Touch Board Key Construnction
We all remember
this thing - the touch control board. Also remember how ugly it is. Why? because the keys are ugly and there's no hiding the subunit anywhere... not a problem anymore. I've got to do something while I wait on a response from Ben @ mountainmods.
Raw 1" plexi cylinder arrives @ my house from the land of ..well... everything. McMaster-Carr, what DON'T they sell?
Setting the fence on my bandsaw to 3/4" for each 'key' section of the cylinder. This appears to be (by imperical investigation) the approximate best length for LED light spread of the blue and white LEDs I'm using. Any shorter and the light is too intense, any longer and the light is concenrated in the middle (bad as you'll see later)
4 keys cut. Note that these went for a little ride on the belt sander after these shots
My ingenious way of marking the center of a circle... I got lucky that the label on the solder was symeteric and had a line down the center of it. so I put a piece of tape on the key to be marked, marked one line, rotated, marked another. Boom, where the lines cross is the center.
Key secured in my drillpress, ready for the hole through it. The hole is to accomodate the wire going up to the touch-sensor's electrode (a sanded flat penny).
Drilled with a 5/32" straight through.
Preparing for the shallow 3/4" hole to accomodate the touch electrode (penny, which is about 3/4" diameter) with 3/4" wood spade bit (works fine on plexi if you go slow - plus is easy to center with the pilot drill!)
