Our kits come with white unless you request otherwise by special order. White through-hole LEDs tend to have a blue halo around them, which might be what you see in the pictures.

Stu

Forgive me, but do you have a guess on when these might be available, and even a rough idea of the price?

I'm asking because - it's been so cold here lately I haven't even kept the empeg in the car, just listening to NPR on the way to work and back instead. It would be a good time for me to send the empeg to you for the LED's to be added. But I don't want to do it and have to wait half a year for the buttons.

Hope it doesn't sound like I'm whining! Just trying to get an idea of how and when I want to get it all done.

Greetings!

If you know you will install the button hack - 100% certain, I would recommend you get the electronics fitted / display board modified. Even if it is months before the castings are available.

The reason: once the castings are available, I am certain a lot of people will want to get this hack done. All of them at once. If you can get the electronics done early, it is less likely you will need to wait in queue later on. All you would need would be to have the castings shipped to you, and you fit the buttons yourself.

I'm really sorry it's taking so long. The caster is just not very reliable as far as meeting deadlines or following through on promises. He's all we could find though and even though he's taking his sweet time, it should come out well in the end. So, given the way he operates, I just can't make estimates. As for price, I don't know what our final costs will be yet, but it won't be more than $35 for a set and hopefully much less.

Paul does have a good point about the installations, but it's your call.

Stu

Greetings!

At least he is more reliable than the last person. He vanished completely. I never did find out what happened to him, if he is still in business or even if he is still alive for that matter. (He had been ill from chlorine gas poisoning for a while.)

That's "casting_fool", right? Doesn't he have one of your players, still?

Greetings!

I had tried contacting him for a while afterward, but when the phone numbers were disconnected and the web site terminated, I stopped. Yes, he had one of my primary players. I have long since upgraded a spare to replace it, so I am not very concerned. Mildly annoyed, vaguely curious, but not enough to really invest the time and effort to find out more...

It seems that working with plastics is a hazardous trade...

Additional:

Interesting! His web site is back, with a 2004 update! I have just tried sending him email.

He's started posting again in the yahoo casting forum. He goes by the name alumicaster. Let me know if I can help.

Any updates on this? Got my lightkit but need buttons now. ;-)

thanks,

No definite word on availability. Supposedly, some more samples should be ready to ship, this time with the OEM cavities filled in and hopefully some better color matching. It seems to me like this caster has taken on more business than he can handle, as he never even comes close to delivering on promises, but it's him or nobody unfortunately. Castingfool is in operation to a limited extent, but still not fully operational from what I understand. We've tried to contact him, but haven't been able to reach him yet.

Sorry for the delay.
Stu

Wow, looks like casting is a stressful business.

Some thoughts on the past month's posts (since I've been purposely forgetting about the BBS for weeks on end hoping the buttons will be ready by the time I return).

About the blue and "green" samples. Could you offer the "blue" as "dark blue" and the "green" as "neon blue"? But, if that prevents a true rich green from coming out, forget I said anything.

Paul's logic on getting the lights before the buttons has me in a bind. I've been pondering it for months now... I want to beat the rush for led installs once the buttons hit, but I don't want to buy the led's and have no buttons come out. So, I ask:

(not being a jerk) Not when, but will these buttons be released? I don't mind wating 3 to 6 to 9 months, as long as a set of green ones is eventually available. Any reasonable chance the whole deal may go sour?

Thanks again. I'll probably just send in for the led's, but I'd love to be sure.

Worst case, if buttons never come out, you could always use them with 303's fascia. Or modify the stock buttons (drilling, laser holes, etc.).

This is moot, though. There will be buttons again. Eventually. Someday. As to estimated delivery time, I have no idea.

That's the spirit!! (though you already have three sets of 'em... or wait, did I read that some vendor kept one of your lusciously over equipped empegs? not to hijack the thread...)

Eutronix, here comes my empeg! A $110 investment in the future!

Cool! You will not regret your decision.

As to the player, more to follow on that regard. Contact has been re-established, and I hope to get that player back. (I had long since replaced it, so it would be a spare now...)

We've given the caster a stern warning that we will break all ties with him if he doesn't start producing by February 16, 2004. He seemed to take it seriously. Only time will tell for sure. Also, Castingfool has stated once again that he is working on samples for us.

We still have all of the electronics for the light kits at the best prices around, so if you want to avoid the rush, we encourage that.

Again, I'm sorry for the delays. It's getting a bit embarrassing.

More updates as info becomes available.

Stu

All the button news in one day...

...And that does not even count the other discussions and efforts behind the scenes...

More updates as info becomes available.

I've hesitated to go into this, based on the various postings here saying that buttons were just about to show up. But here goes. In my company we're using various plastic shells that we get done at a subcontractor. I know for a fact that i can get the buttons done there in a matter of days. I just thought that it was silly to have two manufactors of buttoms for the Empeg, the market ain't that big after all :-)

I don't know for how much longer we should wait for the caster. In my book I would have given up allready.

Give me some feedback, is this something i should continue to work on ?

Cheers

Kaare

In reply to:

---

In my book I would have given up allready.

---

It isn't quite as simple as that. We have invested money in molds that we do not wish to throw away. We may or may not be able to use these molds with another caster. Not only that, but specialty casters are rather hard to come by, so we've had to put up with these delays. I tried not to make any outright gueses as to availability but rather pass along the (seemingly) empty promises of the caster himself. Like I said he's out of here by the 16th if he doesn't make something useful by then.

Nevertheless, go ahead and see what you can come up with. You speak of shells, but from my experience a "shell" of a button will not diffuse the light properly, or at least not in a pleasing manner. Can you have them made as a solid piece with only a hole for the shaft and LEDs?

Stu

It isn't quite as simple as that. We have invested money in molds that we do not wish to throw away. We may or may not be able to use these molds with another caster. Not only that, but specialty casters are rather hard to come by, so we've had to put up with these delays. I tried not to make any outright gueses as to availability but rather pass along the (seemingly) empty promises of the caster himself. Like I said he's out of here by the 16th if he doesn't make something useful by then.

I hear you.

Nevertheless, go ahead and see what you can come up with. You speak of shells, but from my experience a "shell" of a button will not diffuse the light properly, or at least not in a pleasing manner. Can you have them made as a solid piece with only a hole for the shaft and LEDs?

I might not have expressed myself clearly. I'm in the mobile business, we're producing a mobile terminal for the transport industri in Europe. The housing of the terminal, what i call a shell (might be wrong) is made in a two piece design. If you look at the picture of the terminal, there is a yellow button in the lower right corner. That button is also made in clear plastic, so that the LED that we mount underneeth can shine through the plastic. It isn't shown on our website yet, as the clear button is on our newest model with a color tft screen presented to the market in the next month. What i want to say with this, is that we've gained a fair share of experience over the last 6 month with clear plastic moldings. I know what you're talking about, as i've seen bad examples on clear moldings that didn't spread the light properly. Our caster though has a lot of experience in this field, and did a perfect job the first time we asked for a clear button. I've used them since 1997 and have been satisfied all along.

I will not go further with this untill i hear news from you and your caster. I see no point in having two suppliers of clear buttons for the Empeg. I will only into this if your caster fails to present buttons within whatever timeframe you give him.

Basicly thats what i want to point out.

Cheers

Kaare

I haven't been following this (large) thread too closely, but will these buttons be fluorescent in UV light?


Thanks,
Aragon

Yeah, we'll do UV reactive once we get the five standard colors going. We received a big bag of the new "filled in" buttons and knobs. He went overboard with the filling of the buttons and left no room for the LEDs! He assures me that it's just a matter of removing whatever amount of fill in the molds is required. The knobs are just about right though. Red looks to be the perfect color with amber being a bit too dark, smoke being opaque, blue being a bit too light, and green being a little too light as well. It looks like blue, red, and amber will be first out. I'll post pictures of the samples later.

Stu

Kewl. I think the fluorescent buttons will look the best - they should solve the diffusion issue... (just my guess)

Latest samples below:



Color looks almost perfect in person.

Stu

Amber/orange:



Stu

Green:



Definitely needs some adjustment.

Stu

Blue:



Looks too light in person.

Stu

No smoke to post as it basically came out black. The next batch should be lighter.

Stu