3 Hickman Action

[@tylerstagge7465]

An elegant execution of an ingenious design. Excellent work! It’s delightful to find a kindred spirit in such a niche interest. I only recently learned of the Janko layout and have been seriously weighing modifying my Yamaha P-125 against building one from scratch. (I’m a mechanical engineer and vastly better at design and 3D printing than I am at piano 🙃) From scratch seems like a serious undertaking - kudos to you for giving it a go! I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

[@DIYJankoPiano]

Yes, if I knew a year ago when I started this project what I do now I would have definitely picked one of the 3D printed Janko overlay / key replacement versions (like this one: www.thingiverse.com/thing:6666469) and built one of those first. Not to say I wouldnt have worked on this project - its been quite a journey - but having access to a 'cheap' Janko keyboard I could at least practice on for a year prior to moving to this design would have been nice. I actually started by disassembling my Korg SP250 digital piano and taking a bunch of photos to try and make my own 'mod' to it (complete with parallelogram linkages for proper key movement) to a Janko layout, but after a month of working in Fusion360 I realized (erroneously) that I might as well work on the fully custom design instead of finishing the mod first... Oh well - hindsight is 20/20. PS: Yep, same here - engineer with more skills at design than piano... if you do get started with your own DIY project (mod or full custom) - best of luck!

[@ekstrapolatoraproksymujacy412]

The hickman action is better than the standard double escapement action in one thing, there is no very high friction of the knuckle/lever during escapement, which is really annoying in the standard action, also there is no friction of the knuckle/repetition lever during the key stroke in both directions, which is the main reason for the difference in down and up weight, but I am not sure if this is a good or bad thing, certainly different, it allows to set a very low down weight if you want (probably as low as 30g should work fine, which is impossible in a standard action)

[@DIYJankoPiano]

Its certainly different, though the piano mechanic I showed the prototype to mentioned that it feels very similar to a grand piano action (and miles better than the standard digital pianos). The biggest difference is with the let-off reset - when you start to let go of the key on a typical grand piano its a rather 'smooth' process - you dont hear or feel the lever reset back under the knuckle. In the Hickman action the reset happens when the two parts of the jack 'snap' back together so you can actually feel it happen as a sort of 'click' when you start to let go of the key. Its a very light feel, so you have to focus on it to really notice it (along with having to let go of the key very slowly to feel for that reset), but it is there. 30g does seem to work, though it decreases the allowed repeated-note speed to maybe 8 - 10 repeats per second instead of the 14 I could get at 50g. The good news is that the action also incorporates a weight adjustment mechanism, so the player was able to sit down and set his own preferred down-weight (30 to 80 I assume). Unfortunately the Hickman action never did catch on, so there is only maybe 5 or so pianos in the world with this style of action (at least counting only those pianos which people are aware have the Hickman action - so like in museums and such) - so testing one out and comparing it to a typical grand piano isnt really possible. The newspaper clippings from that time do mention how the pianists that tried it were quite happy with it though - it was considered an action that couldnt be 'out-played' (as in - could handle fast repeated notes as fast as humanly possible).

[@gguitarwilly]

Wonderful work! I'm working on a 5 octave janko midi keyboard. I would really like to see a video on how you put together the hinges using riveting. Also, which kind of 3D print do you use? I suppose it's resin?

[@DIYJankoPiano]

I am playing around with the idea of starting a separate series focusing more on the manufacturing side of things - so covering heat inserts, felt bushings, acetone smoothing process, and so on. Probably not now, but I will see if I can squeeze some time for it somewhere. 3D printer wise, I use a heavily modified Prusa MK3 with most of the parts made in PETG (except for the keys, which are ASA to allow for acetone smoothing). Considering that I am currently at ~30kg of filament down for the project (and another 20 or so to go)... resin would have bankrupted me :) (Plus, PETG is a better material for this use-case I think)

[@s90210h]

I'd be super happy with 4 octave hi quality janko midi keyboard, are you planning on making and selling ?

[@DIYJankoPiano]

making, yes selling... probably not. Overall the issue is that I went with the no-costs-spared design here, so if I was to make the piano for sale purposes I would have to mark it as being in the 6,000$ range at the very least (with half of that being just the price of the raw materials). I might after I finish with this project see about cutting down the design to make a more cost effective (and easier to assemble) version, but there is a huge difference (unfortunately) between a DIY-personal project and something designed for sale. If I do end up making & selling these it will always be of the 'custom-made' 'single-batch' variety with no warranty to speak of (for... obvious reasons - like I can help out if problems arise, but dont expect free returns, shipping, repairs, etc), and not a full on professional product. After all - unfortunately there isnt enough of a market to try building a business around :) If you are interested in a janko keyboard I would probably recommend trying your hands at a diy-adapter first (if you havent already) - there are a few out there that seem to work quite well (3d printed versions).

[@JonFairhurst]

Great video. Excellent explanations. Regarding manufacturing, if you go to the CES Show, there are big pavilions with booths from countless Chinese manufacturers. The “products” are weird and would never sell, but they are just examples of manufacturing capabilities. It’s cool, because you can go from booth to booth to evaluate and negotiate. The Hickman action would be cool to make for both Janko and traditional keyboards.

[@DIYJankoPiano]

Ive been thinking of maybe taking the piano (once its done - obviously) to one of those 3D printing expos, or maybe one more focused on musical instruments. But at the same time Ive been to trade shows as part of work (medical) and realize that its not really enough to go to one, you need a ton of preliminary marketing and similar if you dont want to just stand there awkwardly while everyone walks past you from one interesting and popular booth to the other.