BXTLC Homepage BXTLC LED Colors BXTLC module in Quantum BXTLC module in Major Havoc
Installing the LED:
The LED's supplied with the BXTLC board are mounted on a solid aluminum PCB that is easy to attach to surfaces. In some cases, such as the Major Havoc roller controller, the LED can be directly glued to the interior surface of the roller chassis. Most plastic trackball housings have a hole in the bottom that is there specifically to allow light to enter. The hole should be large enough that the entire 20mm diameter LED PCB can fit within it and still have enough room for the wires to exit the hole.
Mounting Substrates:
Mounting the LED can be as simple as sticking the LED PCB to a chunk of strong duct tape and placing the tape over the hole in the trackball housing. I suggest doing something a little more creative and durable than that. At the very least, the LED PCB should be attached to a thin substrate measuring about 1.25" square. A small thin metal plate is best because it will help keep the LED cool and that will maximize the life of the LED.
Note: Each new BXTLC will ship with a small aluminum plate (that won't have holes in it like the one in the photo). You can choose between plain aluminum or black anodized aluminum.
Here you can see a small aluminum sheet and a piece of black Formica. Either can be used to mount the LED into the hole of a trackball housing. Also, a thin sheet of plastic would also serve well. The small yellowish rectangular item is simply a piece of two-sided tape.
In this case, the LED is glued to the underside of the Formica. The two-sided tape is then used to stick the panel to the bottom of the trackball housing.
Here's the panel from the above picture now stuck onto the bottom of the trackball housing using the two-sided tape. All you have to do now is tie up the wires and plug the LED connector into the BXTLC board and the trackball is ready to go back into the game.
In this case, I used J-B Kwik epoxy to glue the LED PCB to the aluminum sheet. I attached it to the bottom of the trackball housing using Gorilla duct tape. It's not going to go anywhere and the aluminum will help keep the LED as cool as possible. A huge advantage of this mounting method is the resulting super low profile of the modification. This is essential for use in the game Atari Quantum. Of course, if you do not like the idea of using tape, you can always open the plastic housing and install a screw or two through it and the LED mounting plate.
Wires tied and LED plugged into the BXTLC:
Attachment materials:
- Epoxy and Glue:
- Epoxy such as J-B Weld or J-B Kwik works best.
- Superglue (cyanoacrylate) will work if bonding metal to metal but care must be taken to not allow the vapor from the glue to crystallize onto the LED clear lens. Remember, 1 drop will suffice, in fact, that's probably still too much.
- Other general purpose epoxies such as '5 minute' epoxy should also work but they probably won't be as good as the J-B Weld types.
- Scotchgrip would work okay.
- Household or Automotive 'Goop' would likely work okay but care should be taken to keep it as thin as possible.
- Silicon glue should not be used.
- Hot melt glue should not be used as it might soften if the LED gets too warm.
- Two-sided tape:
- Tape with no body: This is the thinnest possible. This kind of tape is actually just the adhesive on a waxed paper roll.
- Two-sided foam tape: This is thicker and doesn't work well with respect to transferring heat from the LED PCB to the supporting surface. However, it is generally extremely strong.
- Duct tape:
- Gorilla Tape: Excellent adhesion, excellent strength, good long term solution
- Aluminum Tape: Excellent adhesion, excellent strength, good long term solution
- Black electrical tape: Poor adhesion, tends to let go when it gets warm, not a good solution.
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