Epoxied Buttons
04-15-2006, 05:57 PM
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Epoxied Buttons
[&o] I know, I'm stupid...I epoxied the mode buttons on my T6XAS and now they can't be pressed. How do you make them come loose? The reason they got epoxied is because the antennae came loose and the piece of plastic inside the TX that holds the antennae in was broken. So, I epoxied it, and somehow or another, the mode buttons got the same treatment.
04-16-2006, 11:23 AM
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RE: Epoxied Buttons
Man that sucks,been there and done that
. I've managed to do something similar several times over the years. Once, on a brand new piece of gear, one of the buttons was making only intermittent contact right out of the box. Since the "switches" consisted of a series of plastic buttons resting directly on copper contacts and held in place by the bezel, I assumed a little dirt or crud had gotten into the contacts during shipping. Not having my usual brand of contact cleaner (LPS) handy, I grabbed a can of generic crap and went to town. Just to be safe I hosed all the contacts down but moments later begin to feel my fingers sticking to the casing where the cleaner had run out. The end result was total destruction of a fairly expensive piece of equipment. Everywhere the cleaner touched the plastic it melted and fused. Read the can (belatedly) and found the warning "Don't use on or near plastic, may cause damage". Live and learn.
I don't know of any chemical that would dissolve epoxy that wouldn't destroy plastic as well so I think you are limited to mechanical means only. How much epoxy got into the buttons? If it just got to the edges you might be able to use a sharp thin blade in an Exacto to carefully cut around the edges. This assumes you have room enough to get in there and work. If not, I can't imagine any other way to fix it short of sending it back to Futaba and paying the repair fee.
Whatever you try I hope it works out for you. I think everyone does something like this sooner or later.
Kevin
. I've managed to do something similar several times over the years. Once, on a brand new piece of gear, one of the buttons was making only intermittent contact right out of the box. Since the "switches" consisted of a series of plastic buttons resting directly on copper contacts and held in place by the bezel, I assumed a little dirt or crud had gotten into the contacts during shipping. Not having my usual brand of contact cleaner (LPS) handy, I grabbed a can of generic crap and went to town. Just to be safe I hosed all the contacts down but moments later begin to feel my fingers sticking to the casing where the cleaner had run out. The end result was total destruction of a fairly expensive piece of equipment. Everywhere the cleaner touched the plastic it melted and fused. Read the can (belatedly) and found the warning "Don't use on or near plastic, may cause damage". Live and learn.I don't know of any chemical that would dissolve epoxy that wouldn't destroy plastic as well so I think you are limited to mechanical means only. How much epoxy got into the buttons? If it just got to the edges you might be able to use a sharp thin blade in an Exacto to carefully cut around the edges. This assumes you have room enough to get in there and work. If not, I can't imagine any other way to fix it short of sending it back to Futaba and paying the repair fee.
Whatever you try I hope it works out for you. I think everyone does something like this sooner or later.
Kevin
04-16-2006, 12:34 PM
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RE: Epoxied Buttons
Actually, last night while watching Jarhead (great movie), I got one to bust all the way loose, and the other one will press enough so that I can access the menu. I used a screwdriver and a small hammer, and they did the trick. I was very relieved when I pushed the buttons and the menu came up!
