808 keycaps alternative... fun stuff!

[dj_statikfire]

List...

Omron B3J's ... which are actually quite cheap...

Digikey pn's:

Blue: sw2316-nd

Orange: sw2314-nd

Yellow: sw2315-nd

Lt Gray: sw819-nd

n'joy

THX

JD

[stryd_one]

Hey JD,

They are nice hey :)

I always liked those ones with 2 LED's in them, but theyre $4 each!

Can I ask a favour?.....

If it's possible to do it without destroying the switch, can you take the cap off and take a snap for me so I can see how hard it would be to put a LED in there? :)

[dj_statikfire]

I don't have any extras to play with , i'll try to get some more in.

However, in general, I think it's better to just buy it with the LED installed , the price difference isn't much.

Their PN is B3J-2X00

http://www.omron.com/ecb/products/sw/2/b3j.html

digikey sells the LED ones for about 2.87 ea , and the normal are 1.61, so yes, it's more expensive.

i'll see if i can take one apart and document it for you, maybe there's a non-destructive way of doing it

THX,

JD

[moogah]

Putting your own LED in a B3J is actually quite easy, the switch is made of of 3 parts:  A B3F series tact switch, the "Lever Actuator" which is the cap and the LED housing.  The 3 parts are just assembled like lego's.  The only tricky part is that one leg of the LED is glued into the housing, so you need to use a pair of pliers to get it out, and then need some way of getting the glue out so you can put another one in.  The same size drill bit used to drill PCB's will do this nicely.  It sounds like alot of work but I think you could easily finish a full set of buttons in an evening. 

The only problem I've come across with these buttons is that the leads are too short!  They just barely make it through the PCB, which makes me wonder if I've got some oddballs.  I did get them real cheap from a surplus place..

If anyone wants a few of these to mess with PM me and I'll send you a couple.

[stryd_one]

However, in general, I think it's better to just buy it with the LED installed , the price difference isn't much.

You think? Almost 2.50 for 2 LEDs seems a bit steep  :( From the pics and from what moogah said, it seems like the base has the facilities to hold an LED anyway, all we'd need to do is drill the cap :)