GGG EI2 button questions/comments...

[mcseforsale]

Well, I've been playing with the EI2 buttons for awhile while I finish up my cab and I have a couple of observations/quesions...

1.)  The material seems more like plastic than my old Happ buttons.  I suspect that the more nylon content in the Happ buttons is harder to make translucent.  Just an observation.
2.)  With the standard "Soft Touch" switch, they feel a skosh lighter than a traditional Happ and a Cherry switch.  The only problem I have with this is that the switch has about 1/32" worth of play in it's mount, causing rattling and allowing the switch to sometimes come out of its mount.  Wiring it up has helped...  I imagine the reason for this is the plastic/nylon content.  Since the buttons are molded from a stiffer material, making the mounts with a bit more "tolerance" probably allows the ham-fisted masses a little more clearance when installing switches, eliminating the risk of breaking a mount pin or something...
3.)  The removable switch mount is genius.  Enough said.  Whoever designed/came up with that is a renaissance man(woman).
4.)  The color translucence is amazing.  The most amazing part is HOW they glow.  Seems that the edges...where more material is present...capture the color you're looking for, while the thinner sections (like the center of the buttons) show almost white.  Whatever this stuff is, I like it a lot.  Even with my glasses, there's no glare from the buttons.
5.)  The RGB Drives are amazing.  They fit in the bottom of the button with a snap and the craftsmanship on the PCBs is very well executed.  As PCBs go, there's obviously more complicated out there, but these are elegant in their simplicity.  I thought the leads would prove too fragile, but once I got the hang of stripping them with my fingernail and wrapping and folding over the wire, they seem to be strong enough.  I'd say these were one of the best things I've bought so far.  I can't imagine soldering all that.  There's no way in he11 I could have made this work and make it look like this without these.  Truly inspired.
6.)  In my brief experience within this community, I must say, I'm very impressed with the level of participation by RandyT.  I'm a member of other communities in BMX, VWs and a couple other things and RandyT seems to be a bit more attentive than most vendors.  I like that he's able to piggyback this on an otherwise mainstream business.

So, can anyone help with that rattling?  Has this been brought up before?

AJ

[RandyT]

Thank you for the kind comments.  The CLASSX button design is my mine, so I'll try to shed some light.

The "Soft Touch" switches shouldn't come out without a bit of coaxing.  In normal use, they should be retained in the holder fine.  When I designed these, I tried many different standard switches, and had to set the tolerances so that all of them would work well.  For instance, the E-Switch, which is common to HAPP buttons nowadays, is slightly wider and the switch actuator is in contact with the plunger, as it sits just a bit higher in that switch.  The actuator on the "Soft Touch" switch sits slightly lower, and is a tiny bit thinner.  That being stated, there is an important thing to consider.  The E-Switch has a much higher force requirement to actuate, and results in "fall through" after actuation, which interferes with fast cycling of the switch.  Also, even though the actuator sits higher on the E-Switch, the "click point" is actually a bit lower than that of the "Soft Touch" switch.  The net result of the differences makes the E-Switch more prone to user fatigue, requires the button to be pressed further before actuation, and has less efficient cycling than the "Soft Touch".

You really shouldn't need to do this, but if you find you would like to "tighten up" the hold of the Soft Touch switches, there is something which can be done.  You can take the switch holder off the button, squeeze the legs together and hold for about 5 seconds (Don't worry, they won't break.  The material is very tough!)  Then try the Soft Touch switch.  I think you will find an improved fit afterward, and it will remain that way.

I'm very happy to hear that you are pleased with the buttons!

RandyT

[mcseforsale]

Thanks RandyT.  That makes a bunch of sense.  That switch holder is a thing of beauty.  It almost had me ordering leaf switches....almost.   

It truly is amazing the amount of thought that went into these.  Thinking about it, the fallthrough and fatigue issues make sense.  I'm still using a few happs on my CP, but when a certain someone makes a certain 3" EI trackball kit available, I'll probably backfill the rest of my buttons with Classix designs....I need 7 more. 

Do you have "Player 1" and "Player 2" buttons in Black Classix shape? 

Oh...and thanks a bunch for the "using of euro blocks as headers" idea.  It was just the ticket until Santa can get his fat butt down to Ga and drop off my LEDWiz this year! 





It blended very well into the overall wiring of the CP.  I let the RGB-Drive leads sit on the CP while the switch wires hover above about 1.5"...





Now...wouldn't a EI2 trackball with a RGB-Overdrive look good right about here?  Looka how lonely those buttons are :



 

AJ