Re: [Emc-users] Way OT: PCB Rubber Buttons
Slice the buttons off some donors. We have elastomeric keypads made for us (offshore) and AFAIK, they drop the carbon buttons in the molds and inject the elastomer. They can be cut off w/ an exacto knife. I don't have any raw buttons but I could send you some keypads that have 4 per. Though is probably easier/faster/cheaper to just find an old phone/toy/etc and sacrifice it for parts. SMD On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 7:19 AM, Rick r...@superiorroll.com wrote: I was just wondering if there was anybody that supplied or could even do a short run of some replacement buttons. Rick -- Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Way OT: PCB Rubber Buttons
On 1/7/2015 5:19 AM, Rick wrote: They are the carbon contact type, and I have tried the repair paint from Circuit Works, model # CW2605 and it seems to rub off after a while, and I did some serious cleaning with q-tips and isopropyl alcohol on the pads to get any oil and dirt off. Yesterday I tried another brand, MG Chemical, model# 8339, and it seem to be a little better product, so now I will need to get some into a machine to see how it works. I was just wondering if there was anybody that supplied or could even do a short run of some replacement buttons. There are electrically conductive silicones. Could be possibilities there. Use the conductive stuff just on the contact pads. Conductive silicone could be put into holes in a mold to form the contact pads then non-conductive silicone could be put into the mold to form the rest of the button. Make the mold on your CNC machine, design it to use a really large syringe to inject the silicone for the main part of the button. To not have bubbles, without having an injection molding machine set up for silicone, you can use a pressure pot. There are ones already configured for this but it's much cheaper to buy a 2-1/2 gallon one from Harbor Freight, unscrew the pickup tube from the lid and put a second pressure gauge in the paint outlet. First step, mix and put conductive silicone in the contact pad holes, put the mold in the tank and pump it up to 40~60 PSI. Let sit a day. Second step, remove from the tanks, assemble the mold then mix the non-conductive silicone, fill up the syringe and inject into the mold until it comes out the vents. You want the mold to have plenty of sprue and long vents to avoid air pushing in and ruining the casting when it's in the pressure tank. No, I don't want to take on the job of making reproduction buttons for this, but I'll share what I've learned in the past 14 years making RTV and hot vulcanized silicone molds and resin and metal casting in them. In the 90's I did a bunch of fiberglass molds and before that I grew up around plaster mold making and ceramic casting. Molding Casting, it's what I do. :) (Along with fixing up machine tools, auto mechanics, carpentry, wiring, plumbing, painting and much more...) There are three main types of RTV silicone. Condensation cure, which cures by evaporation of a part of the mix. Most of these use acetic acid (smells like vinegar) and are *never* to be used on anything electrical because some of the acid remains and will cause corrosion, so will the evaporating acid. Another type uses alcohol, probably the stuff made for aquariums. Tin cure. This type shrinks some when curing and has a somewhat limited shelf life after curing. It's slightly less expensive than platinum cure and its curing is not inhibited by contact with other types of silicone. Platinum cure is the most expensive but most varieties have pretty close to zero shrinkage. It also has an indefinite shelf life after curing. Aside from price, its down side is curing is inhibited by contact with condensation cure and tin cure silicones and anything with sulfur in it such as polysulfide rubber and anything with latex, which includes most masking tapes and rubber bands. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com -- Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Way OT: PCB Rubber Buttons
That sent me off on a tangent, I found on Ebay some guy in Romania that had packs of 100 of those carbon pills as they call them apparently in the industry, for $10.00 a pack with a tube of adhesive. Bought 2 of them. Be a couple weeks, but that should fix me right up. Thanks Guys for all the ideas, Rick On 1/7/2015 9:28 AM, Stephen Dubovsky wrote: Slice the buttons off some donors. We have elastomeric keypads made for us (offshore) and AFAIK, they drop the carbon buttons in the molds and inject the elastomer. They can be cut off w/ an exacto knife. I don't have any raw buttons but I could send you some keypads that have 4 per. Though is probably easier/faster/cheaper to just find an old phone/toy/etc and sacrifice it for parts. SMD On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 7:19 AM, Rick r...@superiorroll.com wrote: I was just wondering if there was anybody that supplied or could even do a short run of some replacement buttons. Rick -- Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users -- Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Way OT: PCB Rubber Buttons
On Wednesday, January 07, 2015 09:28:56 AM Stephen Dubovsky did opine And Gene did reply: Slice the buttons off some donors. We have elastomeric keypads made for us (offshore) and AFAIK, they drop the carbon buttons in the molds and inject the elastomer. They can be cut off w/ an exacto knife. I don't have any raw buttons but I could send you some keypads that have 4 per. Though is probably easier/faster/cheaper to just find an old phone/toy/etc and sacrifice it for parts. SMD If you want to fix it right AND forever, Alps make some environmentally sealed button switches. In a package about 5/16 square and perhaps 1/4 tall that are rated for many millions of presses. Good, clicky tactile feel, you could hide then under the button top you already have. Or they can be left out in the weather for a decade or 2, mounted as radio station changer buttons on a chair car motorcycle. Weather hasn't bother them a bit. On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 7:19 AM, Rick r...@superiorroll.com wrote: I was just wondering if there was anybody that supplied or could even do a short run of some replacement buttons. Rick -- Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users Cheers, Gene Heskett -- There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order. -Ed Howdershelt (Author) Genes Web page http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene US V Castleman, SCOTUS, Mar 2014 is grounds for Impeaching SCOTUS -- Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Way OT: PCB Rubber Buttons
They are the carbon contact type, and I have tried the repair paint from Circuit Works, model # CW2605 and it seems to rub off after a while, and I did some serious cleaning with q-tips and isopropyl alcohol on the pads to get any oil and dirt off. Yesterday I tried another brand, MG Chemical, model# 8339, and it seem to be a little better product, so now I will need to get some into a machine to see how it works. I was just wondering if there was anybody that supplied or could even do a short run of some replacement buttons. Rick On 1/6/2015 10:04 PM, Gregg Eshelman wrote: On 1/6/2015 6:50 AM, Dave Caroline wrote: There are a number of parts to your button problem, you did not say which type yours are. some the rubber is just a thing to transmit motion to the inner contacts (membrane or dimple) in others there is a conductive rubber pad to short two traces. In both cases wear and corrosion on the PCB can be fatal, cleaning can make a temporary repair The metalic click dimple can collapse, you need to replace The rubber shorting type can be cleaned and softened for a temporary repair (rub the surface and wash with iso alcohol ) There are conductive paints that can be used to fix the worn off carbon coating on the contact surface. I doubt this application would use bare snap domes held to the PCB with what is essentially heavy packing tape, but I've seen that used on some pretty $$$ consumer electronics - and some really cheap stuff. That could work as a fix for carbon coated rubber contacts, if you can find a source for the snap domes. You'll need ones with 3 or 4 raised sections on the edge so they can be positioned not to short the leads up to the contacts. Tape in place using the heaviest clear packing tape you can find. If a dome cracks you can just peel the tap off and replace it. Back when computer mice were expensive, I used to repair their snap dome switches. Cut the tops off the four melted pegs holding the top on the left switch then do likewise to a good right switch on another mouse in worse condition. Drop the good dome into the switch and carefully super glue the top back on. I also shortened many mouse cords that broke wires where they exited the body. It was quite odd that most of the more expensive ones didn't use a strain relief but many cheaper ones did. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com -- Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users -- Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
[Emc-users] Way OT: PCB Rubber Buttons
Hello Guys, Figured this might be as best place as any to ask, Would anybody happen to know of any suppliers of replacement rubber buttons for printed circuit boards? We have 4 Cincinnati milacron Avenger series turning centers,Circa 1995-96 that the controls are pretty rock solid, except for the rubber buttons on the control face. I am trying a second supplier of the Rubber Keypad Repair products, but would like to know if there is anybody out there that I could source some new buttons. Thanks Rick Superior Roll Turning 399 East Center Street Petersburg MI, 49270 734-279-1831 www.superiorroll.com -- Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Way OT: PCB Rubber Buttons
There are a number of parts to your button problem, you did not say which type yours are. some the rubber is just a thing to transmit motion to the inner contacts (membrane or dimple) in others there is a conductive rubber pad to short two traces. In both cases wear and corrosion on the PCB can be fatal, cleaning can make a temporary repair The metalic click dimple can collapse, you need to replace The rubber shorting type can be cleaned and softened for a temporary repair (rub the surface and wash with iso alcohol ) Dave On 06/01/2015, Rick Lair r...@superiorroll.com wrote: Hello Guys, Figured this might be as best place as any to ask, Would anybody happen to know of any suppliers of replacement rubber buttons for printed circuit boards? We have 4 Cincinnati milacron Avenger series turning centers,Circa 1995-96 that the controls are pretty rock solid, except for the rubber buttons on the control face. I am trying a second supplier of the Rubber Keypad Repair products, but would like to know if there is anybody out there that I could source some new buttons. Thanks Rick Superior Roll Turning 399 East Center Street Petersburg MI, 49270 734-279-1831 www.superiorroll.com -- Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users -- Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Way OT: PCB Rubber Buttons
On 1/6/2015 6:50 AM, Dave Caroline wrote: There are a number of parts to your button problem, you did not say which type yours are. some the rubber is just a thing to transmit motion to the inner contacts (membrane or dimple) in others there is a conductive rubber pad to short two traces. In both cases wear and corrosion on the PCB can be fatal, cleaning can make a temporary repair The metalic click dimple can collapse, you need to replace The rubber shorting type can be cleaned and softened for a temporary repair (rub the surface and wash with iso alcohol ) There are conductive paints that can be used to fix the worn off carbon coating on the contact surface. I doubt this application would use bare snap domes held to the PCB with what is essentially heavy packing tape, but I've seen that used on some pretty $$$ consumer electronics - and some really cheap stuff. That could work as a fix for carbon coated rubber contacts, if you can find a source for the snap domes. You'll need ones with 3 or 4 raised sections on the edge so they can be positioned not to short the leads up to the contacts. Tape in place using the heaviest clear packing tape you can find. If a dome cracks you can just peel the tap off and replace it. Back when computer mice were expensive, I used to repair their snap dome switches. Cut the tops off the four melted pegs holding the top on the left switch then do likewise to a good right switch on another mouse in worse condition. Drop the good dome into the switch and carefully super glue the top back on. I also shortened many mouse cords that broke wires where they exited the body. It was quite odd that most of the more expensive ones didn't use a strain relief but many cheaper ones did. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com -- Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
Re: [Emc-users] Way OT: PCB Rubber Buttons
Hi Rick! If it is the conductive type of buttons, most of the time the conductive graphite film on the rubber is worn. I always just repair them by glueing tinfoil on the worn spots. There are also repair kits (glue+graphite) available which you can put on the worn buttons. Alex On 2015-01-06 14:33, Rick Lair wrote: Hello Guys, Figured this might be as best place as any to ask, Would anybody happen to know of any suppliers of replacement rubber buttons for printed circuit boards? We have 4 Cincinnati milacron Avenger series turning centers,Circa 1995-96 that the controls are pretty rock solid, except for the rubber buttons on the control face. I am trying a second supplier of the Rubber Keypad Repair products, but would like to know if there is anybody out there that I could source some new buttons. Thanks Rick Superior Roll Turning 399 East Center Street Petersburg MI, 49270 734-279-1831 www.superiorroll.com -- Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users -- Dive into the World of Parallel Programming! The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net ___ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
