Author Archives: micheals

Membrane Switches vs. Discrete Key Switches

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I’ve already spent a lot of time emphasizing the benefits of membrane switch use compared to discrete key switch use. Now I’m going to emphasize it some more. If you understand the concept of what a membrane switch is and does, and if you understand the concept of what a switch panel or keyboard with discrete switches is and does, it should be easy to discern the benefits and drawbacks of each variety. Let’s start with the keyboard in front of you (if you’re reading this on a mobile phone, imagine that you’re using a laptop or desktop). If it’s light enough in the room where you are Continue reading →

Membrane Switch Manufacturers and Momentary Switches

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What is a momentary switch? What makes a momentary switch “momentary?” “Momentary switch” is one of my favorite terms in all of industry. It’s so precise and descriptive, but at the same time if you told someone, “I’m going to Radio Shack to pick up some momentary switches,” they’d either give you a confused look or an affirmation of pretended comprehension. A momentary switch is exactly what it sounds like: a switch that becomes actuated for only a moment. Take a look at your keyboard in front of you. Each of those switches is a momentary switch. You push a Continue reading →

Backlit Membrane Switches are Easier to See at Night

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For those of us fortunate enough to have garages, we know the benefits of those praise-worthy shelters. Not being one of those people, I know those benefits even more keenly. When I stumble out the door in the winter morning only to find my car covered in a stubborn layer of pristine, shining ice (the shining is actually the ice mocking me), I can’t help but think back to the glory days, the days when I lived with my parents, when they had to drive me everywhere. I don’t miss not Continue reading →

Understanding LCD Touch Screens

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Yesterday evening I had dinner with some family from out of state. My uncle, aunt and their two kids were visiting from State College, Pennsylvania, where my uncle works as a professor of electrical engineering. His sons were or are already students there, and one of them also went into electrical engineering. My encounters with that part of the family usually end up involving conversations with my uncle or cousin about the relationship between software and hardware, which always has been Continue reading →

Understanding the Value of Membrane Switches

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Sytek Membrane Switches

Membrane switches image courtesy of Sytek Enterprises, Inc.

If you’re having trouble understanding how and why membrane switches are useful and important tools, consider this situation. You and a few friends have gathered in your living room to watch a game on TV. The gathering involves a lot of food and drinks, which, combined with spontaneous outbursts in reaction to the game, is a recipe for disaster. One of your friends, whose personality is characterized by a combination of hyper excitability and limited spatial awareness, inadvertently knocks a plate of sticky snacks over onto your remote, which is on the floor. There are two ways that this story could end. Continue reading →

Graphic Overlays Present a Branding Opportunity

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Douglas Graphic Overlay

Graphic overlay image courtesy of Douglas Corporation.

Graphic overlays present their users with an opportunity. Before we get too far into that, let’s quickly review what graphic overlays are. In simple terms, graphic overlays are decorative and functional sheets of printed material that are overlaid above a button or set of buttons connected to an electronic device. They can be found on Continue reading →

Membrane Keyboards vs. Non-Membrane Keyboards

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Unlike the overwhelming majority of computers today, many of the earliest personal computers available to consumers were equipped with membrane keyboards. What’s the difference between early PC keyboards and most keyboards today? There’s a very good chance that you’re looking at this text on a computer, so if you are, take a look at your keyboard. You’re likely to be looking at a long, rectangular plastic board embedded with around 100 keys, each of which has been printed with at least one letter, number or symbol. An important observation is that all of your keys are probably separate from each other. If you wanted to, you could Continue reading →

Custom Membrane Switches Have Much to Offer

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If you’ve ever watched weekday daytime television, depending on the channel you watched, you’re likely to have seen commercial after commercial advertising health insurance policies to retired people. One of the incentives they often offer is some small, free gift, such as a calculator or another kind of small electronic device. In many cases these free gifts are printed or etched with the logo or name of the company from which they came. In what is likely the interest of establishing brand identity and Continue reading →

What is a Rubber Keypad?

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Many rubber keypad varieties are actually quite similar to membrane switches. While membrane switches are composed of electronic switches and layers of membranes and graphical overlays, rubber keypads are composed of electrical switches and a rubber overlay. Let’s go over what these differences mean for electronic switches. First of all, the main differences between a rubber keypad overlay and a keypad switch membrane are thickness and texture. Otherwise, both overlays accomplish basically the same Continue reading →

The Virtues of Membrane Keypads

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When I was in eighth grade, my family moved to a new house just a few blocks from where I had grown up. In many ways, the house was quite similar to the house where I spent all of my years until that point. The differences were minor, and they were all pretty similar to each other. Everything about the new house was just a little bit nicer than the old one. The bedrooms were just a little bigger, the dining room was just big enough to accommodate a few more people at family gatherings and the garage featured a combination keypad with which the garage door could be Continue reading →