[Buttons] Stuck quick disconnects and plastic nuts...

[kagaden]

... DRIVE ME CRAAAAAZY!

I just installed new buttons on a showcase CP and am now doing so on my X-Arcade and WHY ON EARTH are some of these so STUBBORN to remove? I feel like my fingers are going to fall off. WTF.

Does anyone have tips on removing them so I can maintain my sanity?

[kagaden]

I'm going to add e-clips to my list of hate... 

[scotthh]

... DRIVE ME CRAAAAAZY!

I just installed new buttons on a showcase CP and am now doing so on my X-Arcade and WHY ON EARTH are some of these so STUBBORN to remove? I feel like my fingers are going to fall off. WTF.

Does anyone have tips on removing them so I can maintain my sanity?

Needle-nose pliers.

I'm going to add e-clips to my list of hate... 

Put a small jeweler's screwdriver in and turn it to pry the e-clip open.

[Ginsu Victim]

I feel your pain. When I took the LED bayonets off all my lighted buttons, I could not get a single ground wire off the lights. I had to leave them all hooked up together and removed them all in one massive tangle.

Even needle-nose pliers wouldn't get the ground wires off them.

I'm scared I'm going to break them if I pull any harder.

[mrjah]

Put a small jeweler's screwdriver in and turn it to pry the e-clip open.

Yes! This is the way.

I used to use a pair of pliers to push the e-clip off, and catch it in a box so it wouldn't scoot under a workbench or otherwise disappear.  It worked well, but was complicated and annoying.  Then I looked closely at the clip and noticed those two nice little slots between the clip and the joystick handle.  Game over -- a little twist with a jeweler's screwdriver, and it's off and under control.

Wish I had noticed that a year ago.   

As for removing a quick disconnect, make sure you get the pliers' jaws down low enough to pull the entire disconnect off the terminal -- not just the wire or the colored sleeve.  Grab it too high, pull hard, and you might tear the thing apart.  Then you're right back at square one, but with a broken disconnect!

[shmokes]

As for the plastic nuts, you need a button wrench.  It's a few dollars from Happ.

[Ginsu Victim]

Well, plenty of better resellers have them. Divemaster on the BST boards could probably send you one cheapest.

[shmokes]

Right . . . I just meant it's a Happ part (I think).  So anybody who sells Happ inventory probably sells it.  It's worth it's weight in gold.  Or, at least, it's certainly worth a few dollars.   

[Ginsu Victim]

It's a life-saver. Especially since you can slide a screwdriver through the holes for the problem ones.

[kagaden]

Thanks for all the great ideas guys! It took me a lot of time, effort, fingernails, cursing, and sanity to get some of the super tight (and rusted) disconnects and nuts off the buttons. I ended up using a fork for the joysticks e-clips... but at least it's all done now!

I'll definitely pick up the proper tools for next time.