Footswitch for MIDI pedals

thingiverse

Footswitch with a nice "clicky" feel: the lever is held in the upper position by magnets ( 15 x 2.5mm , 18N ) so you have to apply quite some force to trigger the button. When you release the button, the lever jumps back up without the need for a spring. Instructions I'm using a IR-LED/IR-Phototransitor combination to optically detect the switch state. Emitter to ground, collector goes to Arduino pin with internal pull-up. One could also put a hall effect sensor into the base to detect velocity / aftertouch. In order to make the switch as silent as possible glue some pieces of felt on both sides of the lever. I also mounted 4 switches inside a wooden case with more felt.