I use to produce those. Quantity is not the biggest price factor.
Tooling has a fixed price and counts for the final unit price.  Last
time, I produced a 4 color label, custom made 24 keys (domes), 5 inches
cable, 12 pins connector, cost me $1400 for tooling plus $6 a piece
(label and switches) for 500 units, total around $4500 if I remember
well, almost $10 a piece total cost.  They made a horrible job, domes
got loose inside the housing space, rotate, shifted, they needed to redo
it all, they said guilty was a lot of 3M adhesive film... yeah, well.

Right now I am changing substantially for rubber pad keyboards... less
space, less connectors (directly to the PCB), only problem still those
arrogant producers that don't give you much attention when you talk in
quantities less than 30 thousand units... unfortunatelly.  I would
accept to buy regular rubber pads they use at phones, cell phones,
calculators, anything, they already produce it at zillion quantities, I
don't care, just sell me anything, I can cut whatever I want, I can wipe
off the text over it, charge me $5 a piece for 50 units, but no, "we
don't do that, we are masters of the universe, and you (small consumer)
go back to play with your little truck"... idiots.

Wagner Lipnharski
Orlando, Florida.

Brian Kraut wrote:
>
> Does anyone know how much it costs to get small membrane keypads custom
> made in small quantities?  Are there companies that can do them for a
> few bucks a piece in runs around a hundred or two or is this more like a
> 5,000 minimum piece proposition?  If they can be gotten in small
> quantities any suggested sources?