This was a project that was honestly a cinch, even for someone who has never been very good at this stuff. I can put up pictures if people are interested.
Basically, I wired three Staples "Easy" buttons to Vigo's Zero Delay Encoder --
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=114744.0 -- using little more than speaker wire, spade terminals and a few miscellaneous items, with no soldering.
I bought one of the simple project boxes from Radio Shack --
http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=project%20box&origkw=project+box&sr=1 -- and drilled a hole in each end--one large enough for the Zero Delay Encoder's USB cable to fit through, another large enough for the speaker wires to fit through. I chose Monoprice's 18ga speaker wire --
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10239&cs_id=1023904&p_id=4044&seq=1&format=2 -- because it's contained within a single jacket, which looks nicer.
I cut it into 3rds and attached a male spade connector to each wire. On one side, those connectors will pair up with the female connectors from the Zero Delay Encoder that connect to the board itself. On the other side, they will attach directly to the battery holders in the Easy button. You remove the batteries and then you can actually shove the 3/16" spade connectors down tight behind the battery connectors, between the metal edge and the plastic. The fit is surprisingly snug and secure. To double up on keeping them in place, I applied a dab of super glue to each side of the spades. Who knows if it actually did anything, but it's holding perfectly.
If you then bend the crimp part at a 90 degree angle, you can almost close the battery door back onto the compartment. Simply drill a hole in the plastic piece and run the wire through there.
To ensure that there would be enough clearance under the buttons, I bought some self-stick rubber feet from Radio Shack --
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103342 -- but it was probably overkill. I think even with only the stock rubber feet, the wires would comfortably fit under the body of the button.
The only thing left to do was to configure the computer. Since my buttons are to be used for a game of Press Your Luck Expert Edition --
http://www.mediafire.com/?1v994p8t88dqdce -- which has a "presentation mode" where you can host the game, I used JoytoKey so that buttons 1, 2 and 3 on the ZD Encoder correspond to "z space," "b space" and "/ space." The z, b and / are for the trivia question round, and the space is for the big board/whammy round, to stop the board. The multiple key presses for each do not interfere with each other.
The way I completed this project does introduce limitations. Because I did not solder anything directly onto the actual board inside, the Easy button remains "pushed" for about two seconds for each press--that's the amount of time normally needed for the "that was easy" sound to play. However, for something like a game show where the other buzzers get locked out, and you're not pressing the buzzers in rapid succession, that doesn't really matter.
There are other tutorials available on the web if you want to delve deeper, and do things like add LED's or other mods, but this project should take even an inexperienced electronics person no more than 2-3 hours to throw together.
One could also construct a little box with four numbered buttons and a screw button in order to play the old Windows 3.1/95 You Don't Know Jack with this setup, or other game show games.
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Topic: Semi-OT, but very 80s: "Easy" Game Show Buzzers (Read 3045 times)
