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Example pics: RGB LEDs with Clear Buttons and a LED Wiz
lockburn:
I'm looking forward to see how you made the donut, and what the underside of the control panel looks like. I'm getting ready to get my projecct off the ground soon...
webgeek:
I appologize for reviving a long dead thread, but I wanted to provide the images I promised before.
Here is a picture of a button with collar:
The collars are created by first drilling a hole in the phenolic sheet that has the same inside diameter as the outside diameter as your button barrel (plus threads). Then I used a hole cutter in the same spot to create the doughnut. I just made sure the hole cutter was 1/4+ inch bigger then the barrel hole. Here is a picure of the scrap to help explain better:
Once you have done that, just drill a hole into each side of the doughnut to hold the LEDs. Sadly, the phenolic material is a bit "squishy" and so caused me some headaches while drilling. Because of this, I made a simple drilling jig to simplify things. Here is a picture of the jig by itself:
and a picture of it standing up with a doughnut attached as it would be in the vise:
Once I had the knack down for making these, I started using my vertical mill to just race through a long line, first drilling the centers and then going back down the line cutting the holes. This sped things up greatly and saved a lot of time. All told, I did 30 doughnuts. All but 3 or so came out great. I will probably redo those last couple when I get bored. Might as well do it properly.
Have fun!