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How to secure push-buttons

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RandyT:

--- Quote from: Rick on August 22, 2025, 08:14:55 pm ---Hey all, long time.  :cheers:

Quick question. How are you securing your push-buttons, if at all? I'm finalizing a project, and have noticed that no matter how tight I secure them, after a while of use, they can become loose.

I'd like to have a solution that's not permanent, like blue Loctite would be for metal, but I've seen people use a hot glue gun and even superglue. I tried using a single round of plumbers tape, but it was too thin to make a difference. (I may try multiple layers to see if building it up helps.)

Does anyone have a good idea on how to keep these push-buttons tight?

--- End quote ---

The bumps are intended to dig into the lower surface, like a built-in star washer might. 

I'm going to lean toward the holes being too large.  If the buttons are properly tightened and still coming loose, there's a possibility that the button is shifting enough in the hole to cause a very slight rotation of the nut.  Over time, this will compound and result in a loose button.  If you don't have a loose friction-fit, it's probably not ideal.  Also, I would make very sure that the edges of the hole are not standing proud of the bottom surface for some reason. 

If the nut can't maintain it's purchase on the lower surface of the panel, I would screw the nut down about 1/2 of the way, put a drop or two of good hot-melt below it on the panel and then tighten while hot.  I'd be very surprised if it ever moved again on it's own.

NoMoUserNames:
Admittedly, I have not tried this on an arcade button.....

BUT, with machines, a very common solution is simply adding an extra nut. You tighten the first one down, but not quite all the way. Then you hold that one steady while you apply a second one with full torque. It creates a setup where one nut or the other is usually binding at any given moment. This makes it much harder to wiggle free unless you're applying a lot more force, OR you hold the lower one steady while you loosen the upper one.

Granted, this assumes you have enough button length to add a second nut, AND you have enough space to be able to grip the first one while tightening the second.

Rick:
As it turns out, I think I'm a victim of circumstance.

The original cab I installed push-buttons on were different, and did not allow me to fit the button wrench on the nuts to tighten them. So, these were the loose ones. That cabinet has since been sold after I tightened them as much as possible. (Hoping the new owner doesn't have issues.)

My current and newly finished cab has Happ compatible concave push-buttons, and let me tell you, did I ever tighten them down using the button wrench. Definitely tighter than I'd ever been able to in the past. So, I hope that this should see them stay tight for a long, long time.

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