I wanted to get some of those nice tactile LED switches you commonly see in audio mixing desks but I when I saw how much the switch-pimps deal these out for I nearly keeled over. Seriously - most of these sell from $5 up to $10 EUR a piece - so in a typical small to medium size mixing desk you are likely to have at least 50 of them (I need 128), are you REALLY expected to spend $200-$500+ just on switches??! Wake up you retards these things are made in China by the millions and cost cents per unit to manufacture so it's obvious this is just a capitalist scam.
*END RANT*
So after a few days rethinking and redesigning I came up with a really cool way to do what I wanted that was extremely cheap - take THAT switch pimps! I ended up finding a nice and simple low-profile ALPS tactile switch that sits perfectly on the channel strip modules and some nice cheap RGB LED's that also suite perfectly. My design, inspired by this, was to make my own fancy button tops out of 15mm semi-transparent white acrylic cubes and mount the LED's inside them , then glue them on top of the tactile switches, should look great. Also this way I don't need to additionally cut holes & mount the 128 LED's which will save time and money and keep the design simple and sexy. It does add a little additional work making the buttons, drilling the holes, filing the LED's down and gluing them on the switches but this is the whole fun of DIY and I know it'll be cool fun. I sourced the parts from Switches-Plus who were very helpfull and took the time to steer me in the direction of cheaper parts once I explained I was a DIY'er (switch part#SKHCAAB010 and LED part#LED5RGB9).
Had to cut off those stoopid guide pins on each button - no way I'm drilling 2 extra holes per button just so they sit flush!
I burnt out the RED cathode on my demo LED so you only see blue and green here but it gives you an idea of what I'll achieve. The other hint here is that I filed down the LED housing so I could bend the legs 90 degrees and fit the LED in the switch facing upwards to get the brightest effect.
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everyone loves a rant :)
ReplyDeletelol...indeed
ReplyDeleteI noticed that you are planning on making square buttons for your switches. Have you thought about methods of cutting square holes in whatever faceplate you finally decide on constructing?
ReplyDeleteac - definitely given that a lot of thought to that and there was even a stage that I considered doing it myself with the drill press, jig saw and files. I was originally going to use aluminium for the plate however having this laser/water cut was going to cost over $400 AUD. Theres a place I have been getting all my perspex supplied and machined in Sydney (www.plastix.com.au) and they have a material called "Aluminium Composite" which is basically perspex sheet with aluminium veneer. It's lightweight, machinable, cheap, rigid and comes in a range of colors including brushed ali. That will cost me $150 to get supplied and laser cut which, in the end isn't DIY but is SO worth it.
ReplyDeleteI'll be putting all this in the blog when I get to that stage.
Thanks for the quick reply. $150 sounds like a great deal. I ordered square buttons myself before considering the mounting - definitely going to check out that plastix.com.au site.
ReplyDelete