Like many here, I like the idea of using rubber buttons for on-the-fly, live programming. Love it or hate it, the Monome has made a splash … its rubber buttons are ergonomic by virtue of the materials used, rather than its minimalist design. I have an Electribe ER-1 which just feels awesome under the fingers, so I want to build a percussion sequencer using MB-808 firmware and rubber buttons.
I have already started on panel layout, and I have some nifty ideas for how I’m going to put this whole thing together, but from what I’ve seen. making your own rubber buttons is entering into no-man’s land. There have been one or two efforts from people here on the forum which have generally been abandoned.
So … here’s what I’ve done so far: I used “GE Silicone II” which is a high-grade bathtub caulking. I chose it only because we use it a lot at my work, and I thought its rubbery consistency would translate nicely to panel buttons. I created a mold by drilling 11/16" holes in a piece of aluminum, about 3/16" thick, then putting a piece of textured, powder-coated steel beneath it, and fastening tightly with metal screws. This left some nice little wells to fill with silicone, which would be shaped like round buttons when extracted. The metal was from the scrap bin at my work. The extracted 11/16" buttons would be just slightly smaller than the 3/4" holes I would later drill in a panel.
In order to allow for a button membrane base, I suck a couple of tie-wraps (a.k.a. cable ties / zip ties) down at the edges of the mold with hot glue. This way I could fill up to the top of the tie-wraps and scrape off the excess with a knife.
Prior to squirting pouring in the silicone I sprayed the whole thing with “Pam” cooking spray. As I later learned, this stuff does a decent job of preventing the silicone from sticking to the mold - mostly.
I allowed the stuff to cure for about a week and a half. As it turned out, this was not long enough for the silicone deeply inside the buttons to harden. When I pulled everything apart, the button tops were still gooey. As a result, the tops of the buttons are pitted and bumpy.
But the entire molded piece of five buttons is remarkably sound - I can bend it and manipulate it as much as I like, and the buttons have a solid but pleasant rubbery feel. Since I used the clear silicone, light passes through it pretty well. I will be able to light up each button with two bright LEDs. And I plan to put a 6 mm tactile switch (100 gram force) centred beneath each button.
This was my experiment. The next mold I make will be to fit my panel.
Of the pictures I took, the ones I’m attaching here are the only ones that make much sense.
