For my 1,000th post, I'm proud to reveal the first pre-production samples for the lit button project. These samples indicate that the metal molds are complete and that production can begin once I approve the parts. Within a few weeks, you all can finally have the lit buttons you've been waiting for.

But samples for free? Yeah, I'll get to that in a bit.

The samples are functionally perfect, which isn't bad on the first try. I will work with my molding company to improve some of the small flaws in appearance. Please point out anything you notice or have questions about incase I missed it in my initial review.

Here are the clear buttons, shown with factory blue lens, at brightness 3, 5, and 5 with lights on:



Yes, the right button is missing because it wouldn't eject from the mold. That is being fixed and I'll have them in a second round of sampling (if I do that). Oh, and I need a MKII to test the knob against (the one I borrowed from a friend couldn't work). Does anyone have an old dead MKII encoder shaft they could lend me?

But what's that about "FREE" in the subject? Well, I have all these samples and nothing to do with them:



These are "Crystal Sets", a low cost way to modify, hack, customize, and enhance lit buttons. Want purple or milky buttons? Hack a Crystal Set. Want end-glow rods or multiple colors? Hack a Crystal Set. Options are endless.

My offer is to enlist the skilled plastics modifiers from this board to creatively hack these first Crystal Sets. I've only thought up a few hacks for these, so I want to see what the best of you can do. I'll send you free parts with the condition that you creatively modify them and share pictures with the rest of us, ultimately to be displayed on the lit button website gallery.

These are rough samples and there isn't even a complete set. But if you want an early shot at playing with these, here's your chance. I will hopefully do a second round of sampling, yielding more complete sets to offer you modifiers out there, but this is a start. Oh, and the MKIIa knobs are REALLY nice, and I happen to have a bunch of them.

So post here or PM me if you've got the skill and want to try hacking these Crystal Buttons into something more interesting. Let me know where to mail these (international included; I'll give it a shot) and I'll send them out.

Ok everyone, stay tuned for either round two of sampling or final production, whichever comes first. Thanks for hanging in there ALL this time; the project is finally coming to completion.

Jot down my name for a set of buttons when you get them made.

Congratulations!

Here's hoping the curse is finally lifted.

Very exciting! I'll definitly be in for a set when the time comes. I'd request a beta set, but I'm afraid I'm without lit buttons at the moment, and I have no experience modifying plastics. (Hmmm. I was thinking about stopping by jameco on the way home, perhaps the first part could be rectified...)

Matthew

I am not a plastic modifier, but those are REALLY nice!!! Excellent work!!!

Wow congratulations! Nicely done, those have serious dremel potential. What are they made of? Resin or some other low melting point plastic? Will clear be an option in the final production run?

If you have an extra set, I'd like to try a couple of things. PM on it's way.

The parts are made of clear polycarbonate, which was also used for the originals, I think. They are very sturdy and apparently have good thermal tolerances.

The colors are: red, blue, green, amber, smoke, clear, and solid non-translucent black. Clear and black will cost less, since they are easier to make, and to allow for guilt-free modifications.

A note, though: The knobs are VERY tight. I have taken the MKIIa knob on and off my player a few times and it seems to have loosened, but it's still really tight. It will be very hard to make the shaft bigger in the mold, so I'm inclined to leave it over-tight. Two slots could always be cut into the shaft (like the original) to let it expand, and the spring could be uses to hold that together. I think it will work out.

And the MKII knobs seem over-tight also, but I don't (yet) have an MKII to test them on. I'll try to retrieve the encoder I lent my molders.

Tight is Good.

A little bit of soapy film on them makes for easier attachment.

Cheers

Hell I'll try them out & tinker w/them. How do I go about getting them? And I have a Mk2 & an Mk2a if you can send one for each to try out the knobs on, however the Mk2 only has light kit on it.
PM me on the details please.

At this point, I only have a few MKII and MKIIa knobs left. I didn't receive too many parts from my molders, so I'm sending people a few parts each.

If you want a knob (which look pretty awesome, in my opinion), post here or PM me, noting either MKII or MKIIa.

I found out today that these parts are more "beta" than I thought. A more finalized batch of samples is forthcoming, so feel free to torture the ones you get. Watch here for info when they're ready. Untill then, get these knobs that I have.

Looking forward to the production run on these. Keep up the excellent work

Only 2 MKII knobs left right now. I will have one or two more sample runs coming in during the next few weeks. We have to test texture then final appearance, and hopefully test the red sets to get them dark enough to match the lens.

Thanks again for your interest. All button requests have been sent. More to come soon.

if you ever have any more...i would love some...thanks!!

If you ever do another run, I'd love to have a set to experiment with...

Oh my, look what the postman brought. Warming up the dremel

Is polycarbonate harmed by UV?

Quote:
Is polycarbonate harmed by UV?

No. It's the same stuff good sunglass lenses are made from. It's absurdly resistant to chemical attacks to boot.

-Zeke

Do you have the UV lighted button kit? I'm ordering a button kit soon and saw the UV option at Eutronix.

Yes, they're UV. They still freak me out a little and I try to make sure they've always got button caps on them of some sort. Rob S wound up with "welder's flash" when he installed them. Ack!

Do you recommend them?

I'm hoping that adding UV-reactive material to the inside (or outside?) of the buttons/knobs will give them a very even and distributed glow. Thanks for the pictures, Mach, that purple glow is really nice.

Yes, I recommend them if you like to tweak your player. Otherwise stick with the white LEDs or other colors.

I'll have to get some pics up - I have used just the clear knob and top button, and dremelled the other 3 original buttons, and it all looks pretty nifty.

Along with emphatic, it is a very classy setup for nighttime driving.

Many thanks

Hey all, I received a second run of samples this morning. This time they are red to test that difficult color. I didn't receive enough to distribute, but it is the final step before production. Watch for some pictures posted here tonight.

Here's a photo of the pre-production red samples that I received today. Red is tricky because the Filener lens is so dark, but I think you'll agree that this looks downright mean:

Shown top to bottom: brightness 3, brightness 5, brightness 5 with no flash, lights off no flash. All with Filener flat red lens.


The samples have a few weird issues that did not show up last time. And the molders probably already know about them and know how to fix them, just like last time.

Now, once I work out a few showstopper fractional millimeter issues, these are ready for production. I'm excited, are you? I hope so. Stay tuned.

On the pic with lights off and flash, the left button has a bulge? Is that normal? Apart from that, all looking good!

Well I got a knob pcb from Stu the other day (very nice by the way) I assembled it that night but didn't get a chance to install it into the empeg untill last night...along with a FireFox31 knob I put a blue filter behind it for the color. The lens is really green one from FiIener I'm not shure why it looks like a smoke one in the pic. I made the buttons myself with my dremel and some clear silicone... and blue filters over the leds, this way I can change the color when I get tired of it.