Bryan Mumford has a few really interesting projects, I like “The Automatic Puny Tune Player”, he writes –
The Automatic Puny Tune Player is a computerized Puny Tune “robot” that plays songs on an actual wooden Puny Tune by blowing air into the mouthpiece and opening and closing the finger holes with mechanical levers. For those who don’t know, the Puny Tune is a 4-holed flute that can play a chromatic octave by fingering the four holes in different combinations.
The Puny Tune Player is made from wood, brass, rubber, and acrylic. The mechanical components are mounted on top of a clear plastic sheet which covers the computer and electronic components.
To operate the machine, you turn the hand crank seen at the right side of the cabinet. This drives an oak and brass crankshaft which in turn operates three pistons in the clear acrylic cylinders. These pistons pump air into an oak reservoir chamber at the back of the cabinet. Two tall rubber bellows absorb this air and inflate as the air is delivered. When the two bellows are fully inflated, they close a switch which activates the computer, a Z80 single board controller.
Bryan Mumford – Link.
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