does anyone know where I could find keyboard style switches that have led’s built in?
these can be seen on older keyboards on the numlock or pause key
ideally I’m looking for switches/leds/keycaps that look like the roland 909
Adam
rswww.com do these:
any of the four colours in round or square. 27p each.
any of the four colours in round or square. 27p each.
I think that might be just for the cap?
I cant find them though, cause the stupid rs website puts a cookie on your machine and your link refers to the cookie…
just delete the &sessionID=… from the link
cheers,
Michael
Heh, I tried to copy my own session ID in but it didnt work, thx for the tip mate 
Looks like I might be right about the switch though, the .27 is the cap, the 3.27 is the switch+LED. Bummer.
I’m switch shopping at the moment myself, so this thread is interesting to me… I finally found my perfect knobs, but gee they’re expensive! Building front panels costs a bomb, but I had to search for the right knobs for like 3 months and I’ve been gathering quotes for the knobs for a month now, and I’ve just started looking for switches… The time it takes is almost worse than the money it costs!
Kinda-sorta off-topic, but… Momentary toggle switches… Are these OK for midibox use?
I seem to remember using toggle switches in school which were spring-loaded (as in, they were always ‘up’, and then you flicked and when they were ‘down’ they were on, and when you let go, they would jump back up, and be off) I thought these would make a nice alternative to tacts or pushbuttons, so I can just ‘flick’ the switch instead of pushing it in… But I don’t know if they’ll work? I don;t see any reason why they wouldn’t work, but I’m not good with component level hardware 
yeah, you’re right stryd, they are just the caps, sorry everyone. bloody site, i wish they’d label everything properly. i could have ordered loads of those. cheers.
stryd: “momentary” just means they don’t stay in position… so it doesn’t matter if it’s push-button, toggle, tactile, whatever… so long as it’s normally OPEN and momentarily CLOSED, otherwise you’ll need to do a customization of the DIN module or invert it in firmware.
Thanks Wilba. Yeh I was looking at the mechanics of the springloaded toggles and wondered if maybe they might need stronger debouncing or something due to the way they make/break contact (not so ‘clean’ as a tact or pushbutton)… I think I might be the first one to find out
Just for the reference of others, I was also concerned that there might be different types of toggles, one which was electronically and physically momentary (as in, it’s spring-loaded, so it’s physically OFF when it’s electronically OFF) and one that’s electronically momentary but physically polar (as in, you would flip the switch ON, then you’d have to turn the switch OFF before being able to turn it back ON again)… I’ve only seen a very small number of the latter, they’re all for specialised applications (like, B1 Bomber) and are exceptionally expensive ($20-60+ each)…So don’t worry, you won’t get the wrong kind of “momentary”
I found keyboard switches cheap and bought 150 or so…
problem is now I can’t find key caps for them
I’m going to try to figure out if I can mount a led
near the upper edge of them and maybe use
clear key caps if I can find them
You’re right about the time spent searching for parts being worse than the money
I’m seriously considering taking a key from a keyboard and making a die
so that I can injection mold my own ten at a time
Has anyone hear ever owned a 909?
I love the way the keys are on it
It’s almost identical to a keyboard with a little led window on each key
If anyone owns one could you please photograph the switch
so I can see if the LED is integrated into the switch
If all of this still proves to be a problem I guess I’ll do it like the 707
where the led is behind a little window/lens above the particular step
Adam
Reichelt has these:
http://www.reichelt.de/?ARTIKEL=DTL%202%20BL
The datasheet says, they’re from http://www.ittcannon.com
I think they should be common elsewhere, if you’re not from Germany…
There is a guy who sells replacement keys for 909’s on ebay from time to time who has ones with blue LED’s in them. I will post you a message if I see them come up again.
Good luck :}