Help! Killing myself to find blue illum. switches

[lgreen]

I'm trying to get 4 momentary action pushbutton switches that are panel mount, illuminated blue.

This has been a very painful experience, checked out all the suppliers, ITT/Canon, NKK, digikey, mouser, etc.... Yeah you can find some, for over $20 each! Then the problems start, most of the time you can't even figure out what extra parts you need to buy in addition to switch (i.e. cover, contacts, lens, lamp, LED, panel support, etc...). This drives up the cost even more.....

AGhhhh!!! the pain! I can't complete my front panel without knowing the switch shape and size, and can't do up the power supply till I know how many volts to drive it with. Its stalling my whole project, and I don't want to spend $100 unless I have to. Advice?

Got any for sale?

[Christer]

Originally posted by lgreen
I'm trying to get 4 momentary action pushbutton switches that are panel mount, illuminated blue.

This has been a very painful experience, checked out all the suppliers, ITT/Canon, NKK, digikey, mouser, etc.... Yeah you can find some, for over $20 each! Then the problems start, most of the time you can't even figure out what extra parts you need to buy in addition to switch (i.e. cover, contacts, lens, lamp, LED, panel support, etc...). This drives up the cost even more.....

AGhhhh!!! the pain! I can't complete my front panel without knowing the switch shape and size, and can't do up the power supply till I know how many volts to drive it with. Its stalling my whole project, and I don't want to spend $100 unless I have to. Advice?

Got any for sale?

There are bunch of such switches made by company called
EAO. Most of them are quite expensive, but there are some
called series 19 which sell for slightly more than $10 for
switch+lens at Elfa here in Sweden, so I assume you could
find them cheaper in the US. It is still not cheap, but at lest
less than $20. Then it also depends on what kind of swithces
you want, but since you need four of them I assume you want
some smaller models, so series 19 might be what you are
looking for. Can't help you with where to find them in the US,
though, but try searching the internet.

[tool49]

I found them at a local surplus vendor.

I can't link directly to the product due to bad web site desing, but at $7CAN you won't break the bank for sure...

http://www.master-vox.com/index_en.html

Search for sw146.

This corresponds to you description to the very least.

Hope this helps!
Sébastien

(If the description does not satisfy you, check for sw145 which are basically the same, in the red color)

(A quick search on google revealed some other retailors for this particular switch. Just search for the manufacturer number which is 459-516)

[Wright]

What a coincidence as I was just looking at switches tonight. Here's a couple neat ones I found:





Check this site for details or search on google for "bulgin vandal switch" as you can probably find them cheaper. Good luck,

George

[lgreen]

Thanks to all who responded. I've decided that 22mm is much to large for my use, so I went with Omron A16 series switches. Unfortunately, Mouser has to special order them so I will have to wait 4-6 weeks....the nightmare continues!

I can't believe how difficult this process was. You would think finding a switch would be kind of easy.

Any more ideas, please contribute

[Magura]

I have chosen a different approach.

Im going all the way without a single switch(besides the remote that is).

A remote(IR) and a bunch of relays seems to be neater, better and easier...and cheaper.

Magura

[lgreen]

ahhhh..... you might want to take a look at mine when I am done.... lets just say we are taking different approaches.

When I am done you are going to be able to land a plane in the dark with this thing.

[Magura]

Well.....i dont like switches and attenuators. They tend to be the first thing that will give you trouble, if you expect to use the amp for a while >5 years, they often go bad....even worse is a potmeter....thats as good as a guarantee for trouble.....as for the light and the number of them/power.....i liked a lot of gimmics a few years ago, but again, usually they dont get old the same way, i.e. the diodes will not match intensity in a few years.

Magura

[lgreen]

Maybe I will be like you in the future, right now its all about the lightshow.

That's the good thing about DIY, you can make it the way you want......for no other reason than that's what you want to do.

[SpaBlauw]

Not that i live in your neighbourhood, but I organised a joint-buy for those switches. Here they are not so hard to find.

Try Bulgin
http://www.bulgin.co.uk/

Robbie