How to secure buttons and screens without them falling inside an enclosure?

#1

Let me start out by saying that I'm a newb to electronics and extremely ineffective at finding the answers to questions I have. This is more of a "electronics in general" question, but I get impatient when my google search doesn't give instant results. Truly, I'm a product of the 21st century.

So, I'm looking to build an enclosure and I want to mount 16 buttons, ideally side by side so that they're touching. Not touching like rubbing together, but without having the metal of the faceplate dividing each button. I also want to put in a screen somewhere else on the enclosure. These are the buttons that I want to use.

Now I understand that pots are held in place with the little nut that you screw in through the front. With buttons and screens, they are held in by magic for all I know.

So that comes around to the original question, how are buttons and screens usually held in place so that they're not pushed through to the other side when used? If there are multiple methods, which one do you prefer? Thanks in advance!

#2

I am also beginner on the hardware side, so I understand where you are coming from.

For holding the buttons, I would sat a pcb is a way to go, that you solder the buttons on to. I know it doesnt make it easier, but I think that's what a lot of companies do.

for 16 buttons, you probably also need to use a multiplexer, as Axoloti doesn't have that many inputs. And if you also want some knobs, I think it's the best way to go.

but let's see. There are people in the forum who has build awesome devices, that are way beyond what I can build, so I am sure some one has some better suggestions :slight_smile:

Good luck :wink:

#3

Thanks for the response! Is this the type of PCB that it would attach to? After that, the PCB would likely have to be secured to the unit with screws or something of the like?

You sort of answered another question that I had, which is how many buttons and switches the board is capable of handling. I read in another thread that you could attach a maximum of 64, but I'm guessing that means that's the maximum it can handle with extensions like a multiplex? I've found the Axoloti official input/output guide, but have trouble making sense of it being new to electronics.

#4

I am not that much of an expert, but something like that could probably work.

I am just not sure you would be able to have 16 buttons next to each other, though.

I don't think you need to attach them with screws, solder is probably enough if you do it well.

Regarding connection many buttons, I think there are some threads that talks about that. And I think there are some objects in @SmashedTransistors library that can handle the software side of multiplexing. If you look on his contribution page you can probably find some info.

#5

I have to add to use @SmashedTransistors multiplexer objects, I think you have to use the multiplexers that he made the objects for.

I think he mentions which ones it is compatible with somewhere in the link above :wink:

#6

yes just like @lokki said that is essentially what you do with any element that is not fronplate-mount. try find bigger boards than the one you linked, so ideally you can squeeze 8 or all 16 of your buttons on one pcb. super cheap ones can be had from ebay "veroboard" is kinda the cheaprest but most wobbly material. for simple stuff make sure you get "stripboard" to make the wiring easier. what you posted kinda resembled the little plastic breadboards, where 5 pins are connected on each side. ideal for what you are doing just get a longer one.

this adafruit 3 pack is quite expensive but solid, durable material. you can google same thing in cheaper i am sure.


just beware of the cheap looking one-sided brown stuff, those are really loose and wobbly and will not be fun to work with. not recommending something like this:

same goes for screens: you wanna use the sdd1306 or whatever OLEDs that come pre-mounted on a little module/pcb. then you either mount this directly to the frontplate if it has mounting holes,. or you can also just stack this module on the same stripboard that holds your buttons.

if you want to avoid having any screws on the frontplate, you can either use spacers and mount it to the bottom enclosure (not advised) or use a 2-layer frontplate, lower one holds the mounting screws, upper one only has the cutout holes for the buttons/oled.

also, depending on the size of your project, sometimes it makes sense to outsource the UI stuff, ie. buttons, multiplexing, OLED, to a little teensy or arduino and just send data over midi. that way you keep all your precious axoloti recources available for audio. there's a lot of teensy that can easily do 16 digital i/o natively, for 20$. might be less effort than dealing with multiplexers.

Help advise a total and complete beginner on how to build my enclosure!
#7

Awesome, thanks for the very in-depth reply. Along with @jaffasplaffa, you both answered my question in its entirety.

Drilling holes into the faceplate is not an issue at all. Now that I'm watching teardown videos of different devices, it shows how much of a newb I really am to this.

It's a pretty ambitious project, but it will definitely pay off in the end. Thanks for the help!