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Looking for button, may not exist??? + MDF... may not be best for everything

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crashwg:

I am about to embark on the project of making a DDR hardpad in the next week or so and I'm kinda at a loss when it comes to one part of my design.

I've decided to make my pad completely of MDF mainly because I've worked with it before and I know how to.  Just recently I realized that when it comes to the arrow panels, I only need 2 sheets thick of MDF for them to work, but when it comes to X,O,tri,sq,sel&strt I'm not too sure I can get away with it.

So, basically, my question is does anyone know of a type of button, similar in size to an arcade button that I might be able to install in a thickness of 1

Stormy151:

I don't know if a long button like that exists, but could you cut a larger hole in the bottom piece of MDF, to accomodate the nut and microswitch?  Sort of like how you cut a hole in a wood panel so that you can mount a trackball on a plate?

crashwg:

Ooops, I guess I was a bit unclear on what I'm looking for.  I need a button that no part of it will be exposed on the other side of the 1

pointdablame:

I would think that the pounding of the MDF would lead to the destruction of any kind of arcade type button over time, even if you routed out an area for it or protected it somehow.

Also, if i may ask, why are you making it entirely out of MDF? That seems like a very bad idea.  It'll be much heavier and more awkward if you ask me, and really limits aesthetics since you'd have no lexan buttons, etc etc.  Unless you meant just an MDF structure?  I'd also think that it'd be much more prone to bending and breaking... I guess I just can't picture it. Please don't take that as an insult, I'm just curious as to how you plan to go about this, I've never seen an all MDF pad before.

crashwg:

I didn't mean the arrows too, just the hard pannels and the base.  IOW, I've rapped 5 - 10 7/8" square MDF in sheet metal and am using a 33" wide piece of MDF for the base.

The buttons that I'm looking for are just for the non-arrow buttons.

I've pretty much decided to go with another 3/4" of mdf rails between the buttons and the base, so now I only need a button that will have a mounting depth less than 2" or so.  I'm pretty sure that happ's horizontal pushbuttons are longer than that, so I guess I'm still looking for buttons...

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