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

[spidermonkey]

"Picking at my cuticles with anticipation" . Count me in for a few as long as the price is reasonable. Say around .25 cents each ?





                                                 Kidding..

[Trimoor]

The only problen I see with translucent buttons is that they tend to look ugly with the internal plastic supports.

If you can find a better way to strengthen the button, it will look much nicer when lit.

I like purple, clear, and light green.

UV reactive would be great....

[Xiaou2]

 i actually think the wico leafs internal supports look pretty cool.  tho you could just fill the thing solid.  the supports do help tho - in keeping you from seeing into the control panel... and also,  to help deliver/refract the light.
 

[RayB]

Would be nice if you [the manufacturer] could figure out a plastic that is translucent enough for illumination, but still opaque enough that you cannot see too much of the internal structure. That would be ideal.

[shawnzilla]

I'm a bit at the mercy of the manufacturer as far as available materials & colors. But, they are doing a good job of following my design requests...so, we will see (still waiting on a pricing quote).

Would be nice if you [the manufacturer] could figure out a plastic that is translucent enough for illumination, but still opaque enough that you cannot see too much of the internal structure. That would be ideal.

[Jedimonkey27]

I might be interested if the price is good. As for colors I would pick smoke, clear, red, blue and green, and maybe some assorted others.

[Dekelia]

I would pick up at least a couple blue buttons - it would be best for me to match the color of the happ translucent blue trackball.

[bryan1945]

Any further info on the buttons?

[shawnzilla]

Not yet. Still waiting on a price quote from the manufacturer.

Any further info on the buttons?

[DougHillman]

Soon, soon, soon I hope.

The design theme of my next personal cabinet will depends on this.    If you can get us some nice blues I'll be going one direction, if not, something else entirely.  

Of course, I've got 2 cabs to finish for customers before I can get around to one for me.  So, I guess there's no rush after all.  

[shawnzilla]

No price answers yet, but I did get an update last night. They have determined that what I'm asking for is no problem, but they are negotiating prices with the manufacturing plant. Stay tuned!

[RayB]

Geez, are you sure you're dealing with the "right" company for this job? All this time just to find out IF they can do it??? They'll probably come back to you with a ridiculous price (or good price and ridiculous minimum run).

At least go out and get more quotes from other places, so you can get the best price possible. It's hard to get the best price if you don't have another company bidding on the project.

[shawnzilla]

Good news! I've worked out acceptable pricing with the manufacturer.  I'll only need to charge $79.99 per button to break even...just kidding, just kidding....

I'm satisfied with the pricing, so now we're at the stage where I'm going to send them some color samples. Does anyone have a dark blue translucent leaf switch button that they'd like to donate to the cause? (pm me) I will gladly pay you back with some of the new buttons, when they are produced. I'm assuming that everyone would prefer this shade of blue vs. the lighter translucent blue (please correct me if I'm wrong).

That's all for now. I will be out-of-town on my honeymoon for 10 days, starting tomorrow. So, if you message me tomorrow or later, I won't be responding until the 20th.

Thanks for everyone's input on this! I'm excited to get some samples back from the manufacturer!

[Bgnome]

so what IS the pricing at the moment?

[RayB]

I would prefer a medium blue.

[pointdablame]

How could you get pricing info and not tell us?  That is just so evil  

[shawnzilla]

  I don't know what my personal final cost will be as of yet...I will still have to pay for international shipping, and I haven't decided on order quantity yet. I can say this: They WILL be very reasonably priced. I'm not out to make a quick buck at the expense of the BYOAC community. I care a great deal about BYOACers and I'm trying to get a product made that will benefit us all.

As a ballpark guess (and please DON'T get mad at me if I have to change this due to overhead costs). I would say we're probably looking at the $3.00 range with discounts for multiple quantity buyers.

I am shipping color samples to the manufacturer today. Once they've matched color for me, then they are going to make a prototype run for my review.

After today, I won't be able to respond to any PMs or posts to this thread until the 19th (I'm leaving early tomorrow morning for my honeymoon).

As always, I'll keep everyone posted.

How could you get pricing info and not tell us?  That is just so evil  

[RayB]

$3 with or without microswitch?

[pointdablame]

$3 is pretty reasonable though, with or without microswitch.  My guess is it is without.  That's actually less than I thought you were going to say, so here's to hoping you can keep it close to that amount.

Can't wait to see some pics of the prototypes.

[Jakobud]

For colors of these things, I would recommend that he contact Bob Roberts.  Surely Bob would be willing to donate perhaps one of each color of old school leaf switch buttons that he has so that they could match up the colors.  

[RayB]

For colors of these things, I would recommend that he contact Bob Roberts.  Surely Bob would be willing to donate perhaps one of each color of old school leaf switch buttons that he has so that they could match up the colors.  

Why would Bob do that?

[Jakobud]

For colors of these things, I would recommend that he contact Bob Roberts.  Surely Bob would be willing to donate perhaps one of each color of old school leaf switch buttons that he has so that they could match up the colors.  

Why would Bob do that?

Because I could see him being able to turn around and resell buttons if there is a large run of them made.  Just better for his business I guess if he is interested in them.

[NIVO]

on a side note to this......an idea I have for making somewhat of a unique lighting idea is to take the outer"ring" or holder of the button and making it transparent, and the button itself solid. You'll get a glow ring effect around the button that will give a nice Tron disc look in my opinion. If these buttons do get made I will purchase a few and tinker around with the idea for my project.

[RayB]

HMMM. Are there cold cathod rings available in button size? I have seen only the ones made for fans.

[pointdablame]

I don't think they make CCFL rings that small.  You'd be better off with some EL wire, EL tape, or lazer leds if you want to hook it directly to your PC.  You could always just wire up LEDs as well, but I'm assuming you want a plug and go method.

Depending on your button setup, you could also use one or two 4" CCFLs, say one above and one below a 6 button layout....

[Goz]

Any update on this project?

Thanks,

-Goz

[shawnzilla]

The factory is working on proofs for me right now.  Once they send me the samples, and assuming they look good, then I'll order a production run of them. They've been working on the proofs for a while, so I don't think it'll be too much longer.

Any update on this project?

Thanks,

-Goz

[Buddabing]

I wonder how hard it would be to rig the buttons up so that they could be selectively lit up on a per-game basis, perhaps in conjunction with controls.dat. That would definitely raise the coolness factor of the lighting effect. There could even be flashing lights or a strobe effect where all the lightable buttons come on in a programmed pattern when the console is idle.

Just thinking out load, don't know if it's been done already.....

[shawnzilla]

Wasn't DinoRoger (I think that was his screen name) working on an led project like this?

I wonder how hard it would be to rig the buttons up so that they could be selectively lit up on a per-game basis, perhaps in conjunction with controls.dat. That would definitely raise the coolness factor of the lighting effect. There could even be flashing lights or a strobe effect where all the lightable buttons come on in a programmed pattern when the console is idle.

Just thinking out load, don't know if it's been done already.....

[GGKoul]

Wasn't DinoRoger (I think that was his screen name) working on an led project like this?

I wonder how hard it would be to rig the buttons up so that they could be selectively lit up on a per-game basis, perhaps in conjunction with controls.dat. That would definitely raise the coolness factor of the lighting effect. There could even be flashing lights or a strobe effect where all the lightable buttons come on in a programmed pattern when the console is idle.

Just thinking out load, don't know if it's been done already.....

It was called the L.A.M.E. Project.  I assume it's dead because the project site has been done for a while now.

[willyum]

There is this project...

http://web2.airmail.net/~westal/photos/arcalux_ad.htm

But the one who sent me the link says that it uses incadescent lights instead of LEDs which would probably get really hot over time.

I'm a newbie so I have no idea whats good or bad, but check it out.

[willyum]

OH, and definately download the little video of it in action......something like that in combination with these new buttons would be hot.........as well as that new illuminated joystick

[pointdablame]

OH, and definately download the little video of it in action......something like that in combination with these new buttons would be hot.........as well as that new illuminated joystick

wow, that's pretty amazing.

[Brax]

What material are they being made of? As was mentioned earlier, translucent and clear plastic is typically BRITTLE. The pins for the microswitches would snap easily, hopefully this is being considered.

[shawnzilla]

I expressed that very concern to the manufacturer. If I don't like what I see with the samples they make, then I'll look into other options.

What material are they being made of? As was mentioned earlier, translucent and clear plastic is typically BRITTLE. The pins for the microswitches would snap easily, hopefully this is being considered.

[Popcorrin]

Typically what is the best way to light a translucent button?

[NIVO]

generally l.e.d. or cold cathode would be the way as their is virtually no heat, and the hour life is quite long. They are also made at many different lumen intensity levels as well.

[Popcorrin]

Do you typically use one l.e.d. per button or do you just use a few on the bottom side of your control panel to light all of them?

[NIVO]

well lets say i had 6buttons(in a fighter pattern) id simply put a cold cathode tube directly in the center of the two rows underneath them, should light all 6, given your situation of course.

As far as simply lighting one, yes id use a led either underneath the button or possibly inside the button(modification being required of course). Putting inside the button in my opinion would require a less bright led, if your going for a simple soft glow, which i would personally prefer.

[ras2a]

Orange, Red and Yellow.  Can't wait to see them when you get them done!