Clicking leaf buttons

[telengard]

I have a few leaf style buttons that occasionally click.  I took one
off and it seems that the little circular bump sometimes hits the
side of the plastic peice.  How do you align the leaf(s) so that they
are always centered on the button?

[grafixmonkey]

well only leaf switches around my place are in pinball machines...  but since nobody's answering, I wonder if the button is pressing the leaves in too far?  or is the clicking caused by the little knobby metal thing sliding to the side of the button plastic?

In one situation I'd bend the leaves a bit...  in the other, I think using a dremel, drillbit, or file to hollow out the button plastic right where the knobby metal bump is would help.  You know, make it a bit more concave so the knob nestles into a round hole instead of sliding off to the side.  

If neither of those help, I suggest beer.

[telengard]

well only leaf switches around my place are in pinball machines...  but since nobody's answering, I wonder if the button is pressing the leaves in too far?  or is the clicking caused by the little knobby metal thing sliding to the side of the button plastic?

In one situation I'd bend the leaves a bit...  in the other, I think using a dremel, drillbit, or file to hollow out the button plastic right where the knobby metal bump is would help.  You know, make it a bit more concave so the knob nestles into a round hole instead of sliding off to the side.  

If neither of those help, I suggest beer.

Hehe, beer can always temporarily fix something, but you hit the nail on the head.  I just couldn't
describe it as well as you did.

the clicking caused by the little knobby metal thing sliding to the side of the button plastic?

That's it.  That's a good idea to bore out the plastic.  I tried loosening the leafs to see if I could push
them to one side or another but that didn't seem to work.  It almost seems that the button isn't
sitting straight in the hole.   I guess I'm just glad that I'm not the only one who has this happen.

thanks for the help
~brian

[grafixmonkey]

whoa...   you're a Brian too?    

actually I never even thought about the fact that the leaf switches in those pinball games in my basement are still working without any maintenance whatsoever (I mean none!) and we bought them old and used, 13 years ago.  

Of course, the coin leaf switches are all buh-roke, from giving ourselves kid-credits on the machines.     Why was it so much fun to reach in there and tap that switch back and forth until the counter said 99?

[Howard_Casto]

What you are describing sounds like your buttons are too long.  You can ONLY have the little metal rivet slip out of alignment if the leaf blades are really mashing against each other.  They are supposed to barely connect when you push the button all the way down (or 75% of the way down)  that way you dont' have a "trigger happy" control panel.  

I would suggest getting some plastic spacers for your blade assemblies.  It should fix your problem.