comments/questions about leaf switch buttons

[Grasshopper]

I know they are authentic and look great but has anybody else here noticed how badly designed the old leaf switch buttons were?

The ones I have are the long type designed to be fitted to 3/4" wood. They have almost an inch of thread available. However if you fit them to the correct thickness of material the PAL nut is only just able to grip the very edge of the thread. So what's the rest of the thread actually for? And why is the threaded section much narrower than the top half of the button that fits through the panel?

Another problem with the design is the ridiculously over engineered leaf switch holders which take up far more space under the panel than should be necessary.

Although they arguably don't feel quite as good (opinions vary), the more modern microswitch buttons are undoubtably a far more elegant design. They can be fitted to pretty much any thickness of material and they take up relatively little space under the panel.

My panel originally consisted of leaf switch buttons fitted to 18mm wood (3/4" = 19.05mm) and the switches worked fine. However, I have now covered the wood with 2mm thick plexiglass and some of the leaf switches are no longer registering. Now I know that I can simply bend the leafs slightly to make them work again. However what I'm more concerned about is that the PAL nuts are now only just able to grip the thread of the buttons and I'm concerned that the buttons may eventually fall out.

I'm considering routing out about 2mm from the underside of the panel in the shape of the leaf switch holders to bring the total panel thickness back to 18mm but this is a lot of work for very little end result.

I'm wondering how other people who use leaf switches get round this problem. Do you simply make absolutely sure that the panel is only 3/4" thick in total, do you just bend the leafs, or is there some other solution?

Also, I get the impression that the long leaf buttons actually work better in material that is slightly less than 3/4" thick. I'd be interested to hear other people's views on this.

Thanks in advance

[Tailgunner]

Well I can't comment on the panel thickness issue, all of my existing panels are metal and I have to add spacers to use the long buttons.

On the design of the leaf holder, I don't think the engineer took into account people trying to cram lots of controls onto a panel, most of the games from leaf switch era have two or three buttons and one controller. Figuring the average control panel of that era was six to eight inches by 24 inches the size of the leaf holder wasn't much of a design issue.

[Apollo]

Mmmmmm leaf switches. Sooooo quiet.

[spidermonkey]

Hmm, I have all different color translucent ones in my cp. All of which were the long style except for the red ones. Its almost impossible to find Translucent red buttons in the long style. I have no idea why but anyways, I know I had to do some routing to fit the short style red ones but I dont remember having any problem installing the long ones but I also don't have any lexan on my cp. Just formica which barely adds any thickness. Did you put lexan on your cp ? Are you using the newer black button holders or the old thicker white ones ? I got mine from Centsible Amusements. They're nice but you can't just replace the leaf switch. You have to replace the whole button holder. I think the older white ones had removable ones. Back to the original question, If you're not using lexan then I don't know why they would be just barely long enough. I'll have to pop open my cp and take a look at how much thread I have left over.

[paigeoliver]

Ok. Several things about leaf switches.

They were mostly used in pre-Jamma machines. Pre-Jamma machines mostly had metal panels, and few buttons. The ones that did have wood panels were never more than 3/4" thick. A lot of old wood panel machines actually were routed out around the leaf switches, and all the controls.

They didn't really take plexiglass into account because NO ONE was using it until around 84-85 when conversion games became popular. (Most pre '84 conversion kits were designed to convert one specific  title into another, and often reused the exact controls, or came with new panels).

I prefer leaf joysticks due to feel. But I don't really bother with leaf buttons. I have a few, but I usually use them for admin buttons inside the coin door.

[Grasshopper]

Hmm, I have all different color translucent ones in my cp. All of which were the long style except for the red ones. Its almost impossible to find Translucent red buttons in the long style. I have no idea why but anyways, I know I had to do some routing to fit the short style red ones but I dont remember having any problem installing the long ones but I also don't have any lexan on my cp. Just formica which barely adds any thickness. Did you put lexan on your cp ? Are you using the newer black button holders or the old thicker white ones ? I got mine from Centsible Amusements. They're nice but you can't just replace the leaf switch. You have to replace the whole button holder. I think the older white ones had removable ones. Back to the original question, If you're not using lexan then I don't know why they would be just barely long enough. I'll have to pop open my cp and take a look at how much thread I have left over.

I have covered my panel with plexiglass but it's only 2mm thick. The leaf switch holders I'm using are white (I wasn't aware there was another type available) and yes they are very thick.

Hmmm, maybe I'll check out Centsible's site. Those black holders sound interesting.