Mounting LEDS to Leaf Switch Buttons

[Oldskool]

Howdy all...

I'm going to wire up LEDs to each of my leaf switch translucent buttons, and suggestions are appreciated.

The LEDs are standard, so I'll have to solder them. I also have a resistor for each LED.

Now, the leaf switch holders are plastic, so I was thinking of screwing a fastener into them, attaching some sort of LED holder.

Has anyone out there tried this......?

[HaRuMaN]

no... but I would love to see how yours turn out if you accomplish it.

[JustMichael]

Have you tried "the handyman's secret weapon"?


For those that don't know....duct tape.  

[Oldskool]

Have you tried "the handyman's secret weapon"?

No.

I'm going to start soon, and may go with a short bit of strapping screwed to the leaf holder, and hot glue to affix the LED.

Strapping is flexible, and will allow me to reposition the LED should it be out of alignment.

We'll see how it goes.......    

[Oldskool]

no... but I would love to see how yours turn out if you accomplish it.

JOB COMPLETE!

I now have a LED for each button, and the trackball.

For each location, I soldered a resistor to the LED, and used shrinkwrap for protection.

Then, I snipped off a short length of strapping, and used hot glue to affix the LED.

Then, it was simply installing them with small wood screws.
 
The first photo shows the LED assembly.

[Oldskool]

In the CP.

[Oldskool]

All lit up, and purdy!

[Oldskool]

Same for the trackball....

[Zakk]

I like the solution.  Cheap and effective.  Doesn't even look too bad, how about a shot of it all lit up??

[Oldskool]

I like the solution.  Cheap and effective.  Doesn't even look too bad, how about a shot of it all lit up??

For a clear shot, I'll have to get out the old tripod.

[Zakk]

Awesome, Probably going to be almost too bright!  Now are you running them all off the computer PS?  If so, how many do you have in there??? (or was there another thread about this?)

Again, a nice simple solution.  I especially like the cluster light for the tb...does that one shine through too bright?  I've use a single superbright led "cannon" on a happ TB and I found I had to angle it to tone it down a bit, hit me in the eye when playing...?

[Howard_Casto]

Quite nice!

If it were me though, I'd drill small holes in the "shaft" of the plastic under the blades and mount your bit of metal there.  That way the footprint is the same size.

Great job though.

[spidermonkey]

Nice work. You do know that that little ear that shoots off the side of the button holder (where you put the little screws) is actually the mount for a lamp. Are they Wico button holders ? They sure look like it.  I think Wico also has the correct lamps that go with those holders however I'm pretty sure that they are regular incandecent miniature lamps and not leds. Notice that the lamp mounts that come with your button holders are slightly farther away then where you mounted your led mounts. They did that so that the lamp didn't make the button too bright to the point that it would be distracting. If you've ever seen any of the classic Williams games like Robotron you'll notice that the Translucent player 1-2 buttons were rather dim and not real noticable unless the machine was in a really dark arcade and even then they weren't overly bright. That being said I still like your led idea better even if the buttons are really bright. I mounted a large flourecent fixture inside my control panel and it too really lights up all my translucent buttons. Almost too bright but they do show up even in a brightly lit room and thats the way I like it too.

[Oldskool]

Now are you running them all off the computer PS?

I'm going to use a second AT power supply that I have lying around. I also have to light up the coin door and might throw in a couple of cold cathodes somewhere.....

I especially like the cluster light for the tb...does that one shine through too bright?

No. I find that the light diffuses quite well though the ball.

Nice work. You do know that that little ear that shoots off the side of the button holder (where you put the little screws) is actually the mount for a lamp.

I thought that that might be the case.  I did want to have the buttons fairly bright though, and mounting the LEDs that far away didn't seem to be an option.

The orange buttons REALLY lit up well. Player 1 has blues, and they block the light a little more.

[SirPeale]

I'm going to use a second AT power supply that I have lying around. I also have to light up the coin door and might throw in a couple of cold cathodes somewhere.....

That's massive overkill.  You should be able to run the lot off the one PS, with power to spare.

I'm writing up a howto right now on running a PC using standard arcade wiring.  Should solve a lot of problems I see on the board regarding power.

[Oldskool]

That's massive overkill.  You should be able to run the lot off the one PS, with power to spare.

Is it? I keep hearing differing opinions...

I'm assuming my PS in my computer is 300 watts. I have two optical drives, and two hard drives in my mini-tower.

For my bells and whistles, I have a 6 cannon led for the TB, 14 individual leds for the buttons, and two 4-cannon leds for the coin door.  Add to that two cold cathode lights.

Is one power supply enough?

[SirPeale]

I thought you were talking about a cabinet machine.  You have two optical drives in a cabinet?  Two hard drives I can possibly see, if they were smaller ones, and only if you had a complete set on them (or were playing other things than arcade games)

[Oldskool]

I thought you were talking about a cabinet machine.  You have two optical drives in a cabinet?  Two hard drives I can possibly see, if they were smaller ones, and only if you had a complete set on them (or were playing other things than arcade games)

It is a cab machine.

In it are two smaller HDs, a DVD rom, and CD burner.

I have a full set of roms as well as a gazillion MP3s (I digitized my entire CD collection). The option of being able to throw in a DVD is nice too.

The CD burner is overkill, but its an old 2X that I had lying around, so what the heck.

My cab will be multi-purpose. I will also have an old ATI AIW card in it, so I can also use it as a TV.

I'm planning on networking it to my other computer (with DSL), so I can go online as well.

Audio and video outputs can be sent to my stereo and TV for yet more fun.

I love it.....

[Aceldamor]

It is a cab machine.


In it are two smaller HDs, a DVD rom, and CD burner.

I have a full set of roms as well as a gazillion MP3s (I digitized my entire CD collection). The option of being able to throw in a DVD is nice too.

The CD burner is overkill, but its an old 2X that I had lying around, so what the heck.

My cab will be multi-purpose. I will also have an old ATI AIW card in it, so I can also use it as a TV.

I'm planning on networking it to my other computer (with DSL), so I can go online as well.

Audio and video outputs can be sent to my stereo and TV for yet more fun.

I love it.....

Great looking buttons...

I use my cab for multi purpose as well, I have an ATI TV Card (with remote), 2 hard drive at 80 Gigs each (, A DVD rom, network connected.

This way when I get it done and in my Game room, it will be a Jukebox, a DVD Player, an Arcade Cab, and it will transform into a maid that will do the luandry and clean floors  

[SirPeale]

I see.  Yes, for a multipurpose machine, you'll need more juice.