Re: A2 dome power light reproductions

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

David Schmidt wrote:
> On 3/14/2012 8:19 PM, mwillegal wrote:
>
> > For what it is worth.   I got a quote of $4000 for tooling for a
> > reproduction dome power light.  :-)
>
>
> I had to look up your web site to know what you meant by a "dome" power 
> light.  Dome lights are what light up the interior of your car. ;-)
>
> So, yeah, it's interesting - a keyboard light that is itself another 
> key.  It's like the local DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles in the US) - 
> what do they use for signage?  Whatever they have easy access to. Street 
> sign production.  The signs out front, the signs inside, look just like 
> regular street signs.  They use what they have available to them.  Same 
> with the keyboard light, shaped like a key - because that's what 
> Keytronics or whomever had available to them.  What used to be throwaway 
> - now apparently costs dearly to set up for.

Such switches (with built-in lights) are still made, and generations
of them are still available on the surplus market.

Or there's always the option of using a "3D printer" to make a plastic
replacement part.

Tooling of the type discussed is for runs of thousands of parts.  This
has been largely dispensed with by using rapid prototyping methods, like
3D printers.

-michael

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