For the Altair front panel project I'm working on, C&K (ITT/Canon) makes
switches that are nearly exactly the same as the prototype (although I've
never been able to determine the name of the manufacturer of the original
switches). The handle length is only fractions of an inch shorter but
everything else is the same.
Purchasing switches can get expensive particularly when you're buying 25 of
them, but I've found that Future-Active Electronics has them for about
$2.50/each. Although Future is a "master distributor" they have a small
on-line parts business for low-volume purchasers using credit cards.
For comparison, Digi-Key sells them for between $5.50 and $6.50 depending on
if it's the regular or momentary toggle.
Rich
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces_at_classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctalk-bounces_at_classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Ethan Dicks
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2005 10:57 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: does anybody remember who was building generic front
panels.
On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 20:05:18 -0700, woodelf <bfranchuk_at_jetnet.ab.ca> wrote:
> vrs wrote:
>
> >Or to the "Homebrew PDP-11 console" at http://www.pdp-11.nl/?
> >
> That was the link I was looking for, thanks. I was hoping he had more on
> the panel rather than the interface to it.
Henk's project is the guts behind it, not so much the metalwork. What
I need to do is find a cheap source of suitable switches - I have a
pair of board sets (2 CPU, 2 I/O) and most of the guts to populate
them at home already (some of the parts are surplus from a failed
Commodore dealer, making it _doubly_ classic ;-) Between this front
panel stuff, and a couple of modern Elf projects (Elf2K and
Micro/Elf), I am going to be hitting local hamfests hard for
appropriate toggle switches. I have a wad of C&K paddle switches, but
they aren't right for either of the Elf designs (I _could_ use them on
a custom -8 or -11 FP, but the particular C&K switches I have are
might narrow, narrower than the ones used on the FP6120, so they will
look funny on a 19"-wide FP).
If I had a source of genuine DEC PDP-8/L toggles, I do have a dead
-8/L FP board (that came to me with smashed lights and missing plastic
toggles)...
-ethan
Received on Tue Feb 01 2005 - 08:04:34 GMT