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Opinions on microswitches and soldering please
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Mysterioii:
The switches that come with groovy game gear buttons seem nice and quiet to me....  personally I don't mind a little click to my pushbuttons but I like quieter joysticks, so when I get around to redesigning my control panel I plan on moving those switches that came with the buttons onto my Magstik pluses, which are pretty noisy.

Technically soldering is a better electrical connection than crimp connections and quick disconnects in general, but for arcade pushbuttons it really doesn't matter.  Crimps and disconnects can be a source of noise especially if there's any movement or wiggle at all, but it's just not pertinent to this application IMO.  If you were wiring up data lines for a USB port or something, I'd definitely solder.  For buttons and joysticks, meh I'll just crimp on some quick connects.

Solder isn't permanent but it is more persistent of course.  Takes a little more effort but you can always reverse it if you want to.  Don't get me wrong, I solder a lot of stuff when I need to....  I just don't think you need to in this case.
nakeworks:
I've heard the Groovy Standard Soft-Touch microswitch from Groovy Game Gear is good.  Anybody have a source or seller they prefer for softer, quieter MS.  Details please.
ChadTower:

--- Quote from: Nephasth on June 28, 2012, 10:50:47 am ------That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow---. In the time it takes a soldering iron to heat up, I can have all of my QDs removed...

--- End quote ---


It doesn't take a pencil very long to heat up.  We're talking a difference of minutes spread across a whole CP.  Putting 20 QDs on takes about the same amount of time the pencil needs to reach temp.  At that point the soldering is not all that different than slipping on QDs. 

There really isn't much difference either way in time or reliability.  I'm not arguing that soldering is better.  I'm arguing against the idea that it is worse.
Mysterioii:
the biggest time savings would be if you ever want/need to pull them all off then replace them again.  That being said, my cab is about 7 years old and I haven't had to replace a switch yet.

It also depends on your technique....  I started out working in a civilian engineering department working for the navy many years ago and the guys that taught me were very specific on the technique and it's probably overkill for something like this.  If using stranded wire, when stripping it try to leave the cut piece of insulation on there a little bit then use it as a handle to twist the strands tight before pulling it off....  tin the wire first...  try to make a mechanical connection instead of relying on the solder, so if the eyelets you're attaching to have a hole in them make a hook in your tinned wire and put it through the hole then use needle nose pliers to pinch it closed... oh and we'd be using shrink wrap tubing over each solder joint too, don't wanna leave 'em exposed....  and so on and so forth.  Takes a lot of time to do stuff that way and it's hard to shake old habits.  Sometimes I rush things of course, but more often than not I follow at least an approximation of what was hammered into me.

So for *me* crimping on quick disconnects is a lot faster.  It's really just one of those things where you'll eventually find your own way if you do it enough.
HaRuMaN:
A good ratcheting crimper makes a huge difference when using QD's. 
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