Main > Main Forum
Translucent Microswitch Buttons **www.fxbuttons.com**
RayB:
Just tell them there is a big demand for them. Point them to all the Ebay auctions of old translucent buttons. Tell them also that alot of collectors need translucents for accurate restoration of Williams cabs.
:)
Chris:
--- Quote from: RayB on January 24, 2005, 11:06:06 am ---Just tell them there is a big demand for them. Point them to all the Ebay auctions of old translucent buttons. Tell them also that alot of collectors need translucents for accurate restoration of Williams cabs.
:)
--- End quote ---
Except those cabs had leaf switches.
IL did the black start buttons for us, didn't they? Surely we're talking about at least as many buttons here...
The problem is probably going to be multiple colors, as I'm sure a minimum order will be required for each color.
--Chris
RandyT:
Another possible snag could be the material required for the translucents.
Normal buttons are made from a Nylon material which is relatively soft, somewhat flexible and self lubricating to a good extent.
On the other hand, the translucent materials are usually harder, more brittle and would probably require a release agent to be used in the de-molding process.
Plastics are usually not thought of as abrasive materials, but they are. Injection molds have finite lifespans (admittedly in the 10's or even hundreds of thousands) but their longevity can be greatly affected by the types of plastic used in them. Usually, the harder or more brittle the plastic, the rougher it is on the molds.
Molds are also sometimes constructed with a specific material in mind. Some of the gating might not work well if the viscosity of the melted plastic is greater than what it is designed to use. This probably won't be an issue, as I expect Nylon would be more viscous, but it's another unknown.
So it will probably boil down to whether they want to risk their molds, if they will work at all with the different material, and whether
there is a sufficient quantity to warrant the extra effort.
While they seem to be a company that will work with folks, as evidenced by the black player select buttons, this is really a much different scenario from the manufacturing side of things.
Keep your fingers crossed ;)
RandyT
shawnzilla:
Still waiting on an answer from IL. Another idea I thought of (I would require some help on this one) would be to get a member of BYOAC who is savvy with the Emachineshop software.
Basically, we could design the button (it is comprised of three parts I believe -- the plunger, the housing and the spring) in the emachinshop's cad software, and then price it out for the translucent materials.
RandyT or anyone, do you have any thoughts on this?
tetsujin:
Hey,
I love this idea and I would definitely be interested in a control panel or two worth of buttons. Personally the colors I'm most interested are green and yellow, red is good too.
However, there's another way of approaching this problem.
Translucent leaf-switch buttons are readily available. Not that I want to use leaf switches... but it seems as though one could build a microswitch housing to fit these buttons, right? And since it'd just be housing a microswitch instead of a leaf switch it should be a whole lot smaller than a leaf switch housing. That's my theory, anyway...
Of course, a horizontal microswitch button would definitely be easier to light (by mounting an LED right in the middle of the microswitch - since the actuator is off-center it's relatively easy) whereas for the leaf-switch button the actuator is in the middle so the light would probably have to be off-center...
This is just an idea. I'll likely try to build such a thing myself to test the idea. I want illuminated microswitch buttons but they have to be concave-style with a normal throw distance... :)
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version