Control Panel Shorter Buttons

[heykool69]

Hi guys. I ran into a little dilemma. I just finished building another bartop cabinet. After i'd installed and wired up those pre-made daisy chained wires to buttons.....the excessive wires on the control panel made it hard to close or interfering with the other buttons & wires on the front panel.  I'm using the standard size and length buttons.  I'd saw shorter SANWA buttons on ebay, but they don't seem to use any microswitches.  Any had any experiences with those. And does those make that clicking sound each time you press on them?
Bottom line....do they make shorter arcade buttons?  Thanks.

[BadMouth]

They use mechanical keyboard type switches.  (a little square box with a plunger on top).
They work fine and do click.  I have Seimitsu buttons on my cab.  I like them, but sometimes miss the concave shape of older style buttons.
If mounting in a wooden panel, it needs to be fairly thin.  I used to route the back of the CP out, but on the last couple I glued a top layer of 1/4" mdf to a 1/2" layer that has the area for the nuts cut out.

The Ultimarc Gold Leaf buttons are a bit shorter and still retain the concave shape.
http://www.ultimarc.com/goldleaf.html
I remember there being several people on the boards here who didn't allow enough depth for their pinball buttons and ended up using those instead of standard ones.

[JDFan]

If mounting in a wooden panel, it needs to be fairly thin.  I used to route the back of the CP out, but on the last couple I glued a top layer of 1/4" mdf to a 1/2" layer that has the area for the nuts cut out.

I've used them also in 1/2" MDF ( only the 2 little prongs for the wire stuck below the MDF) and if you just make the hole the correct size, so that they are a tight fit, the buttons hold in place very well without the need for anything holding them in place the little snaps designed to hold them in the metal panels provide enough of a push against the MDF to keep them in place (since you never really are pulling on the buttons only pressing them ) and removing them requires a bit of a push from under the panel to pop them out. Haven't had any problems with them that way ( could also hot glue them in if you feel the need to have something holding them)

[heykool69]

Thanks guys. I might just go for those Gold Leaf buttons now that i'd just learned how you guys are using them.