Thanks Tony,

What you've suggested below is what led me to the company in the US that I 
was hoping to buy some individual switches from to make my own.

http://www.duraswitch.com/downloads/licensees/resource_material/PeelNPlace.pdf

The units I want to fix only require 4 switches, so not exactly complicated.

I discovered yesterday that the retail price of the new switch assy 
(including the panel it is on) is $184 AUD.

Sounds a little steep to me!

Thanks for the hint for finding the manufacturer, that may come in handy in 
the future.

Regards,  Roger



From: "Tony Vandiver" <tony@traceelectronics.com>


> Hi Roger,
>
>    Just a small suggestion, but when faced with the same kind of need
> (low volume/low cost custom switch panel), I have created a switch
> assembly using a pcb, mechanical switches, and a custom overlay.  There
> are ways to get relatively low tooling costs for relatively small volume
> from China (i.e. around $700 for 10pcs), but this wouldn't be any better
> than what you've got now, and would require that you give them at least
> a hope of building 100 or more (still relatively inexpensive at probably
> $3 per switch).  As far as finding the mfg, sometimes you can find a
> clue embedded in the conductive ink (logo or p/n), but I didn't see one
> in your pic.
>
> Good Luck,
>
> Tony
>
>
> Roger Weichert wrote:
>> From: "David Duffy (AVD)" <david@audiovisualdevices.com.au>
>>
>>
>>>> What sort of numbers and prices and quality could I expect. Depending
>>>> on prices, I probably only need about 15 - 30 initially.
>>>>
>>> Roger,
>>> We have used Reid Industrial Graphics as few times.
>>> www.reidindustrial.com.au
>>> Our applications were for a much cleaner / controlled environment.
>>> As others have said, the set-up costs are the major part of the price.
>>> David...
>>>
>>
>> Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.
>>
>> I have contacted several of the suggested suppliers, and it seems it will 
>> be
>> out of my budget for just a small number.
>>
>> On following another lead, I discovered a company who used to make the
>> actual keypad I'm looking for  ...  what are the chances?
>>
>> Anyway, my contact was going to find out if they still had the tooling 
>> ..
>> would bypass a fair bit of the expense if it was still available.
>>
>> Thanks again,   Roger
>>


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