Raise/Elevate Push Button Switch

[Saimoun]

Hi

I struggle to find push-buttons with a cap that are the right height for my project. Usually I need to raise them by like 1mm or so for them to be at the right height for the box.

So I was wondering how to do it in a manufacturing-friendly way, for a relatively small (say 1000) quantities?

Thanks
Simon


PS: I read a bit online and found different solutions, like glueing a piece of plastic or metal underneath.

PPS: And speaking with some switch manufacturers, 1000 is too small of a quantity to make custom molded caps (that would fit the height). One of them said from 30000 they could do it for a small extra cost.

[rea5245]

PPS: And speaking with some switch manufacturers, 1000 is too small of a quantity to make custom molded caps (that would fit the height). One of them said from 30000 they could do it for a small extra cost.

Facebook keeps serving me up ads for a low volume injection molding company. Sorry, I forget their name. But try googling "low volume injection molding".

Of course, you'd have to design the keycap yourself.

[Saimoun]

Ha ha ha I think I get the same ad actually 

They seem to make 3d-printed molds it looks like?

I'll check it out - thanks.

[SMTech]

We build a lot of things that have pushbuttons in an enclosure with a label overlay. With the larger size of pushbutton (10mm body?), this is fairly simple, its quite easy to find just the right size of spacer for the PCB then all you need to do is perhaps add a paper sticker or two between the odd button cap and the overlay to account for variation in thickness that you get in enclosures. We have found it slightly trickier with the smaller push bottons tho' to get a mix of keycap height and tactile response we like and actually works and that has put a transition from bigger to smaller on hold while we look. For some applications its probably easier to get a keypad instead, but that depends on the environment and volume, we have a client who took that route and had huuge reliability issues

[Saimoun]

Ok I actually never even investigated the overlay solution, always thought it would be more complicated and expensive than simple plastic caps (which I can get super cheap at the end - it's just the matter of finding the right height  ).
My case in in metal though, not sure how easy it is to put an overlay on it?

Also I think in the field I am in, the users generally prefer the "arcade style" button like they call it than rubbery feel.