agree. one of my favorite channels and always looking forward to new DIYs.

+DIY Perks ill buy one of these from you. A suggestion - A more advanced version of this could have multiple LEDs (or a strip) that represents the volume. Even the potentionmeter controlling the brightness of the LED as well as the volume would work great.

Josh Millar omg this was 12 minutes? Mind blowing

seems to me he likes concrete style. Not all of us do, thats why somes paint concrete... ;)

@@DrZipZwan wat?

I've tried both linear and log pots for volume, and honestly linear sounds more correct to me.

@@TheAechBomb Of course use what you prefer, but decibels are calculated logarithmically. Mixerboards, audio interfaces and guitars also use logarithmic potentiometers because of that.

@JgHaverty I never thought I would see an audio nerd on a DIY channel I thought I was the only one

yes!

+Top Skills agreed

+Top Skills Or electroluminescent!

EL's nice, cos you can buy the driver modules, and they just run on 12V. Then it's just a matter of cutting and joining wires together, endless fun! So many colours too. Actually I was talking about the LM3914 bargraph chip in another post here. Using that, but having the outputs drive transistors instead of LEDs, might be great. Then the transistors drive driver modules, that drive EL wire and panels! You could have a bargraph as big as... anything! Square metres of the stuff instead of LEDs. For audio modulation, I think just a capacitor and maybe a resistor or two, and drive it from the output of a small amp or preamp. That'd be niiiice!

Yeeee defenetly

+DIY Perks I have to ask: did you consider wiring the pot to a female micro-USB connector, and the input/output 1/8 connectors to USB A socket, so that any charging cable could be used?

+DIY Perks Are you working with instructables anymore?

+Chad LaFarge Regarding your solution for input/output connectors - this would be serious misuse of connectors! You really shouldn't do something like this unless you have really, really good reason. Also, it is impossible, because USB A connector has only 4 pins, and DIY Perks' project requires 5 pins.

+mbaksa four pins plus ground sheath.

+Jim Groth Yes, the cable effectively has 5 "pins" (wires), but the connector does't. So there would be no point of having that kind of cable. And if you chop off connector(s), you end up right where DIY Perks ended.

Oh, so maybe you know where I can buy that potentiometer? There's literally no place in Poland with stacked 500 ohm potentiometers. do you think 1000 ohm one will work?

Actually I'm surprised it's 500 Ohm. Such a low value inbetween output and input of the next audio block (i.e. an amp)? For headphones it might make sense though. Don't worry, 1k Ohm should work too with headphones and for just interconnect cable - actually a bigger value (22 kOhm, 47 kOhm, etc.) would be better. Jut buy any potentiometer that has similar physical dimensions and a value in range mentioned above and you're good to go with the project. :) Example offer of 50k linear - RV16GN(PH)-41CC-B50K-15KQ: www.trim-pot.com.pl/Katalog.aspx?cat=2&p=2 (I've just googled that). TME has a 10k linear version. As I said, it depends whether you need it for headphones or an interconnect cable.

CJWarlock okay, I got my 50K linear one from old buzzy speakers and it works surprisingly good.

Cool. Just as it should work. Have a nice audial experience.

+TheLynxDr If you have access to a core drill, you could make one from any type of rock. Slate could be cool. Quartz would probably fall apart, but if not, it'd be the coolest thing ever.

+rasmis You, Sir, just inspired me to make something horrifyingly cool!

ted clubber lang I'm glad. Thinking about it, if you don't go round, but eg hexagonal, it can be done with an angle grinder and a (cheap) diamond disc.

If not quartz... I wonder how fast you can grow a crystal? You can get those science sets for kids to grow their own in a container of water, little crystal gardens even. They might not be the strongest, since they don't grow in the bowels of the Earth containing tons of pressure and ridiculous temperatures. But I suppose you could get a load of crystals (or pebbles, or interesting rocks and crystals from a rock and crystal shop {which do actually exist} ), and encase them in something like clear epoxy. Temperature and chemical reaction problems taken care of, somehow. Then you could have a knob with lots of crystals in it, encased clear, in a round mould. Or better than epoxy, one of the least reactive substances known... glass! Of course you'd need a glass-blower, someone with the right furnace and tools. They pour glass all the time. Get 'em to encase whatever crystalline doodads into some good glass. THEN you've got yer knob! Actually do you even get chunks of quartz that big? Do they sell them? For how much? I bet "a lot" is part of the answer. Still there's always offcuts of marble or something. Or jet, or some other attractive rock. They can't throw away semi-precious rocks fast enough. Except when they're hawking it on some QVC-type jewellery channel, with as little shame or dignity as a RU-vid advertising sponsor.

Same here

I think concrete base color is perfect. Anyways I'm struggling with find the right potenciometer, I just found 10k ohms, it can works???

@@guhong4396 of course ! also depends on the type of pot you using (linear, logarithmic, etc...)

how have you not been noticed? I love your work!!!

+TheOfficial ALIMINATOR Thanks =)

David Lodge it's probably from the RU-vid audio library so he doesn't get copyrighted

kiefac he can use ncs

it wouldn't fit the mood

David Lodge I do XD 7000 seconds on nyanelevator :D

It appears you prefer 009 Sound System Dreamscape .

the fact this comment is 3 years old makes me feel old

+Proyectos LED We see each other once again gaston lol

Perhaps if you could find a potentiometer with a third row of contact points you could do exactly that. And just solder the usb contacts to the pins.

You buy a TRIPLE GANG potentiometer with the same 500 ohm linear specs and just wire the usb power input for the Led to the extra pins. To get it to light consistently with volume you may have to experiment with resistors. Or you can check with the LED and potentiometers specs whether it wouldn't hit or dim from peak brightness too fast.

you can also mix the stereo into mono signal and you'll have spare connections both in the usb and the pot for the LED light

But that's stupid. Many producers like me work hard to add stereo effects and ad "life" to music. But go ahead.

Exactly why I’ll be using a 50K pot. How about pots that can go beyond 100K, even up to 1M

Almost all sources are designed to drive headphones, which can be as low as 16 ohms. The lower the resistance, the less mains pickup you'll have (anything above 10k should be fully shielded), and the less voltage noise the pot will present (the second is rarely a problem with consumer audio, it begins to matter at circa 100db snr). So going even lower is probably not that bad of an idea. Yet, many sources have output impedance of 50 ohms, so approaching that, you'll lose some amplitude. 500 ohms is a great choice, in my opinion. 1k and above will not work well with headphones, it's too high.

Would be possible with an esp32. The Bluetooth device would have to be As an input device (as a keyboard for example) but then you need a power supply...

i dont even have a router so 🤷

@@CesarMartinez-wi7wc you can use a chisel

More like 9:30 now

69 likes as well rn

+Colin Littley Doing this you would either burn out the LED when the volume was low, or burn out the pot when on full volume. Better to go with a 555 PWM.

If you consider the LED is after the 1K resistor then it would only ever reach the max brightness it would not burn out as with the second rheostat being in parallel to the LED it would simply provide a bi pass for that voltage level. when the volume knob was turned.

1. This type of potentiometer is not the best choice of this build, even using the type with double gain. As mentioned by others, you really SHOULD be using a logarithmic potentiometer. Yes, the linear pots work "fine" but Im sure you notice, as you get above "half" on the pot you arent really at "half volume" yet. 2. Same DIY build >>> Arduino + Rotary Encoder. The advantage here is that negative side of using linear potentiometer exampled above is not present, and also important it show the volume level on the PC screen. learn.adafruit.com/pro-trinket-rotary-encoder/example-rotary-encoder-volume-control 3. Esay verson of Rotary Encoder Volume Control: www.instructables.com/id/Digispark-Volume-Control/ or www.instructables.com/id/USB-Volume-Controller-Potentiometer-Based/ 4. Same build, but here with RGB feature!! pretty cool, Mat should have opted for this one, as we all know he is capable of great builds and he loves Leds/RGB. dangerousprototypes.com/forum/index.php?topic=7654.0#p62863 5. Ultimate build, which is WIRELESS!!! patrickmccabemakes.com/hardware/Dial/ 6. Easy method that do not require any build/DIY, and very great option, for those who is not into DIY and like a neat Desk, as less device as possible: Great soft, which REALLY should be checked!! www.nirsoft.net/utils/volumouse.html PS/ my Config: When Alt Key Pressed + Mouse Wheel When Mouse is above TaskBar , to be able to change Volume with only one hand ;)

Lazar Nedeljkovic ;)

My knob is very hard and sturdy

Williams f1 best team ever

And ur face tops it all of :D

😂

You wouldn't. an A500R would work much better for controlling the volume than a B500R

4 years later and I was looking for this comment

Whatever works.

+Dejan Kober This!

+itHrtzWhenIP If it isn't an incredible expensive audiophile set up, which is doubtful, and as long as one gets a quality Pot, you shouldn't really notice.

+itHrtzWhenIP He is wrong both with value (should be 5k - 20K, depending on surrounding impedances) and it should be log.

@@Valtra103 can you explain 5k to 20k and impendances real quick,which one should i get?thanks

no.

ok

Yes.

how?

Just hook up another pot and connect them in series. Choose a pot that can handle the voltage of the led, attach the positive power wire to the input, the negativ to the output and the ground to the third. Boom. Now you got a variable LED.

*yes*

?

@@microsoftpowerpoint3039 He explained it you baffoon

@@microsoftpowerpoint3039 He explained it you baffoon

:(

+Matheus Moreira Haha, I like it! :)

Matheus Moreira make it wierd

Glue a dildo on the potentiometer or a fake 💩. No one would have seen it coming.

Really cool idea

+Samuel Vella Then you will need a pot with three in- and outputs.

Good point.

+telefon72 or you can build an active control with a quad op amp like an lm324, you wire each output to a follower that are going in an adder that powers the led through a small resistor.

Mechanical Fix use a transistor. Base goes to music source aka output of pot collector goes to vcc and emmiter to + of led. The minus of led goes to gnd.

Arek R. nobody gives a fuck

Yes, the sound will be a lot, a lot weaker.

Which additional components did you used for that? Could you sent me a instruction how to mod mine too? Thank you very much.

Jonas Ritter It is a little bit more complicated. But i used a arduino. Check the resistance of the potentiometer, and then analog write to the led.

Thank you very much Michi Lo​. I'll try it on my own and hopefully get a working device ;)

Im not an electrician but you could make it work; 1. Put the potentiometer entirely inside the concrete knob. 2. Get a button that works to mute/unmute with usb signal (i guess snatching one off an old pair of headphones isnt entirely impossible, otherwise, buy off the internet) and place it under the knob, so it sits between the base and the knob. If the button cant hold the weight, i guess some springs would work fine to help hold it 3. Tidy everything up 4. Done Or you could snatch the whole volume button contraption from an old audio device and rewire it to usb and make another base plate (just like his oak/acrylic base) and hide the components inside that.

There are potentiometers with built-in push buttons, so it should be possible. The thing I'd be worried about is the weight of the concrete on such a button. Perhaps it'd be better to use a lighter material.

🤣