Buttons - Color Choice Poll

yes, please find out about the clear or cloudy buttons.

I want to install blue LED's and lightly coat the clear buttons with a silver paint (made specially for plastic) so that the buttons look normal in day light but still be able to show light through the button at night.

Hmmm ... for my current car I'm trying to match the colour of the needles on the dash. The neon orange lens goes well with the rest of it. So, at the moment I'd be interested in (in order of preference)

Red
Orange
Smoke
Green
Blue

I guess that tries to cover any future lens combinations I might use. I'm not happy with my current car choice and might have to go for something completely different.

I'd want a set in each color made.

Also, I'd LOVE to have some chrome buttons, if possible at all. Woudl that be an option? If thwy were actually metal, it would be great. But plastic or any other material which somehow has a chrome look would be great.

I'm honestly thinking that clear buttons should be on the list. I have it on my list to ask casters, "Do we get the colors by adding dye to clear plastic? If so, can we run off a bunch of clear sets?"

That way maybe people could modify them (like you and Skunk mentioned) to get those cool effects or colors of their choice. Maybe people could color the "back" surfaces which don't come in contact with their fingers. Then maybe the light could shine through this exterior color and maybe push it throught buttons.

Blue
Green
Red
Smoke
Amber

In order of preference

Me, I'm thinking of trying to paint the buttons black. Masking off < or > to look more like the rest of the buttons/controls.

If you do, I recommend this product.

I've successfully used the Silver paint on my buttons with great results! I've had my all buttons painted for about five months now and have not encountered any wear, chips, scuffs or fading of the paint. This paint penetrates the plastic so there is no added thickness to the buttons once painted.

It's great for those who would like a change in color of their fascia too.

That's actually a good idea, too. The four buttons are basically the only gray things in my dash. If black, they'd be still better.
On the other hand, I'd like to keep a set of original buttons unchanged, so hopefully I'll be able to order some buttons from theones about to be produced and panint those...
I guess the silver paint does not look "chrome", does it? I mean, close enouth to other real chrome components in the interior?

hmm poll is still R.I.P
I'd like

Clear
Blue
Smoke
Red
Green

Thanks for the feedback. What kind of blue are you trying to match? Darkstorm deep blue? Filener's light blue? A specific lense brand and color will really help.

I am only days away from sending out my pile of button and color swatch samples. The colors will be based on Filener's flat smoke, flat red, flat green, raised amber, and the original dark blue from the factory rainbow set (comprable to Darkstorm's deep blue). Clear may happen also, if I can convince the molder to run them at no additional "color charge", because that would be just silly.

Thanks for the input.

I'm not sure if it's been discussed in any of the recent threads, but the VFD colo(u)r has a large effect on the color through the lense. So a clear lense is green, and so on... Colors matched to the lenses won't really match, so to speak.

Matthew

It is actually exceptionally hard to get an exact match between the VFD and the white LEDs. You are better off trying to match the raw color of the lens so that everything looks uniform when "off". A bit of planned contrast when the unit is powered is (in my opinion) more desirable than something that _almost_ matches, but not quite.

Matthew, thanks for the note. I've been considering this dilemma since I first read about it during Stu's process, I believe. To my eye, both Brian's and Stu's buttons match the lenses perfectly when lit and unlit.

The only color difference I see in theirs when lit is the button *intensity*. To my eye, the white button LEDs make the buttons look like the lens color, just more powerful. I hope that contrast is acceptable, and if not, comments are very welcome.

So, I plan to match unlit material color to start. When I get a sample of colored buttons, I'll try them and see how they match the lenses. I will then note any difference in base color and have the molders adjust their process to fix it. Hopefully by a second itteration, the base color will match and only the known intensity difference will remain.

Smoke is the exception. To me, smoke lenses have always looked green, but Stu's smoke buttons are a nice gray. It seems like alot of people like smoke lenses but I've never seen a complaint that they are greenish. So, I'll try to produce grey buttons, because I guess that's the intended color. If people want "greyed VFD green" for smoke, let me know.

The VFD is greenish. If the lens doesn't change the color of the VFD, as the smoke won't -- it just makes it slightly dimmer -- it will appear the same color as the VFD, which, again, is greenish.

I've always wondered if some outside-the-box thinker could make a smoke lense that actually *was* a color (instead of a gray shade) which could negate the VFD green and make the text look smoked. (hm... but then the lense would look like that anti-green color) Wait, who used the Filener rainbow gel kit to make white text? I have to try that combo...

Like this?

The problem with that is that you lose a lot of visibility. Because you are filtering the VFD down to a white / smoke, it becomes much harder to read in bright conditions.

Yeah Bitt, that's the one. ::url added to my "cool empeg tricks.txt" file::

Might look good with the clear buttons that molders plan to send as a proof of the production tool. Only a few more months now.......

Yup, I sacrificed a graciously donated original blue lense to send to molders so they could do the color matching. That is such a nice blue.

Clear is still a wildcard. It's not on the docket, but I may be able to get some by ordering "a set of buttons, hold the color." Most molders say that the verification samples would be clear, so that might yeild a few. We'll see.

Ok, that was me. I am posting a picture soon.
I confirm, I drove with that for two weeks in august, in Spain, and I still find it the most readable I've had. During the day it looks more purplish, but at night it is absolutely white. The two gels I overlapped are very ery light color, so they do not reduce brightness enough to compromise readability.

Thank you for the picture, Skunk! It does look whitish in picture, but your description does sound good. I got a second spare empeg. I think I'm going to test it on that second set of buttons...

Cool and your welcome.
Be sure to follow the directions carefully and you should come out with some nicely painted buttons that will not chip, fade, or scratch. But most importantly you will not add thickness to the buttons if done correctly. No one likes sticky buttons.

OH, BTW, I've never personally dealt with the merchant linked in my post for the paint. I choose that site for it's description of the paint.

Here's a couple of pictures. What do you think? White, isn't it?

http://empegbbs.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=231616&page=0&vc=1#Post231616

Hey, one of my potential molding companies said they could also do buttons in flat (non-translucent?) black at no extra coloring charge. If anyone's interested, I could have him run off a small handfull of black sets. (Well, if I use that company) They might match the stock fascia, which may be kinda stealthy-like (though I don't think I've ever seen anyone request black buttons).

Hmmmm, the black buttons (Farnell, round like the MkI) are pretty cool with a black 303 fascia... so I'd be interested in a set of black ones (even though I have lighted buttons)

Actually, I'd be interested in a set of black buttons as well.

Count me in for a set

Just out of curiosity, now that I've been thinking about it, would the black button set also include the rotary encoder knob? I would assume so, but...

I'd definitely buy a set of black buttons. I have nothing in gray, in my car, and making them "stealth" is way better than leaving them as they are. Count me in, 100%.

Oh yeah, when I say "buttons" or "set", I mean "the four directional buttons and both MKII and MKIIa knobs" <grammar check?>.

This is the first I've heard of flat black parts (and I'm almost positive they aren't translucent). I'll ask the other molders about them while I ask about making a small batch of clear (which should be very easy since the material starts clear).

With quotes from 11 more companies still pending, there is a good chance I'll get the price, colors, deadline, and service that we all want to see. Hang in there, we're probably only two months away now.

Great!!!

Thanks for all your effort in all of this...


Sean in NC

As Micman2b Said, thank you so much for all your work on this! I think when the buttons arrive (crosses fingers) you should OFFICIALLY have your title changed to "The Great And Mighty One, He Who Hath Brought Forth The Buttons".

Hrm....that may be a bit long. But at least the sentiment comes across!

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but seeing as these buttons aren't yet baked, here's another vote for black buttons. I'm actually not interested in any of the coloured ones, but black is a must have for me.

I'd in fact prefer black-black as opposed to a charcoal-grey like the original empeg fascia.

An additional request would be for milky white (looks solid white during daylight, illuminates white at night (with white LEDs)). I'd take two sets of each.

The black ones I'd drill out to allow light to pass through a few pin holes (that I may or may not fill in). And the milky white I'd mask and paint black, allowing for a simple shape to be illuminated through the paint. Hmm, maybe we should make that 2 sets of black and 3 sets of milky white...

Bruno

It is frighteningly coincidental that you mention this because I was in some pretty deep price negotiations with my caster earlier today. Check out the "Buttons - Progress" thread over in General for a response and more. I'm consolidating to that thread since these were more for startup info.

Quick link to "Buttons - Progress"