#258479 - 25/06/2005 11:48
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: hybrid8]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 19/09/2002
Posts: 2494
Loc: East Coast, USA
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Quote:
"Declared value: $1.00"
I want to do that, but different information I've read suggest attaching copies of the invoice to the outside of the package. Yes, "suggest", not require. I'm still looking to see if it is an absolute requirement.
I guess the saying holds true; "Woe is me for GST" (and VAT, I guess). If my research is correct, Canada wants to add $20 per $100 at worst; if you live in New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia. Other areas get only $11 per $100.
I'll work this out right now and ship the first batch of international orders today.
_________________________
- FireFox31 110gig MKIIa (30+80), Eutronix lights, 32 meg stacked RAM, Filener orange gel lens, Greenlights Lit Buttons green set
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#258480 - 25/06/2005 12:06
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: FireFox31]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14496
Loc: Canada
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"Commercial shipments" are generally required to include copies of the commercial invoice with the shipment.
When shipping by post, it is pretty easy to leave that off, though.
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#258481 - 25/06/2005 13:10
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: mlord]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31602
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Most shipments I get that have an invoice on the outside of the package... That's the copy of the invoice that's got the prices blacked out. I always thought it was to hide the value of the contents from potential thieves. Never thought it might be to hide the value from the customs people. 
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#258482 - 25/06/2005 13:14
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: FireFox31]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31602
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Oh, and hey, FireFox, I wanted to ask if the name of the web site was inspired by another greenlight project...?
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#258483 - 25/06/2005 13:25
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: FireFox31]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 13/09/1999
Posts: 2401
Loc: Croatia
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Declaring something like "Samples - no commercial value; value $1 - customs purposes only" is often done. I believe those green stickers I often find on books and CDs shipped from US have a choice like that (don't have any handy).
_________________________
Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Q#5196
MkII #080000376, 18GB green
MkIIa #040103247, 60GB blue
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#258484 - 25/06/2005 13:33
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: bonzi]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
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Quote:
Declaring something like "Samples - no commercial value; value $1 - customs purposes only"
Just remember that if the package does get lost then whatever is declared is what the insurance payout is based on.
Saying that, I know of a few very large companies which do that. I've ordered a development kit and the massive box which contained loads of manuals and PCBs was just marked sample. Turned out to be significantly cheaper to buy it from the US and get it shipped over than to buy it in the UK.
Quote:
I often find on books
Never seen that on books. I think books are exempt anyway for the UK.
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#258485 - 25/06/2005 13:56
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: FireFox31]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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Have you registered a business for the purpose of selling buttons? Will you be declaring the money you make selling them for income tax purposes? Are you charging tax to residents of your state? (you have to be registered to do that anyway).
Then it's not a commercial business and therefore not a commercial sale. No commercial invoice is required.
I hate to see such hobby projects get so complicated because people get wrapped up in beurocratic "process."
Tman, if the package gets lost in the mail you're likely screwed regardless of the amount declared for customs. Canada post and US Post have an automatic $100 coverage on small packets. The customs value is not the same as the insurance value. It's possible to ship something as a sample that costs $1000. It has that value to the originator even though the recipient may not have paid anything for it (and may have to return it). Incidentally, last I recall this covers breakage only - if it's lost, it's lost and gone. But I could be wrong on this - I've only ever had to make claims with courier serives.
Bruno
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#258487 - 25/06/2005 16:34
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: hybrid8]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/02/2002
Posts: 3411
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Quote:
Have you registered a business for the purpose of selling buttons? Will you be declaring the money you make selling them for income tax purposes? Are you charging tax to residents of your state? (you have to be registered to do that anyway).
Then it's not a commercial business and therefore not a commercial sale. No commercial invoice is required.
I don't think that this is actually true (in the US anyway). It is perfectly possible and legal to run a business as a sole proprietor without registering. You'd still be doing commercial business though. The major difference between do this and registering a business is that your personal liability to business-related debt is unlimited. The purpose of registering a business is to create an entity separate from yourself that can carry its own bank balance and thus insulate you from debt. It also allows you to share ownership of a company. Obviously there are many other differences, including in how they are taxed, but a sole proprietorship is still a commercial business.
Quote:
I hate to see such hobby projects get so complicated because people get wrapped up in beurocratic "process."
Tman, if the package gets lost in the mail you're likely screwed regardless of the amount declared for customs. Canada post and US Post have an automatic $100 coverage on small packets. The customs value is not the same as the insurance value. It's possible to ship something as a sample that costs $1000. It has that value to the originator even though the recipient may not have paid anything for it (and may have to return it). Incidentally, last I recall this covers breakage only - if it's lost, it's lost and gone. But I could be wrong on this - I've only ever had to make claims with courier serives.
Bruno
I agree with the rest of what you said, 100%!
_________________________
Mk2a 60GB Blue. Serial 030102962
sig.mp3: File Format not Valid.
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#258488 - 25/06/2005 17:10
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: FireFox31]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3996
Loc: Manchester UK
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Certainly pricing them at bugger all in the customs declaration should do the trick. I can't remember exactly what Loren put on the dock that I bought off him but it was along the lines of either a gift or item valued at $5. To the naked eye it's four or five bits of wood glued together. Never paid a penny in VAT or import duties.
Unlike my first empeg which cost me over £100 in duty. The guy who sold me it valued it at it's cash value. In the end I got him to write to customs and say his mum put the wrong value on the box and it was really only worth £50. At which point they refunded the difference.
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Cheers,
Andy M
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#258489 - 25/06/2005 23:05
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: FireFox31]
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member
Registered: 24/10/2000
Posts: 106
Loc: San Jose, CA
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No worries, I got exactly that from both of your messages. And might I add that I'm EXTREMELY pleased (and excited) that the curse is broken and am looking forward to my two sets Thanks very much for the hard work you've done on this, and I hope you make a tidy profit off them. -- Gary F.
_________________________
Eeyore, Original Owner -- Mk II 80 Gb, Blue
S/N #090000803
Tigger, 2nd Owner -- Mk IIa, 80 Gb, Blue
S/N #40103789
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#258490 - 26/06/2005 20:01
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: hybrid8]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 19/09/2002
Posts: 2494
Loc: East Coast, USA
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Bruno: Yes, I've done all the beurocratic steps required to make this business legitimate, on the smallest scale possible. So, I can't declare the internationally shipped parts as "gift" or "samples", but I will declare them at "a price above their manufactured unit cost, inflated to yeild a profit". I'll monitor how well this works.
Tony: No, the inspiration for the Greenlights name came from many places and will be explained in the Greenlights Company FAQ, once I write it. I have to hope not to be sued by Project Greenlights (and "Greenlights for non-profit success" and the US EPA's Greenlights thing). According to naming regulations that I read, similar names can exist if their types of businesses are different.
I'm off to finish packing orders. All orders placed up to now will have shipped on or before Monday morning 6/27/05. Sorry for the delays.
_________________________
- FireFox31 110gig MKIIa (30+80), Eutronix lights, 32 meg stacked RAM, Filener orange gel lens, Greenlights Lit Buttons green set
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#258491 - 27/06/2005 01:23
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: FireFox31]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 05/01/2001
Posts: 4903
Loc: Detroit, MI USA
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Brad B.
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#258492 - 27/06/2005 01:28
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: SE_Sport_Driver]
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member
Registered: 20/02/2002
Posts: 158
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Received the ambers.. finally! buttons! thanks alot man..
Just had a minor problem w/ the right arrow button. When I had the allen facia screws tightened just a tad bit on the left side, that button would stick. I had to shave some of the lip plastic on the bottom and left side of the button and it works good now.
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#258493 - 27/06/2005 01:34
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: Narkotic]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 19/09/2002
Posts: 2494
Loc: East Coast, USA
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FAQ re: sticking right and left (and top) buttons.Making sure there is no tiny tab at the tip of the button is a start, though I carefully shave the tip of every left and right button before I send them. I've found loosening the top left fascia screw 1/2 turn helps the best. Shaving the fascia may also help, but ultimately, it's the fascia binding with the button, not with the fascia. And to think, if the molders had "packed out" the parts that extra bit to make the bottom button look perfect, they would be even a tighter fit. We struck a good, microscopic compromise between size and material shrinkage dimples.
_________________________
- FireFox31 110gig MKIIa (30+80), Eutronix lights, 32 meg stacked RAM, Filener orange gel lens, Greenlights Lit Buttons green set
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#258494 - 27/06/2005 05:13
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: FireFox31]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 3608
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
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I ordered a blue set maybe I will get lights someday . The question I have is are the lights on all the time or can they be controlled by the headlight sense wire ?
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Matt
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#258495 - 27/06/2005 05:20
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: msaeger]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 12/01/2002
Posts: 2009
Loc: Brisbane, Australia
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Quote:
The question I have is are the lights on all the time or can they be controlled by the headlight sense wire ?
Mark just released a version of hijack recently that lets you select the button brightness for both lights on and lights off. So yes you could have it so they only come on with your headlights or just have them dimmer when you turn your headlights on.
Before that, it apparently dimmed them by a fixed ammount. See here which Mark actually linked to earlier in this thread.
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Christian
#40104192 120Gb (no longer in my E36 M3, won't fit the E46 M3)
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#258496 - 27/06/2005 13:23
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: msaeger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14496
Loc: Canada
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You can control three brightness settings for the button/knob leds:
1: Hijack menu allows setting the "on" brightness, including completely off.
2. Hijack by default will dim halfway from "on" if you turn on the headlamps, but one can override this with an exact value (including off) in config.ini.
3. Another Hijack config.ini option sets what happens when the player is turned off. By default the buttons stay dimly lit.
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#258497 - 27/06/2005 14:59
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: mlord]
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member
Registered: 07/02/2002
Posts: 193
Loc: New Richmond, WI
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I got and have installed my Blue Buttons - WOOT!!!
But I haven't got any pics yet as I just got back from Devils Lake, ND (oh the lake not the town). The buttons look great and I noticed the texture difference but it didn't matter at all. Now for the issue of the LEDs still dimly on when the Empeg is off is that the "buttonled_dim=n" command, mlord?
_________________________
Drive fast, Play it loud!!!
20GB Original Blue Lens MKIIa Rio SN 030102760, Blue Buttons.
20GB Original Green Lens MKIIa Rio SN 040103268 Grey Buttons.
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#258498 - 27/06/2005 15:17
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: JrFaust]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14496
Loc: Canada
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No, that would be the "buttonled_off=n" option.
The "buttonled_dim=n" is for when the headlights are on.
Cheers
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#258499 - 27/06/2005 21:25
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: mlord]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/02/2002
Posts: 3411
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I sometimes wonder if that code should be reworked - it has always seemed a little odd to me that we set the brightness when the lights are off (when we don't need to match any existing dash illumination levels) and then arbitrarily cut the illumination when the lights are on (when most people would probably want to match their dash levels).
It makes more sense to me to be easily able to set the lights-on button illumination level, and to have the lights-off setting relegated to config.ini.
_________________________
Mk2a 60GB Blue. Serial 030102962
sig.mp3: File Format not Valid.
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#258500 - 27/06/2005 21:56
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: genixia]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14496
Loc: Canada
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My home-docked empeg doesn't have a "headlights" setting.
That's why it is the way it is.
Cheers
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#258501 - 27/06/2005 23:11
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: mlord]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/02/2002
Posts: 3411
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Ah. So that's where that comes from.
Ideally we'd have enough flash to store two settings independantly. But I don't think that we could justify doing that given the limited number of bits free. I wonder if it's worth allocating 1 bit to an invert-the-headlight-sense function. Or maybe a config.ini setting to achieve the same thing.
_________________________
Mk2a 60GB Blue. Serial 030102962
sig.mp3: File Format not Valid.
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#258502 - 27/06/2005 23:21
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: genixia]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14496
Loc: Canada
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I think we could burn the bits if we wanted to. But oddly enough, I believe doing it (similar to how the Empeg dimmer function works) would actually confuse people..
??
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#258503 - 27/06/2005 23:43
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: mlord]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/02/2002
Posts: 3411
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It's easy to deal with that - expose both settings in the hijack UI.
_________________________
Mk2a 60GB Blue. Serial 030102962
sig.mp3: File Format not Valid.
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#258504 - 28/06/2005 13:30
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: mlord]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31602
Loc: Seattle, WA
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My 2p: The hijack feature as it existed for many moons (button lights were bright during the day, hijack dimmed them a fixed amount when I turned my headlights on), was absolutely perfect for me.
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#258505 - 28/06/2005 17:30
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: FireFox31]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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I got my black buttons in. They look pretty good. The only problems are that the black is a slightly different "shade" of black and you can just barely see the tool marks from the mould (although probably not if they're more than two inches from your face). Pretty slick. They still look weird to me, probably from having lived with the gray ones for six years, but I think they're pretty cool. Oh, I did have a very minor problem with what looked like the remnants of a sprue on the top button. It wanted to catch the lens when I pushed the button, so I had to pare it off myself. Not bad at all, but folks might want to check that before they screw everything back down.
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Bitt Faulk
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#258506 - 28/06/2005 18:14
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31602
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
black is a slightly different "shade" of black
In the sunlight, my handle and my fascia are two different shades of black, so...
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#258507 - 28/06/2005 18:50
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: wfaulk]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 06/04/2005
Posts: 2026
Loc: Seattle transplant
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Quote:
I got my black buttons in. They look pretty good.
Awesome! That looks so nice!
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10101311 (20GB- backup empeg)
10101466 (2x60GB, Eutronix/GreenLights Blue) (Stolen!)
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#258508 - 28/06/2005 23:19
Re: Buttons - Lit buttons finally available for sale
[Re: wfaulk]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 19/09/2002
Posts: 2494
Loc: East Coast, USA
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Glad you like them (and glad you got them; the shipping label printed slightly wrong). Quote:
emnants of a sprue on the top button
For everyone who hasn't seen this yet, those are the "tabs" I keep talking about on the left and right button tips. I'll try to shave the tab off the top button like I do for the left and right before shipping them. They exist on the knobs too, but I haven't seen a problem with them yet.
_________________________
- FireFox31 110gig MKIIa (30+80), Eutronix lights, 32 meg stacked RAM, Filener orange gel lens, Greenlights Lit Buttons green set
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