Awesome Fix Refinement! So far...
@BG380LEO Thanks for the totally great discovery, & information on how to create a solution. I totally agree w/ you regarding the temporal nature of the button manipulation & new buttons solutions.
For those who are stating that you can solve this issue by simply physically manipulating the buttons w/ the finger roll technique, having S&W send you new buttons or sending their pistols in to S&W for fixing please take note. These methods do NOT work consistently, or permanently. This is a design issue, which requires a design solution to permanently fix. I will elaborate on the design related aspects of this issue later.
Not trying to flame, but it is important for folks not to waste time w/ solutions that do not provide correct fixes.
@Sawdust25 Thanks for the idea of using a pen ink tube for the part to use in the button as a solution. It actually lends itself to a better solution, (as tested) for this problem. The reasons for this are the tubes are thicker wrapping around the nipple tighter & creating more consistent rigidity of the nipple for consistent centering of the nipple.
I have refined the solution a bit more, and will be able to give dimensions that people can use for cutting the ink tube to the proper length for a consistent & reliable solution until S&W resolves it from the mfr end.
Ok, as promised, now for the design issue elaboration. From everyone's input, as well as my tests & discoveries, I have observed that the problem is rooted in two main facets w/ one affecting the other to create the issue:
1) The rigidity of the material for buttons is too low to keep the nipple from veering off-center of the foil switch's domed depressing area.
2) The nipple needs to remain centered while depressing the button so that enough force is transferred to make the foil switch close the circuit.
The result of these two facets occurs after some wear-in of the button material. It can get worse with more activation attempts after the nipple has veered off-center. Once it is off-center, it requires more direct pressing force due to the mechanical disadvantage created by the off-center nipple. This is why when you look at the buttons after the issue is occurring, you will see the nipples remaining off-center even after removing the laser unit to view them. This is also why you can temporarily resolve the issue by manipulating the buttons, or replacing them w/ new ones. For those who rarely activate the laser, they can feasibly go through long periods of time w/o having the issue. In addition, due to mfr variances in the rigidity of the button material there may even be folks who NEVER experience the issue to begin with. =O Go figure. lol
There is a good reason the foil switch/button combination has been set to work only under specific conditions (when the nipple is centered on the foil switch while depressing the soft button with enough force to make the contact occur in the foil switch). The main reason, as already mentioned, and observed by folks in this thread, is that there is a Goldilocks requirement that has to be in place for the activation to be effective against accidental/incidental engagement. Especially from flat rubbing surfaces (scenario when taking gun in/out of rigid holsters). We don't want the laser to be too easily activated, nor do we want them to be too difficult to activate. S&W had problems w/ the lasers being to easily activated before, so then they resolved that issue, but created another one by not fully observing effect of design changes.
That's enough of the elaboration of the problem, history & solution requirements. Now to my refined solution as well as some suggestions for S&W to resolve this issue while maintaining the difficulty of accidental/incidental activation:
So, once my focus shifted to "How can we help keep the nipple centered throughout the depression/release process?", it dawned on me that the tube should be cut down to aid in keeping the nipple centered rather than adding more force transfer from the button being pushed (The increased force transfer is what causes the activation to be too sensitive for folks. I had it so sensitive at one point that the button would not release! =O). So, I thought that the key to this would be to cut the tube piece short enough so when button is depressed the tube does NOT protrude out of the button cavity. This would help keep the nipple centered while depressing & releasing the button during activation/cycling of the laser without increasing the force transfer from the finger pushing the button in.
Success! Now the laser is consistently activated w/ a reasonable amount of finger pressure, like when the button is new, no matter how many times I activate/cycle the laser from either side. After testing, the buttons still resist being activated from flat surface rubbing. Now the only thing to do is to go to the range to ensure that after firing, the solution still provides consistent activation/cycling of the laser.
If all is good after the range today, I will post the dimensions one needs to cut to be sure they are getting the same results as I am!
For Smith & Wesson, if you are reading this, please consider one of the following solutions from the mfr side so that folks are no longer left needing to physically create their own hardware solutions to a known mfr design issue:
1) Foil Switch Dimple - Create a dimple that is just larger in diameter than the diameter of the button nipple in the domed part of the foil switch. This will aid in keeping the nipple centered during activation & release.
2) Modify Button Nipple - Create a new mold for the buttons so that the nipple has a concave end with a diameter that is larger than the current nipple diameter.
3) Nipple Diameter Increase - Increase diameter of nipple to reduce veering off-center during button depression.
4) Nipple Reinforcement Tube Insert - Mfr tubes according to dimensions that I will be listing or close to them, and insert them into all new pistols, as well as mail out for people to insert themselves for owned ones. (For this option I think it would be appropriate offer some form of compensation to BG380LEO, Sawdust25 and myself for our contributions to this resolution.)
Alright, so there it is. Sorry for my first post to this forum being so long. Stay tuned to see results from range, I promise the update post will be shorter! lol Maybe I should do video of tube creation too....what say you folk??
Put the new one's in again and they now worked. Tried the original's again and they were perfect again.
