[tonka_mx]

hey vato!
machuelo = thread taper. :o
carnal me acabo de registrar  ;D

[ranger930]

hi,

i can't see any pictures !

greetz rannger930

[MEEF]

i cant either

[Rigo]

>:( something happened with the photo links  ??? ???, I have to check what happened, meanwhile I am currently working in a very very cheap alternative for backlit bottons for my box based on the method led inside-plexyglass-glued to botton same as a few guys have done it. I will post some pics for the work in progress.

[Rigo]

ok the photos are up again,

[MEEF]

nice one rigo, looks cool.

im interested in how you are using the joystick things for in Live, you say keystrokes - what kinds? i cant really imagine how keystrokes would work with one on those things.

[Rigo]

Hi all, it has been a long time without a post, but I have new material........


I started working on an alternative (low cost) to do backlit buttons with common (cheap) switches.

This is what I came out with:

I started to work (with the suggested technique of Sasa Djuric described in here http://www.midibox.o...g28227#msg28227) with a piece of 1/4" diameter rod of cast acrylic (Plexiglas) I cut it to a 13 mm. piece then sand it with 200 sand paper, then with 400, then with a 600, to obtain a very satinized look, then bore with a very thin drill bit, going up in size till the led (T1 = +/- 3mm.) could go in.  Then I cuted two notches for the legs to go out and then glued it to the top of those very cheap push down switches , the ones I have in my box, then used a 220 Ohm resistor with two little thin wires (out of a ribbon IDE connector) to connect the led, somewhat like the picture below:



The problem is that Plexiglas is crystal clear inside so the diffusion actually takes place outside on the sanded surface, so everything looks good as long you don’t touch the button, I noticed that after a while the button gets translucent because of the oil in my fingers, it looses its "glow" (think about a sheet of paper saturated with cooking oil), so I decided to look for something else, something translucent rather than clear, and finally I came out with something good, I bought a 1/4" diam. polypropylene rod and started the same process I have pictures bellow of a final cap:





This material is great, it diffuses light inside out so nicely and I don't have the grease paper effect any more bellow I have some pictures with the led in, not the finished product but close:




To mount them I bored a prototype board from radio shack like the one above and am going to place it under my front panel.
For this I used the famous JB weld to glue the screws to the panel, make sure you use screws that have a flat head:






That’s all for now I will post more pictures of the final product next time. For now just keep midiboxing......=)

thank you all for your support. specially my wife Kary.

[Twin-X]

Did you buy that 2 component glue on internet? If so what is the adress?

[Rigo]

No, I found it in my local hardware store, what me to send you some???
where are you located?, I bought it for $5 USD

[stryd_one]

Look nice!

That glue looks like Araldite epoxy resin glue?

[Rigo]

I google JB Weld and found this

http://www.jbweld.net

this is an amazingly strong cold weld, I have seen with my own eyes how one of our mechanics "welded" an overheated cummins engine block, that was basicaly splited in half.

[kokiPsiho]

I'm using Liquid Metal made by Würth for my MB64. It's also 2 component and when used properly it holds metal almost like it's welded. Würth is present in many countries so you can find it easily.

[stryd_one]

I don't think that's araldite any more ;)

[Sasha]

It`s nice to see someone using DIY illuminated buttons technique I`ve described. I found it really good and cheap if you are using proper material. using clear acrylic is not good idea as you see, but there are also smoked and ice-like difused acrylic I found perfect. I also like how polipropilene rods looks like. Where did you get these from? Do you have any more images of work in progress?
For kill buttons on my Traktor controller I used clear red acrylic sticks (caps), and better diffusion i get by increasing lenght of caps (mine are around 30mm). Overall lenght at the end are not small, but diffusion are great. On pic under it looks kinda unreal, but this is because of camera.

[Rigo]

First of all thank you for all your coments,

Here are some pics of the backlit bottons, the board looks rough but at the end  it looks good in the front pannel , I did a small change to the box too, I replaced the "giant" toggle switch (which was used to go up and down scenes) for a nice square rocker switch.








I still have 20 more to go......hehehe
again thank you all  :)

[Sasha]

Rigo, your buttons looks really great. What kind of LEDs did you used, superbright?
I don`t think mounting buttons on the stripeboard is good idea, eapecially with that cutout for switch. There is not much of board left between those holes. Aluminum is much cheaper and stronger. I also dont find stripeboard perfect for drilling because you are forced to start drilling in one of the holes. Sometimes is needed to have hole between those two holes.
Annyway, what have you done looks really great. Congratulations!

[karykboom]

[move]HOLA AMOR  ;D SABES, ME INSCRIBI AKI PORQUE SE ME HACE QUE LO REVISAS MAS QUE TU MAIL. SOLO PARA RECORDARTE QUE TE AMO ((MUCHO)). TE MANDO BESITOS Y ESPERO QUE YA TODO ESTE MEJOR AKI =) SMUACK[/move]

[stryd_one]

Que?! :D

[DavidBanner]

yellow card for karykboom for using a marquee scroller on his first post!

[stryd_one]

Yep, I think the only other person mad enough to use it was.... oh yeh that was me. :-X

;D