Rotary switch help

[Signal:Noise]

what exactly does it mean when a rotary switch is make before break?

cheers

[Circuitbenders]

That means that  when you are turning the switch the next contact round is made/connected before the previous contact is broken. So for a brief millisecond you'll have two contacts connected to the main pin but they are also shorted to each other so be careful.

Break before make would be better for most applications i'm thinking but some things might possibly want a constant stream of data. Watch out for the two switched pins shorting together though.

[Signal:Noise]

Arse, I bought it specifically to switch between the 5 skew points on an SK1, I've just tested and having more than one point connected doesn't matter, actually adds some interesting effect possibilities. I'll know for next time though.

Another quick one, I've got a 2 pole 6 way switch, i'm assuming that for each time you turn the switch the poles are grouped together 1+2, 3+4 etc

[Circuitbenders]

 does it have 6 positions? If so a 2 pole 6 way switch will probably be connected so pole A or 1 or whatever its called will connect to pins 1 to 6 and pole B will connect through pins 7 to 12

so when A is connected to pin 1, B will be connected to pin 7, and so on round

[Signal:Noise]

Brilliant, Thanks for the help paul.