I wonder if you could mold them using translucent silicone rubber in a single piece that covers all the switches, but you would still need a holed screen to secure it in place.
I thought about that but I don’t know if I want to get into silicone molding. But… if I can just get some sheets of silicone, I could make wood keys that fit into holes in the sheet and put the keys in contact with the switches directly. Then secure the sheet to the top wood panel (with key slots) to hold everything in place. Sort of like this:
____
[ ] <- key
X[ ]XXXXXXXXX <- wood panel
===||========X== <- silicone
[__] XXX
oo
[ ] <- tact switch
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ <- pcb
Not shown: clear plastic spike to conduct the light from the LED to the panel. I’m not sure if I can make this slim enough that the pots poke through enough, but maybe. Or maybe I’ll have to make custom caps for them too but it seems dicey.
What is the XXX right on to of the switch? A screw? Why not glue a wood flange right into the key and dispense with the silicone sheet? You could easily do those two parts (key and flange) from different diameter wood sticks.
For some reason I like the silicone keys idea better, albeit the awful smell! I would do the mold from three layers of acrylic sheet: the bottom for the keys top, the middle one perforated for the keys body and the top one as an internal frame for holding the keys toguether (and maybe a forth layer at the top to make sure it keeps flat).
EDIT: How tick do you think the wood panel would need to be? 2mm?
That XXX to the right is a pin to keep the silicone attached to the panel (it’s not in line with the keys so it doesn’t interfere with the next switch but that can’t be shown from this angle.) I suppose I could do a wood flange but I’m trying to minimize the detail work (I don’t always have steady hands.) On the other hand the silicone layer does take up extra space. I guess the flange would work better anyway.
I hesitate to mold silicone myself because I have no idea what I’m doing there. Maybe it’s not so hard. Your idea for making the mold makes sense but I have no idea how to work with the raw materials.
Yeah I think 2mm is probably fine.
I haven’t much experience with that either, so it may or may not work… anyway, I guess we need to wait until we get our hands on a PO and take some detailed measurements.
This seems like a perfect application for 3D printing. Maybe someone could put a model together from the dimensions of the commercial silicon cases? I’ve also been thinking of trying to make a case out of Kydex, which is used for making knife sheaths and gun holsters. The stuff is very durable and moldable in your oven at home. You can buy it in small sheets on amazon.com.
Another thing I’ve been thinking about is making something to replace the battery power supply. First, it is pretty difficult getting batteries in/out of the PO’s, enough so that I worry I might break something. Second, if you put one into a case (or a case for 2 or 3 of them), changing out batteries is going to suck. So a way to supply external power when in a case would be a good thing, I think.
I was thinking about the power supply too but I don’t trust the solutions I’ve found. Also, batteries seem to last quite a lot.
@sjdude Regarding replacing the AAA cells with something else, I would probably try a 3V LDO regulator tied to a power management IC for a single Li-Ion cell charged from USB. The chalenge is to figure out the right components and build it.
@punji - There appear to be a couple of pads, on the back side of the PCB, beneath the BPM and ‘3’ buttons on the PO-12 that appear to be pads for supplying power. I’ll be checking that out.