For my 1,000th post, I'm proud to reveal the first pre-production samples for the lit button project. These samples indicate that the metal molds are complete and that production can begin once I approve the parts. Within a few weeks, you all can finally have the lit buttons you've been waiting for.

But samples for free? Yeah, I'll get to that in a bit.

The samples are functionally perfect, which isn't bad on the first try. I will work with my molding company to improve some of the small flaws in appearance. Please point out anything you notice or have questions about incase I missed it in my initial review.

Here are the clear buttons, shown with factory blue lens, at brightness 3, 5, and 5 with lights on:



Yes, the right button is missing because it wouldn't eject from the mold. That is being fixed and I'll have them in a second round of sampling (if I do that). Oh, and I need a MKII to test the knob against (the one I borrowed from a friend couldn't work). Does anyone have an old dead MKII encoder shaft they could lend me?

But what's that about "FREE" in the subject? Well, I have all these samples and nothing to do with them:



These are "Crystal Sets", a low cost way to modify, hack, customize, and enhance lit buttons. Want purple or milky buttons? Hack a Crystal Set. Want end-glow rods or multiple colors? Hack a Crystal Set. Options are endless.

My offer is to enlist the skilled plastics modifiers from this board to creatively hack these first Crystal Sets. I've only thought up a few hacks for these, so I want to see what the best of you can do. I'll send you free parts with the condition that you creatively modify them and share pictures with the rest of us, ultimately to be displayed on the lit button website gallery.

These are rough samples and there isn't even a complete set. But if you want an early shot at playing with these, here's your chance. I will hopefully do a second round of sampling, yielding more complete sets to offer you modifiers out there, but this is a start. Oh, and the MKIIa knobs are REALLY nice, and I happen to have a bunch of them.

So post here or PM me if you've got the skill and want to try hacking these Crystal Buttons into something more interesting. Let me know where to mail these (international included; I'll give it a shot) and I'll send them out.

Ok everyone, stay tuned for either round two of sampling or final production, whichever comes first. Thanks for hanging in there ALL this time; the project is finally coming to completion.