I'd like some advice on push button switch design, its all about tactile switch actuation force, surface area of buttons, piston and bore materials, friction on slider and slid against materials, wear and corrosion, moisture and expansion of materials, ratio of diameter of piston to length of contacting bore or stroke.
Is any of this making sense to anyone?
Let me put it another way, I want your feedback experience and expertise applied to a problem to give me some ideas for a upcoming design I have in mind.
I have drawn up five or six designs of the switch/button in sketckup, but I'm not 100% happy with any, and before I commit to a design I would really appreciate some advice and ideas that don't come from my tired brain
I have googled my posterior off over this and haven't found anything useful, so I am asking you wise and gifted folks at the pointy end.
Ok here goes:
Say you had a stabilized wood box and you wanted to incorporate a nice pushbutton switch for the fire button, the wood is only 7mm thick and you want a brass button exiting the box around 10mm in diameter, you have the option of 150-250gf tactiles ranging from 1.5mm to 3.2mm high and 3x3mm to 7x7mm footprint. you want the button action to be nice and linear without rocking or binding by having a piston in bore type actuator for the tactile underneath.
The tactile switch under the brass piston needs to be contained by probably at least 1.2-1.5mm of wood at the back to stop the pusher pushing the piston and the tactile into the box cavity.
You also want the machining /milling of parts to be kept to a minimum to control time and cost involved.
So some questions are:
1.Is stabilized wood stable enough to be used as the bore for the piston to run in, or will it swell trapping the piston or rapidly wear causing piston slop and binding?
2. Will the brass corrode with time and juice spillage causing binding and premature wear of the wood bore?
3.Is a brass sleeve inserted into the wood bore a satisfactory solution, or will corrosion again cause a demise of fluid motion.
4. Would a delrin or other engineering plastic sleeve handle the brass piston in a better fashion, or would wear be an issue again.
5. What is a workable ratio of the piston travel/bore/stroke ect to the diameter of the piston to avoid slop/binding, considering well thought out interference tolerances etc.
All ideas and thoughts will be lapped up like a thirsty puppy
Is any of this making sense to anyone?
Let me put it another way, I want your feedback experience and expertise applied to a problem to give me some ideas for a upcoming design I have in mind.
I have drawn up five or six designs of the switch/button in sketckup, but I'm not 100% happy with any, and before I commit to a design I would really appreciate some advice and ideas that don't come from my tired brain
I have googled my posterior off over this and haven't found anything useful, so I am asking you wise and gifted folks at the pointy end.
Ok here goes:
Say you had a stabilized wood box and you wanted to incorporate a nice pushbutton switch for the fire button, the wood is only 7mm thick and you want a brass button exiting the box around 10mm in diameter, you have the option of 150-250gf tactiles ranging from 1.5mm to 3.2mm high and 3x3mm to 7x7mm footprint. you want the button action to be nice and linear without rocking or binding by having a piston in bore type actuator for the tactile underneath.
The tactile switch under the brass piston needs to be contained by probably at least 1.2-1.5mm of wood at the back to stop the pusher pushing the piston and the tactile into the box cavity.
You also want the machining /milling of parts to be kept to a minimum to control time and cost involved.
So some questions are:
1.Is stabilized wood stable enough to be used as the bore for the piston to run in, or will it swell trapping the piston or rapidly wear causing piston slop and binding?
2. Will the brass corrode with time and juice spillage causing binding and premature wear of the wood bore?
3.Is a brass sleeve inserted into the wood bore a satisfactory solution, or will corrosion again cause a demise of fluid motion.
4. Would a delrin or other engineering plastic sleeve handle the brass piston in a better fashion, or would wear be an issue again.
5. What is a workable ratio of the piston travel/bore/stroke ect to the diameter of the piston to avoid slop/binding, considering well thought out interference tolerances etc.
All ideas and thoughts will be lapped up like a thirsty puppy