silicone button making

[taximan]

Hi all,

Just found this and thought it might come in useful

http://www.sc-fa.com/blog/2010/10/07/silicone-rubber-test-results-and-comparison/

cheers

Paul

[CSC]

Found some prices in Germany.

@ KauPo

Dragonskin Skin Serie A Silicone (Shore)/(Härte)40 0,91kg 31,80 EURO

Dragonskin Skin Serie A Silicone (Shore)/(Härte)40 7,26kg 227,49 EURO

Sorta Clear 40 Trial Kit (Shore)/(Härte)40 38,20$ @ tfbplastics.com

SORTA-Clear 18 & 40 (A-Silikon) (Shore)/(Härte) 10 & 40 1kg 43,73EURO

SORTA-Clear 18 & 40 (A-Silikon) (Shore)/(Härte) 10 & 40 4,5kg 167,24EURO

Datasheets in German!

DragonSkin.pdf

SORTA-Clear_18_40.pdf

[kernelpanic]

Hi,

thanks for this very interesting article! I'm thinking of building me a 128 RGB Monomeish device based on Midibox, and as money is talking I do not want to use Sparkfuns pads.

So I am thinking of a prorper way to make buttons myself. First I wanted to cut out some "caps" made of Acrylic and put those on 2 tacticle buttons (those with the flat head where you actually could put caps on). But thanks to you I finally found the right term to search for silicon.

I wonder how these pads compare to the actual Monome ones. They seem a bit wobbly to me on the Beatseqr videos.

Another thing is, how do I make a proper button with silicon caps. If this silicon (I think Dragonskin 30 should be proper) is not stiff enough the solution with tacticle switches underneath will not work very well. It will work even less if I decide to make holes in the pad (like the Monome ones) so i can use 5mm leds and tacticle switches on the same breadboard.

The Monome mechanism (graphit? on the silicon pad that closes to circled wires on the PCB) again is an 1) expensive solution (PCB needed) and 2) a hard solution to actually make (I have no idea how to make this graphit circle on the silicon).

Anybody who actually build some silicon buttons himself? Thanks and greetings.

Edit:

Anybody had a Monome in his hands? How is the feel of these buttons? Is a wobbly or really stiff material used? Or is stability achieved by the pretty thick front plate (I think its like 6mm or so) which works as a guide*?

*I am looking for the german term "Führung" in the mechanical sense.

Edited November 25, 2012 by kernelpanic

[kernelpanic]

What I have found out so far:

Gummy Bears have a shore of A 10. My buttons came today, and 1) their top is not that big as thought (pictures lie) and 2) not that hard to press, but a simple square of silicon should be able to activate the button without "entering" the silicon (like a nail would).

[skunks]

I have build several plastic buttons using silicon for molding. What about graphite contacts for emulating modern keyboards I've tried to mix graphite with several substances, however nothing works. But I think mixing it with Liquid Tape would: http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Conductive-Glue-and-Glue-a-Circuit/

But I'm not sure about it's stickiness to silicone.

Related link: http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,17510.0.html

[jojjelito]

There are special graphite/carbon buttons that you glue on your silicone rubber key. I know that TME EU (Transfer Multisort Electronics) have them, they should be easy to get at Reichelt/Farnell/DigiKey/Mouser/RS and the usual suspects. Or do a search for remote control repair kit.

Edited December 5, 2012 by jojjelito