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Need to make a keypad overlay — Parallax Forums

Need to make a keypad overlay

W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
edited 2010-06-18 22:15 in General Discussion
I have ordered a Switchboard Module from Gadget Gangster to use on my large robot , which currently has no name - I want to make it into a heavy duty Big Trak. I need to think of a way to make a nice looking keypad for it.

My current idea is to make 16 holes in a thin layer of foam and lay that over the buttons, then a sheet of acetate, paper with the printed keypad and finally another sheet of acetate to protect the printing.

There's is probably a better way, what would it be?

Rich H

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The Simple Servo Tester, a kit from Gadget Gangster.

Comments

  • FranklinFranklin Posts: 4,747
    edited 2010-06-02 03:27
    I think you are on the right track (pun?). I would look at getting the printed panel laminated to make it look a little better though.

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    - Stephen
  • W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
    edited 2010-06-02 04:13
    Yeah, that's better. The layer of foam, then the laminated keypad.

    Rich H

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    The Simple Servo Tester, a kit from Gadget Gangster.
  • Invent-O-DocInvent-O-Doc Posts: 768
    edited 2010-06-03 02:14
    Is there a good commercial source for low volume key overlays like some of the front panel and PCB services I see in Nuts/Volts magazine?

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    Tom Talbot
    New Market, MD, USA
  • FranklinFranklin Posts: 4,747
    edited 2010-06-03 02:20
    nivatechnoprint.com/graphics-overlays.html

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    - Stephen
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2010-06-03 18:02
    http://www.pactecenclosures.com/ used to make custom membrane keypads but I don't see them on their website anymore. The two that showed up on my part search were:

    http://www.pannam.com/
    and
    http://www.customkeypads.co.uk/ (in the UK though)

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    Chris Savage

    Parallax Engineering
    ·
  • Invent-O-DocInvent-O-Doc Posts: 768
    edited 2010-06-03 18:07
    I like pactec cases. Thanks for the sites Chris.

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    Tom Talbot
    New Market, MD, USA
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2010-06-03 18:16
    I use Pac tec for most important items...Radio Shack for one-off prototypes...but yeah, back when I did Design Engineering in NY they also provided membrane keypads. In fact some of their enclosures (especially the handheld ones) are setup for those types of keypads. They were self-fadhesive too. Bummer if they stopped making them.

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    Chris Savage

    Parallax Engineering
    ·
  • Invent-O-DocInvent-O-Doc Posts: 768
    edited 2010-06-04 19:02
    @Chris,
    There is a link on the pactec website that goes to a basically one page corporate website where they seem to still offer these services if you contact them. They do make good stuff, I just cant always order 200 of something to get a version with AA battery compartment and have to use the 9V versions due to low quantity.

    This is under their "About PacTec" link:

    Value Added Services
    Depending on quantities, we can also offer a variety of modification services to your off-the-shelf-enclosures. Our staff of design and mechanical engineers can work with you to create the product you want.
    Services: Openings and cutouts, Insert Tooling, Molded-in PCB mounting bosses, Prototypes, EMI/RFI Shielding, Hot Stamping, Pad Printing, Silk Screening, and much more! Please visit our link modification_services@PT-mail.com to find out if our modification services are right for you!
    Additionally, PacTec offers Total Custom Enclosures. From concept to production we can offer extensive design and engineering assistance to achieve completely custom boxes and cases. Visit www.pacteccustom.com to find out more.

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    Tom Talbot
    New Market, MD, USA

    Post Edited (Invent-O-Doc) : 6/4/2010 7:07:59 PM GMT
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2010-06-04 19:42
    Tom,

    Thanks...it used to be more prominent...I should have known volume would be an issue. =) But it is something to think about for product runs of something. Especially if you can get the enclosure and keypad from the same place. Seems the most effective use of this is the hand-held instrument people. That's where I've seen their keypads in use the most.

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    Chris Savage

    Parallax Engineering
    ·
  • Erik FriesenErik Friesen Posts: 1,071
    edited 2010-06-04 19:51
    It is much cheaper now days to go the capacitive touch route, which works well through plastic. I have thought about making a universal pcb with a chip on it, which would communicate via i2c. Capacative touch is what I used for this machine.

    www.estimationcreation.com/
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2010-06-04 20:07
    Erik,

    I am only now looking at the options. I have an Eval Kit (QTouch) from the recent ESC in the Bay area and I am currently downloading Atmel's development software so I can actually play around with this stuff. It's interesting now that it is taking off when the technology has been around for a long time in various forms. Still, for some, that matrix encoded 16-key keypad will be the choice of many projects. I don't think they'll disappear anytime soon. =)

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    Chris Savage

    Parallax Engineering
    ·
  • Erik FriesenErik Friesen Posts: 1,071
    edited 2010-06-04 20:43
    These buttons work better than you would ever think. I have been using the qt60160 (up to 8x3 in the qt60240)for some time now on this project - aercon.net/ , and they will sense your finger before they touch the plastic(4mm thick) if you have the sensitivity too high.

    The qt60168 is a similar spi model, and is a lot easier to mount, but is about twice the cost.

    Quantum touch/atmel has patented the way they do this, and when you try one out, you can tell why.
  • bambinobambino Posts: 789
    edited 2010-06-04 22:58
    Is it possible to overlay the keypad sold by parallax?
  • Invent-O-DocInvent-O-Doc Posts: 768
    edited 2010-06-04 23:22
    It sure would be nice to take a blank pactec enclosure and glue a plastic or coated paper control panel onto it!

    Can this capacitive button technology be easily replicated on a propeller chip???

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    Tom Talbot
    New Market, MD, USA
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2010-06-05 00:09
    Erik,

    The board I have is attached below.· As of the last time I checked Atmel had no support software on their website.· I am thinking by now they should since they were selling these units at the ESC.· In any event, I have been meaning to test it.· Sadly, this is my first Atmel board and I haven't a clue where to start.· I did order some ATtiny25 today and a programmer and I did download the AVR Studio, so I am getting close I think.



    As a note, when I power up the main controller board, pressing the buttons plays percussion sounds.· =/


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    Chris Savage

    Parallax Engineering
    QTouch Eval.JPG
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  • Erik FriesenErik Friesen Posts: 1,071
    edited 2010-06-05 00:30
    What I have in mind would be something down the line of the pcb on the left in your picture.

    You could run a 6 pin connector from this pad to a prop, bs2, etc. Power, ground, clock,data,change pin, and optional reset.
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  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2010-06-05 00:30
    As for my last keypad design I managed to find and dig out my robot waypoint programmer. This is essentially a portable GPS device that you can store waypoints on and then download the data to a robot for navigation purposes. The first picture shows the front of the enclosure. I removed the front cover so you could see how the LCD and Keypad were mounted. It turns out this particular handheld enclosure had perfect mounting hole alignment for a 20x4 LCD Module. The Parallax Serial LCD fit nicely once I cut out the front. The keypad is a Grayhill I think...I cut out a slot for it, but as you can see, mounting it was done via two strips of extra PCB material used as fasteners by screwing each strip down to existing mounting holes in the case. It's rock solid though. Sadly the battery doesn't last very long with the GPS and Backlit display and this enclosure can accept 2AA or a 9V battery...I should have opted for the version that held 4AA batteries.

    P.S. - I like what you posted.· I will start testing that once I get this Atmel board up and running.

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    Chris Savage

    Parallax Engineering
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  • W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
    edited 2010-06-05 02:59
    Okay, let me get this straight. You make a double sided PCB with the qt60160 on one side and the keypad patterns on the other, slap that up against the inside of your enclosure then just print a sticker to put on the outside and you have a keypad? That is really cool.

    Rich H

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    The Simple Servo Tester, a kit from Gadget Gangster.
  • WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,934
    edited 2010-06-05 06:58
    Chris, You'll have another case catalog to peruse for your projects next Tuesday.

    In regards to capacitive touch based boards, I will be working on two types right after UPEW that utilize a Cypress PSOC. I also have a Qtouch eval board, but the circuitry can be overwhelming when trying to "tune" the circuit for different types and thicknesses of substrates. With the PSoC, the circuitry is extremely simple and you can easily program self-tuning features to make a more universal board. One board will be a 5 button user interface style board and the other will be a slider style. I will have a prototype of the 5 button at UPEW, but I doubt I will have time to work on the code for it before then. The 5 button has reverse mount LEDs in the center of each pad that can be toggled when used as a latching style button (IE: touch once, output is high and LED is on, touch again, output is low and LED goes off)

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    Andrew Williams
    WBA Consulting
    WBA-TH1M Sensirion SHT11 Module
    My Prop projects: Reverse Geo-Cache Box, Custom Metronome, Micro Plunge Logger
  • Erik FriesenErik Friesen Posts: 1,071
    edited 2010-06-05 12:09
    @w9gf0 - Thats pretty much the way it is. One thing I didn't mention - I like to place a small piezo on the board for "tactile" noise.

    I have never worked with psoc, I think their system is good also. There isn't really any tuning to the qmatrix though, it auto tunes each startup, and is always readjusting over times. There will be a limit eventually to how thick you can go, but that is more dependent on electrode size.
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2010-06-17 08:01
    Okay, mercy! The Atmel Xplained board has driven me to pulling out my hair. On the software side I have gotten the ATtiny25 to blink an LED and some other minor things, so I think it's safe to say I can handle some Atmel chips now. Of course, even as technically minded as I am, getting set up and running was anything but trivial. I went through a lot of stress getting the software installed and running. I'm sure some of it was lack of full Windows 7 support, but a lot of it was unclear or lacking instructions.

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    Chris Savage

    Parallax Engineering
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  • W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
    edited 2010-06-17 19:45
    Here's the end result of my kepypad. I created the buttons in Pages, printed it out using an inkjet printer and laminated it using packaging tape. It works great!

    attachment.php?attachmentid=71244

    Rich H

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    The Simple Servo Tester, a kit from Gadget Gangster.
    Keypad.jpg
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  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2010-06-17 20:01
    Very nice! Just out of curiosity, can you say what this application is? What are we looking at? I mean the Keypad and display are clearly visible, but it does beg the question, what does it do?

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    Chris Savage

    Parallax Engineering
    ·
  • W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
    edited 2010-06-17 20:21
    Well, at the moment all it does is display the text equivalent of whichever key is pressed. Soon the keypad will be used to program the robot - much like a Big Trak.

    Here is a picture with the cover off -

    attachment.php?attachmentid=71246

    Rich H

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    The Simple Servo Tester, a kit from Gadget Gangster.
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  • Invent-O-DocInvent-O-Doc Posts: 768
    edited 2010-06-18 22:15
    Looks great!

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    Tom Talbot
    New Market, MD, USA
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