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Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: ericball on June 30, 2004, 12:25:59 pm

Title: Mounting leaf buttons in wood
Post by: ericball on June 30, 2004, 12:25:59 pm
I'm confused.  ??? What parts do I need to order from Bob Roberts to mount leaf buttons in a wood (3/4", no lexan etc) CP?  I think I need the following:

Leaf sw button long
Leaf sw & holder for metal or wood control panels
Leaf sw pal nuts

I've just seen pix for mounts without the holder, and for modifying the holder.
Title: Re:Mounting leaf buttons in wood
Post by: FractalWalk on June 30, 2004, 02:18:26 pm
I ordered from WICO and they sent the short buttons instead of the long. It worked on my 1/2" ply but long buttons would be the safe choice.  I also got their standard holder (flat top) and the PAL nuts.

My problem was that when I mounted the holder flush against the wood, the button was too long and it closed the contacts (always on).

I need a spacer to fit between the wood and the holder to open the contacts. I didn't need much space so I got away with using some washers.
Title: Re:Mounting leaf buttons in wood
Post by: NoOne=NBA= on June 30, 2004, 06:38:41 pm
I used a combination of buttons on my panels.

The long buttons mounted fine for me with the spacer rings sawn off the bases, as shown here (http://home.comcast.net/~juniordog2/photos/longbutton.jpg).


I have found it alot easier to mount the short buttons, and just use a small piece of wood like this (http://home.comcast.net/~juniordog2/photos/shortbuttons.jpg).

The reason the buttons are pushing on the leafswitches in those pictures is that the panels are sitting upside-down on the buttons.
When the buttons aren't pushed, the switches are straight like they should be.

For mounting the short buttons, I just jammed them into the 1-1/8" holes I drilled.
They fit tightly enough that you can't get them back out without working really hard at it.
If there had been a problem, I would have drilled the 1-1/8" halfway through, drilled a hole the rest of the way through that was the size of the threads, and then put the pal nut on them.
I didn't want to do this because I also mounted small lights in the holes with the buttons, and the smaller diameter hole would not have allowed me to do this as easily.