Where would you get a button for this?

Hi guys,

Please forgive if this is wildly off topic.

I've been working build give an office building in London a hackable API, to allow all kinds of interesting stuff to happen inside it, and I've been looking for a decent supplier of high quality attractive pushbuttons to trigger stuff inside it.

I'm new here, so please forgive me steaming in with an in depth question, but ...

I'm working on a project where the black void here in needs to be replaced with a nice big very durable button which would fill the gap, and ideally keep in with the same metal aesthetic on display here.

You can see the same photo here on flickr, with annotations on flickr.com/photos/daggi/3276473551/

The plan here it to get a chunky button that talks to an arduino, that triggers a blinkM style light array to beneath the drilled holes spelling 'bye', then sends a request to the door actuator to open the door.

The blinkM and actuator stuff is okay, but jeez, finding a decent supplier of attractive looking, durable pushbuttons is so, so, so much harder than it needs to be.

Any ideas?

For what it's worth, the building runs on an pythonic open source access control system that we built and put on github for others to use, and that's what the button will talk eventually talk to, so if anyone is looking for an open source access control solution for any clients, you're welcome to fork off it, hack on it and use it in any of your own projects just search github for 'doord'.

Okay, that's me for now.

Have a good weekend everyone,

Chris

It would help a lot if you provided the hole diameter, and maximum depth of the button.

Find one of those metal-plate buttons they use to open and close handicap-access doors.

The largest pushbutton I can find is here: http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/LPS-3R/12V-LIGHTED-PUSHBUTTON-2-RED-LENS/-/1.html

That's about 2.5" across including the bezel.

Otherwise, you'll have to make some kind of large button plate that fits in the hole and pushes on a smaller button inside.

Since it is stated that it must be "durable" - why not use a capacitive touch sensor?
Nothing to wear out. (No moving parts.)
And artistic freedom to design your own 'button'.

Incidentally, I didn't realise that the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation had already opened an office in London! [smiley=happy.gif]
All doors should have a "cheerful and sunny disposition". :slight_smile:

Wow, thanks for responding so quickly guys!

I'll provide the dimensions on the monday for this, but the idea of a capacitive touch sensor does sound interesting, and I imagine wouldn't take up so much space.

At present, what we have is a badly implemented RFID reader interface, and people were opening the door by touching that white RFID card to the reader.

People often press the black gap thinking it's a sunken button until someone tells them about the RFID card above it.

Lame, I know.

I was hoping to replace it with a much simpler alternative, and the idea behind the durable push button was something that people knew how to operate immediately, without having to puzzle over how to get out of the building.

Thanks again for all the replies!

You could leave the hole as-is...install an IR break-beam detector inside. So they try to push the nonexistent button and realize their mistake, but the door opens anyway.

Hi guys,

As requested, here are the dimensions:

76mm circumference
35mm deep
135mm high
110mm wide
13mm from the bottom

From the side:

From the front

How about this:-

Where you have written "circumference" on your photo, you mean "diameter". The circumference of a circle is the distance all the way around the curve, which will be PI times the diameter (PI being about 3.14).

I would recommend a good look at the Farnell web-site (as mentioned earlier), where they stock vandal-resistant pushbuttons of various kinds.

Jeez,

Feeling rather sheepish about the circumference/diameter - how did I miss that when I scribbling into Skitch?

Silly silly man...