Thursday, August 18, 2011

LED MOD for Sanwa Clear Pushbuttons

Hello All! Blindwithonearm here to post a quick tutorial for the Sanwa Clear pushbuttons using Toodles KNsert LED's.

The Sanwa Clear pushbutton feels the same as a standard OBSF-30... they do make a little more noise than stock Sanwa's due to the plastic used but the sensitivity is the same as the standard Sanwa so this is a great pushbutton for those that want to put a little "bling" into their competition sticks without losing the feather feel of the Sanwa OBSF-30.

First off this is just a quick guide to modding a clear sanwa button using Toodles KNsert LED's... there are other ways to do this and by no means should this be your only option to installing LED's into your sanwa pushbuttons... This is just how I do my LED mods and my experience at modding these new sanwa's that just came out.

The first thing you will notice is that the mold for the clear pushbuttons are the same as the OBSF-30





This is something you have to consider when you are choosing what type of LED you want to install... I chose the KNsert for this project... it was small enough to fit into the casing and the LED's were close enough to the center of the housing that it did not interfere with the plunger when the button was pressed... 
Installation:
First thing is to take the pushbutton apart... you will see the white plastic prongs that belong to the plunger... just a little pressure with a small screwdriver on both sides one at a time and the top piece will come off... the microswitch is help in place by small pressure tabs that when squeesed together gently the switch can be pushed out... all three pieces should look like this...

look at the bottom of the pushbutton you will notice in the mold there are two distinct circles on the surface... one with a number inside the circle and the other is blank with the logo "sanwa" next to it... I chose the "blank" circle to drill a hole into the push button for the installation of the knsert... the reason for this is there is a gap in the white plunger that  line up with the holes on either end of the base... that "gap" is a great place for your soldering of the KNsert's VCC and GND... there is enough room to have no issues with the soldering and the plunger function when pressed...
I used a 1/8" drill bit to create the hole in the housing... this is also the correct size one should use if you chose a 3mm LED to be placed instead of a KNsert...


Once the hole is created the microswitch should be placed back together...

 **WARNING**Make sure that you have already soldered the wires to the KNsert... once you install them into the pushbutton it will be very difficult to solder afterwards...

With that said... the knsert should be glued to the inside base of the pushbutton... SUPERGLUE is suggested... hot glue is too thick and will cause problems with the plunger.

Once the glue is dry the Knsert will not move around the base and it is time to put the pushbutton back together. the final outcome should look something like this... (I use prongs but wires are more commonly used)...
 LAST thing before you install your new MODDED clear sanwa pushbuttons into your case is that if you use acrylic covers such as Arthong's plexi covers for the TE series... you NEED to shave off the little tabs around the button like you would a normal OBSF-30... if not you will damage the plexi...


There you go! my method of installing LED's into the Sanwa Clear Pusbutton... the only thing you have to do now is install it into your case with the addition of an LED controller or any other method of LED usage that is posted in SRK Tech Talk
I know this was a quick guide... if you need more assistance hit me up with a PM/conversation on SRK.com
 Hope this was helpful to those new to LED's and still thinking of ways to LED the new sanwa's...As with anything to do with modding... if you are unsure of your skills with a soldering iron and a drill hit up an experienced modder to install your LED's... Purchasing the amount of pushbuttons, wires, controller board, LED's is expensive and people that are not comfortable with modding should get help from the more experienced modders... J&J SoCalModding is always ready to help your modding needs.
Thanks for looking!





Blindwithonearm
J&J SoCal Modding




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