Recommendation for clear key caps for PAL-1 hex keypad?

[D Hassler]

Hi all.  Anyone have any recommendations?  I'd like to find something with a clear "top" so I can print out 1-9, A-F, etc., and put them under the 'tops.'

Thanks, Dave

[Hans Van Slooten]

Hi Dave,

I don't, but I did try doing something similar with square caps and
failed to create something aesthetically pleasing. Keep in mind that
the buttons have a lot of "play" (they are able to rotate), so keeping
the buttons straight requires them to essentially be right next to
each other.

Hans V

On Thu, Jul 14, 2022 at 6:10 PM D Hassler <blueja...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi all. Anyone have any recommendations? I'd like to find something with a clear "top" so I can print out 1-9, A-F, etc., and put them under the 'tops.'
>
> Thanks, Dave
>

> --
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[GN L]

Maybe just some sort of round blank sticker with no "top". It's hard to find some keycaps for this type of switch...

> On Jul 15, 2022, at 7:10 AM, D Hassler <blueja...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi all. Anyone have any recommendations? I'd like to find something with a clear "top" so I can print out 1-9, A-F, etc., and put them under the 'tops.'
>
> Thanks, Dave
>

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PAL 6502 computer" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pal6502+u...@googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pal6502/c780a774-e9a3-4a94-9bb8-cb843b88b777n%40googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

Best,
Liu

[Will Senn]

Dunno what happened to my original post, but here it is again, ignore if duplicated. Here's what I've come up with on the keypad front - it's a work in progress and just a proof of concept. I made a tiny triangle out of graph index card and wrote the numbers on it. I'll prolly laser print on paper/plastic, with proper spacing, for the final version.

The numbers under the keys printed on the circuit board are a bit confusing to me for some reason, seems like they need to be on top, but even then, they're practically invisible. This brings them to visibility at least.

[Will Senn]

Actually, as I posted this, I thought of an even better approach - going back to the old-style phones keypad - draw a stencil in omni graffle, with the numbers on it that fits over the keypad, but lets the keys through. A quick check found a hole-punch to be just the right size for the buttons to come through. Off to seeing how hard that is to create :).

[Will Senn]

OK. Very HARD :). I'll prolly just do vertical bars on the left and right and horizonal bars between.

[Will Senn]

Version 2. This is actually workable...

I just need to get the right size marked for the cuts (I fudged on this one, and I may go ahead and cut vertical bars, too), get it to print the numbers, instead of hand writing them, print it on card stock and I think that'll be good enough for me. But, it turned out better than I thought. Definitiely reminds me of the old touch tone templates :).

[Will Senn]

Version 3 :)

[GN L]

Brilliant!


> On Jul 18, 2022, at 12:27 PM, Will Senn <will...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Version 3 :)

>
> <pal-1-keypad-3.JPG>
>
> On Sunday, July 17, 2022 at 10:48:05 PM UTC-5 Will Senn wrote:
> Version 2. This is actually workable...
>
> I just need to get the right size marked for the cuts (I fudged on this one, and I may go ahead and cut vertical bars, too), get it to print the numbers, instead of hand writing them, print it on card stock and I think that'll be good enough for me. But, it turned out better than I thought. Definitiely reminds me of the old touch tone templates :).
>
>
>

> On Sunday, July 17, 2022 at 10:05:33 PM UTC-5 Will Senn wrote:
> OK. Very HARD :). I'll prolly just do vertical bars on the left and right and horizonal bars between.
> On Sunday, July 17, 2022 at 9:46:48 PM UTC-5 Will Senn wrote:
> Actually, as I posted this, I thought of an even better approach - going back to the old-style phones keypad - draw a stencil in omni graffle, with the numbers on it that fits over the keypad, but lets the keys through. A quick check found a hole-punch to be just the right size for the buttons to come through. Off to seeing how hard that is to create :).
>
> On Sunday, July 17, 2022 at 9:40:01 PM UTC-5 Will Senn wrote:
> Dunno what happened to my original post, but here it is again, ignore if duplicated. Here's what I've come up with on the keypad front - it's a work in progress and just a proof of concept. I made a tiny triangle out of graph index card and wrote the numbers on it. I'll prolly laser print on paper/plastic, with proper spacing, for the final version.
>
>
>

> The numbers under the keys printed on the circuit board are a bit confusing to me for some reason, seems like they need to be on top, but even then, they're practically invisible. This brings them to visibility at least.
>
> On Thursday, July 14, 2022 at 10:32:03 PM UTC-5 liuga...@gmail.com wrote:
> Maybe just some sort of round blank sticker with no "top". It's hard to find some keycaps for this type of switch...
>
> > On Jul 15, 2022, at 7:10 AM, D Hassler <blueja...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hi all. Anyone have any recommendations? I'd like to find something with a clear "top" so I can print out 1-9, A-F, etc., and put them under the 'tops.'
> >
> > Thanks, Dave
> >
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PAL 6502 computer" group.
> > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pal6502+u...@googlegroups.com.
> > To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pal6502/c780a774-e9a3-4a94-9bb8-cb843b88b777n%40googlegroups.com.
> > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>
> Best,
> Liu
>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PAL 6502 computer" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pal6502+u...@googlegroups.com.

> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pal6502/81b146cf-4cb7-46e7-abd1-256fe7e3c164n%40googlegroups.com.

> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

> <pal-1-keypad-3.JPG>

Best,
Liu

[Will Senn]

Thanks, Liu. Not sure if I like the numbers at the top or not, but here's version 5, which fits better than the prior version. It can be printed at 100% and should be the correct size for the keypad, but I'm not a graphics expert, so I don't know for sure. I just cut it out with an exacto knife and it drops on easy peasy. Suggestions for improvements on the layout welcome! I think the letters/numbers may be too close to the keys above and will try a version with them closer to the keys below - weird how it affects the mind :).



Will

[GN L]

Hi Will,

Thanks for the printable file! Very simple and useful.

The legend below the key is not a user friendly design…

> On Jul 19, 2022, at 9:39 AM, Will Senn <will...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> <pal-1-keypad-stencil-v5.png>

Best,
Liu

[Will Senn]

Sure. Here's the other version - with lower lettering (closer to the keys they belong too). I can't make up my mind, but I think I like this version better. Only drawback is the viewing angle, if the PAL-1's too far up on the desk, it's harder to read, but I don't seem to make as many mistakes keying in with this version (teach me to look when I key...).

Later,

Will

[Michael Doornbos]

Printed on card stock, this is actually quite a good solution. Good work ;)

--
Michael Doornbos
Imapenguin.com

Evadot.com
michaeldoornbos.com

myzenith750.com <—- yes I’m building an airplane in my garage (hangar)
828-450-7418

HAM: N4LNX 

On Jul 18, 2022, 22:47 -0400, Will Senn <will...@gmail.com>, wrote:

Sure. Here's the other version - with lower lettering (closer to the keys they belong too). I can't make up my mind, but I think I like this version better. Only drawback is the viewing angle, if the PAL-1's too far up on the desk, it's harder to read, but I don't seem to make as many mistakes keying in with this version (teach me to look when I key...).

Later,

Will

<pal-1-keypad-stencil-v5a.png>

On 7/18/22 8:48 PM, GN L wrote:

[Will Senn]

I printed on white and then offwhite/beige, the offwhite seemed to work better. I just realized I uploaded a low-res version. Here's the

(much) higher res version.

-Will