27 Aug
2007
27 Aug
'07
8:48 a.m.
On 8/27/07, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
On 26 Aug 2007 at 21:10, Vincent Slyngstad wrote:
As Vince pointed out, it would take a lot of post-processing to make
that work, as the parts have indentations to work around the pivots on
the switches, and do not have parallel sides.
Here's a nice side view of one of the ones
for some of the PDP-8's.
There is also a long rocker style, and a sort of triangular style
that was used on some of the PDP-11's.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290149624244
Ah, many thanks--now I understand. Would it be possible to mill out
the profile in a big hunk of polycarbonate and then slice the paddles
off like slices of bread? The result could then be painted. I wonder if you could cast some out of zinc-aluminum
alloy using a
lost-wax process? Metal ones would be more durable.
I think that would only work if you also drilled out the pivot point
and replaced it with steel (as is sometimes done with plastic
actuators), since I think the soft metal of the pivots wouldn't last
long grinding around in the bare holes of the switch frame.
I also don't see how that's less work than plastic, but it _is_ an
interesting approach to consider.
-ethan