Translucent Microswitch Buttons **www.fxbuttons.com**

[shawnzilla]

  They've assured me that once I order, production time will be about 3 weeks. So, yes, definitely this year...Optimistically, look for them by the end of June.

Oh man! Awesome! Does this mean we might actually get them by the end of 2005?!?!?
j/k...

I'm still in for a few when you get 'em...

I do hope it'll be in less then a few years though...

lol... Mean-lil' me...

[shawnzilla]

I finally got around to getting an led inside the button. Here are a couple of pics that I took:

1) The picture does not do it justice. My camera doesn't seem to want to take a proper picture in low-light conditions. Maybe I'll try setting up a tripod to eliminate the blurriness from the long exposure time.

2) It looks amazing with the light inside. A wonderful glow and not too harshly bright.

3) There is only one LED inside (a blue one from modsthatglow.com). I simply removed the plunger & spring, placed the led inside with the lead wires going out through the bottom. I put the plunger/spring back, hooked up the wiring and then put the microswitch back in.  This method worked great and did not interfere with the microswitch.

4) There was no need for "frosting" the plunger, as the led caused the whole thing to glow and it was not a glaring single point of light.

[UndeadMeat]

I sure hope those new samples show up soon. I can't wait to see the other colors. If they come in at $3 a button you can put me down for around a dozen. Thanks for all your hard work in making this happen.

[tetsujin]

4) There was no need for "frosting" the plunger, as the led caused the whole thing to glow and it was not a glaring single point of light.

I think frosting would be more useful for while the LED is off, so you don't look in there and see the button's innards too much...

But, really, if the button is unfrosted one can probably frost it at home.  That way people are happy whether they want it frosted or not.

[Chris]

But, really, if the button is unfrosted one can probably frost it at home.

[tetsujin]

But, really, if the button is unfrosted one can probably frost it at home.  That way people are happy whether they want it frosted or not.

Might be tricky because of the small size, but spraying the inside of the plunger with a satin clearcoat should frost it quite nicely.

I was thinking a quick dip in acetone.  That way you'll get the outside of the plunger (meaning the full diameter of the button face will be frosted) and it'll be less likely to wear off than if you sprayed the outer surface of the button with clearcoat.  But whether that will work, I won't know until I get some.

[shawnzilla]

Who can take a rainbow
Wrap it in a sigh?
Soak it in the sun
And make a strawberry pie
The buttonman
The buttonman can
The buttonman can
Cause he mixes it with love
And makes the world look good

...look for pics later tonight. If you liked the blue buttons, prepare to be stunned. The other colors (five colors total) will knock your socks off!!!

[cholin]

Aww, damn it, gotta buy more socks....its bad enough when the dog eats them...

These are still at approx. $3 / button right?

[pointdablame]

Who can take a rainbow
Wrap it in a sigh?
Soak it in the sun
And make a strawberry pie
The buttonman
The buttonman can
The buttonman can
Cause he mixes it with love
And makes the world look good

...look for pics later tonight. If you liked the blue buttons, prepare to be stunned. The other colors (five colors total) will knock your socks off!!!

oh that's just cruel and unusual 

[shawnzilla]

I have no idea. Now that I have the samples, they're going to send me pricing. I don't think they wanted to confirm anything until I approved.

Aww, damn it, gotta buy more socks....its bad enough when the dog eats them...

These are still at approx. $3 / button right?

[Chris]

If Budda's coming LED interface could control tri-colored LEDs that could light up a button to be any color via software control, the clear ones are gonna be the sweetest thing on the planet...

--Chris

[Buddabing]

If Budda's coming LED interface could control tri-colored LEDs that could light up a button to be any color via software control, the clear ones are gonna be the sweetest thing on the planet...

--Chris

4-lead tricolor LEDs will work, but 2-lead tricolor LEDs will not.

[Chris]

If Budda's coming LED interface could control tri-colored LEDs that could light up a button to be any color via software control, the clear ones are gonna be the sweetest thing on the planet...

--Chris

4-lead tricolor LEDs will work, but 2-lead tricolor LEDs will not.

Could you send three or four (or more) levels of voltage to the various colors, or would each one be on or off?

If controls.dat had the original color of each button...

[shawnzilla]

PICTURES!

[shawnzilla]

MORE PICS!

[shawnzilla]

The pictures don't quite capture the vibrancy of these, but man, they are gorgeous!!!!

[screaming]

30 clear, please

[UndeadMeat]

WOW! Must have light up buttons! The red and clear ones look awesome! They are so cool that I can't stop using exclimation marks! Please oh please let them not cost like $10 each!

UndeadMeat!

[RayB]

Just a photography tip for ya: Take pics of them again in the daytime.

[Patent Doc]

Hey Shawn just for you in my best Alabama drawl...Them thangs sure look purty...make a grown man cry...I could shed a tear...sniff....sniff.

Looks great man!! I'm still in it for blue, green, and red, awe hell, why not all five.

These look fantastic.

Patent Doc

[Buddabing]

If Budda's coming LED interface could control tri-colored LEDs that could light up a button to be any color via software control, the clear ones are gonna be the sweetest thing on the planet...

--Chris

4-lead tricolor LEDs will work, but 2-lead tricolor LEDs will not.

Could you send three or four (or more) levels of voltage to the various colors, or would each one be on or off?

If controls.dat had the original color of each button...

The controller has 16 levels of voltage, plus off. An unmodified 40-LED controller would only be able to control 13 tricolor LEDs. Each tricolor LED would theoretically be capable of 4913 (17*17*17) different colors. The 13 LEDs is because the red, green, and blue ports on each LED would require one connection on the controller.

[southpaw13]

It's official, I'm going to buy some now....are you taking pre-orders yet or waiting for pricing?

Thanks,
southpaw

[shawnzilla]

It's official, I'm going to buy some now....are you taking pre-orders yet or waiting for pricing?

Thanks,
southpaw

Waiting on pricing. Hope to know in the next day or so. 

[Kingspinner]

These are amazing!!!  ;DWith Happ illuminators at over $6 a pc, these HAVE to be less expensive. I would love 6 each of red and blue if they are under $4. Please!!  With Cherries!! I gotta have em!

[whammoed]

They do look very nice, even better than the original pics.
The green however doesn't look translucent at all.  Is this the case or is it the picture?

[Tahnok]

Wow! I've gotta get a bunch of these! For what, I'm not entirly sure yet.

Some pictures of these mounted would be good. It would also be cool to see some pics of what the clear ones look like lit up with different color LEDs (including pure white).

[NY_in_TX]

man, looking good!

Yes more pics, especially of the green.  the others seem to look top notch.

2 questions

Is this going to be a complete button, with inner spring and microswitch?  I gotta have cherry switches for these badboys so I'd like it without the swithc  if the brand isn't cherry (could save you some $$).

and

why is that chick on the coach not freakin out about those totally awesome buttons?!

[PoDunkMoFo]

why is that chick on the coach not freakin out about those totally awesome buttons?!

She's thinking about when he used to look at her that way.

[Tiger-Heli]

Those buttons look awesome!!!

[Kev-in DFW]

The buttons are MUCH better than I would have thought they would turn out.  Hopefully, the price will be much better than anyone could have hoped as well.  I like the price you mentioned early on in the thread when you were getting all kinds of pressure to divulge one!

Let us know and then how long will it take for them to come in?

Thanks for the hard work!

Kev

[cholin]

Man, you gotta put an LED in them and take pics, these look amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

why is that chick on the coach not freakin out about those totally awesome buttons?!

She's thinking about when he used to look at her that way.

OUCH!

[gl.tter]

Nice Shawn.

[Chris]

Now if we could get the clear ones with the one and two player start icons on them...

[shawnzilla]

Nice Shawn.  I'm now tempted to cross over from translucent leafs to your clears and RGB LEDs!

I've edited one of the pictures a bit - I suspect that's closer to what they really look like:

Thanks Glitter! That does look much closer to what they really look like.

As far as the green ones go... They ARE translucent. They are dark green, almost the same as the translucent green leaf switch buttons (the colors were all modeled after the translucent leaf switch ones).

Production time will be 2 - 3 weeks from when I order them. Whether I order all five colors in the beginning will depend on 1) Pricing 2) Minimum order amount. As I've said in the past, I will keep the pricing as low as I possibly can. If needed, I will do a pre-order list and then make the order once I have enough (I'm hoping the pricing will be low enough that I won't have to do this).

The chick was not freaking out, because she was mad that I was working late and then came home and wanted to play with my buttons!  Ah, the life of a realtor with a hobby....

The microswitches are Honeywell. I'll have to see if there's a price difference for cherries. But, one thing the manufacturer is adamant about is that I have to order these with the microswitch. They will not sell me the buttons alone.

Yes, these are the complete buttons w/ Plunger, Spring, Bezel, Nut and Microswitch.

One thing is certain, these buttons will look awesome both lit and unlit.

[Santoro]

I wasn't originally planning on clear buttons, but those look sexy.

[Chris]

I'm hard-pressed whether to go with all clear buttons and select their color via LED or use colored cuttons.  I'll bet a blue button witrh either a blue or white LED looks better than a clear button with a blue LED...

[gl.tter]

I'm hard-pressed whether to go with all clear buttons and select their color via LED or use colored cuttons.

[RayB]

OK Shawn, what about durability? Have you done any "agressive" tests to see if they are just as durable as normal buttons? I remember reading that part of the issue here is the plastics are more brittle, which means they can crack and/or be more noisy. What's the verdict there?

[shawnzilla]

OK Shawn, what about durability? Have you done any "agressive" tests to see if they are just as durable as normal buttons? I remember reading that part of the issue here is the plastics are more brittle, which means they can crack and/or be more noisy. What's the verdict there?

They feel a LOT like the normal Happ Microswitch buttons. These are not the brittle plastic that people are used to seeing (both with the translucent leaf switch and the centsible microswitch ones). The noise is also comparable to the Happ buttons that everyone is used to.

These are very high quality, and the blue samples that I installed in my cab have been doing really well.

[tetsujin]

The orangish ones...  do they really look orange in person or are they more yellow?  They look more on the orange side to me, so I like 'em!  Let's see the tops of those buttons!