Hello all,
My oldest DCX2496 (June 2009) was suffering from flakey push-buttons making it's use an exercise in frustration. I successfully puzzled the front panel disassembly and tried contact cleaner on the switches, but as they are likely at least "washproof" after making a soggy mess out of my bench - no joy. The switches are common enough except for the custom (or at least uncommon) extended actuator that connects to the decidedly custom key-caps - so much for replacement.
I located a fuzzy schematic online and found that they operate from 5V through a transistor in sat., a diode drop and then a 47K resistor to ground. This gives them an operating current of only about 95 microamps - pretty low for cheap, 14 year old switches. I parallel another 10K to ground on each of the four switch scan sense lines (KEY0-KEY3 on the schematic) increasing the switch current to ~550uA and after minimal testing all seems good (will report back after I put some more miles on them).
Now for the fun part. In taking it apart, several of the black, elastomeric glue joints that hold the acrylic lcd and meter bezels to the aluminum front extrusion failed and I'm looking for suggestions as to what to use for reassembly. Keywords would be: black, elastomeric (as in flex-tolerant), compatible with aluminum and clear acrylic plastic and non-wicking (so as to not creep onto the clear parts). I have always been "glue challenged" so "instant" or not cleanable are not happy traits. Any ideas?
Thanks, Louis
My oldest DCX2496 (June 2009) was suffering from flakey push-buttons making it's use an exercise in frustration. I successfully puzzled the front panel disassembly and tried contact cleaner on the switches, but as they are likely at least "washproof" after making a soggy mess out of my bench - no joy. The switches are common enough except for the custom (or at least uncommon) extended actuator that connects to the decidedly custom key-caps - so much for replacement.
I located a fuzzy schematic online and found that they operate from 5V through a transistor in sat., a diode drop and then a 47K resistor to ground. This gives them an operating current of only about 95 microamps - pretty low for cheap, 14 year old switches. I parallel another 10K to ground on each of the four switch scan sense lines (KEY0-KEY3 on the schematic) increasing the switch current to ~550uA and after minimal testing all seems good (will report back after I put some more miles on them).
Now for the fun part. In taking it apart, several of the black, elastomeric glue joints that hold the acrylic lcd and meter bezels to the aluminum front extrusion failed and I'm looking for suggestions as to what to use for reassembly. Keywords would be: black, elastomeric (as in flex-tolerant), compatible with aluminum and clear acrylic plastic and non-wicking (so as to not creep onto the clear parts). I have always been "glue challenged" so "instant" or not cleanable are not happy traits. Any ideas?
Thanks, Louis
Welcome to the forum! Clever fix for the switch problem. I have no idea on glue, but would black or clear GE (or similar) electronic grade RTV perhaps work? It's non-wicking, messy as hell, but can be cleaned up with paper towel.
Gell type super glue might work, but it does have its downside. (Ruining bezels and gluing fingers together comes to mind.)
I have a heavily modified DCX2496, low cost would be a charitable description for most of the parts found in it.
Unless you have an LE I find the PC interface to be a whole lot more pleasant to use than the front panel UI. (Note that there have been several FW upgrades in recent years as well.)
Gell type super glue might work, but it does have its downside. (Ruining bezels and gluing fingers together comes to mind.)
I have a heavily modified DCX2496, low cost would be a charitable description for most of the parts found in it.
Unless you have an LE I find the PC interface to be a whole lot more pleasant to use than the front panel UI. (Note that there have been several FW upgrades in recent years as well.)