pointoforigin
12-12-2011, 01:10 AM
Ridiculous because it's pretty fair to say I'm a novice builder. I've built one stunt before, which turned out OK I guess. Not brilliant. But I've spent lots of time reading, and lots of time planning this build.
I scored some toast of the Crystal Focus v5 kind, so that's what's going to be powering it. I've got a Ledengin 10w GGGG LED that I'm planning a Full Powah setup with. And Madcow style switches, because those things alone weren't hard enough.
Here's all the bits minus the blade stock and the AW 18650's that I have coming.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07142716.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07142716.jpg)
I messaged Madcow to see if it was OK to post up how I did these switches. They're not exactly the same as his, but are very similar. He gave me the OK, explaining that the main reason he doesn't show how he does them is because it's very tricky to do, and very easy for a novice to get wrong.
I started by assembling the LED module, with the LED and optics in place. This let me see exactly how far the heatsink screwed into the module, and mark where the wire channels sat with a sharpie.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07143034.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07143034.jpg)
I then assembled the entire hilt, with the LED module in place.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07143419.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07143419.jpg)
This was to check the alignment of the 4" fluted section against the switch placement - I wanted the switches to be perfectly placed and in line. I ran a length of masking tape down the assembled hilt to do this.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07143840.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07143840.jpg)
Once I had that, I used a sharp knife to cut the masking tape at the seams between the MHS parts, then unscrewed the blade holder. I rotated the LED module around until the alignment of the wire channels matched nicely with where I wanted the switches placed, then used the sharpie again to mark this alignment on the bladeholder and the LED module.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07144604.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07144604.jpg)
I took the heatsink, LED and optics out and grabbed a spare MHS-sinktube adaptor I had lying around. I screwed it on, wedging the LED module in place, making sure my alignment was still correct.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07145424.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07145424.jpg)
Here I'm checking to see if my switch placement would work properly with the switch itself. I'm pretty happy with it so I mark the drill holes with the sharpie again.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07145500.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07145500.jpg)
I took the piece to the drill press and chose a drill bit that fitted the switch shaft nicely. Can't for the life of me remember what the size of the drill bit was now, but it was perfect. I used the cross slide vise to line up my drill holes perfectly before drilling.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07172159.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07172159.jpg)
I drilled three holes. Two for the switches, and then a third for a set screw, which would hold the LED module exactly in place. This is why I used scrap MHS - it didn't matter that I ruined that piece, but that piece did a brilliant job of holding the LED module in place while holes were drilled in it. I tapped the set screw hole for 8-32 before unscrewing the parts. 8-32 is quite large for this purpose, in hindsight it would have been better to go smaller, maybe even 4-40 - but it worked, so no complaints.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07173657.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07173657.jpg)
Here you can see the drilled holes all the way through the blade holder and into the LED module.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07174106.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07174106.jpg)
And here is proof that the switch shaft fits nicely in its hole.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07174129.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07174129.jpg)
The next thing I did was something I've not seen anyone do before. When designing, the choke looked at me and said "Look I have all this annoying space taken up by extra stock that I don't actually need!" So I decided that I'd use the choke as a resonance chamber, and mount my 2w speaker inside it.
Here's the hole it would have to fit inside...
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07174341.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07174341.jpg)
That's a spare blade holder of the old style, not the same one as before. And that's because this was my solution to fitting the speaker in the choke...
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07175146.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07175146.jpg)
I happen to have a lathe. Win! Here's how the choke looked afterwards...
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08103519.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08103519.jpg)
And the speaker fits with a little room to spare for running wires, see?
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08103535.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08103535.jpg)
I then went back to the Madcow switches. I took apart the spare MHS and the blade holder, and pulled out the LED module. You can see all three holes clearly here...
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08103605.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08103605.jpg)
And checking the switch again
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08103626.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08103626.jpg)
Because of how I wanted to mount them, more stock had to be removed from the LED module. I used some scrap wood as soft jaws for the cross slide vise and used the sharpie to roughly mark.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08142946.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08142946.jpg)
Then took the dremel to it.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08143330.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08143330.jpg)
Oh how I wish I had a milling machine. I kept checking the fit of the switch until I had dremeled out juuust enough for it to sit snugly. And so it fitted like this...
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08144857.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08144857.jpg)
And assembled, all of that work looked like this
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08152502.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08152502.jpg)
At this point I started wiring. Don't do it this way, I had to redo it later.
I wrote down all my colour choices for which wire to go to where before doing anything else. I clipped the legs fo the switches that I wasn't using, after testing with a multimeter to make sure I was going to be soldering to the right legs. Then I put the wires through the wire channels on the heatsink.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09123426.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09123426.jpg)
I then proceeded to wire up the switches - strip wires, pre tin wires, pre tin legs of switches, slide heatshrink onto wire, solder wire, shrink heatshrink. I used helping hands because one can never have enough hands.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09125026.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09125026.jpg)
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09125153.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09125153.jpg)
I then moved on to the LED.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09125539.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09125539.jpg)
Everyone who doesn't believe the smiths when they say Ledengins are hard to solder needs to rethink. They are HARD to solder. This was attempt number one.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09132556.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09132556.jpg)
Eh, OK. I'm not the best at soldering, so shoot me. That was not my issue here however.
I pulled the LED down to contact with the heatsink.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09140928.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09140928.jpg)
Then I placed the switches in their spots in the blade holder/LED module, which had its set screw in place so as to not move around.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09141310.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09141310.jpg)
I put the optics in.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09141408.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09141408.jpg)
Then I broke all the solder connections on the LED when I screwed it in. Took no photos because hey, you get to that point and the last thing you're thinking about is photos. It took me so long to solder that LED...
So I put it all down and walked away for a bit. Did some more thinking. Then thought, hey! The wires for the switches are the problem here. I'm giving them too much twist for such a small space, even with anti twist before screwing the heatsink in place. So I used my dremel again to cut a channel through the threads for the switch wires to go through, rather than run them through the wire channels on the heatsink.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09204511.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09204511.jpg)
I re-soldered the LED (At this point it was the fourth time I think) and used extra alligator clips to hold the small wires down as I was soldering them. Worked heaps better. No pics of that unfortunately. I re-mounted it to the heatsink and then screwed it in. No trouble whatsoever. I then checked the fit of the choke, and found that I had to take some material off of it to let the wires pass through. The inside diameter of the choke is only a tiny bit bigger than the heatsink, and it sits down far enough to pinch the wires. I threw it in the lathe again very quickly and knocked down that edge, allowing the wires passage. I screwed the parts together again.
So now it looks like this pic again
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08152502.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08152502.jpg)
Except with wires coming out around the speaker. I'd call that a win, wouldn't you?
So you can see, there's not all that much physical work that goes into Madcow style switches. It's more planning and patience. To give an idea, I've been planning how to do these switches for probably a year now, and have only just implemented that. I still almost didn't pull it off, because my solder-fu needs work. And if you want switches that actually ARE Madcow switches, not just Madcow STYLE switches... I still have no idea how he does them.
This concludes part one :P Not sure when part 2 will come, but it will at some point. Stay tuned!
I scored some toast of the Crystal Focus v5 kind, so that's what's going to be powering it. I've got a Ledengin 10w GGGG LED that I'm planning a Full Powah setup with. And Madcow style switches, because those things alone weren't hard enough.
Here's all the bits minus the blade stock and the AW 18650's that I have coming.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07142716.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07142716.jpg)
I messaged Madcow to see if it was OK to post up how I did these switches. They're not exactly the same as his, but are very similar. He gave me the OK, explaining that the main reason he doesn't show how he does them is because it's very tricky to do, and very easy for a novice to get wrong.
I started by assembling the LED module, with the LED and optics in place. This let me see exactly how far the heatsink screwed into the module, and mark where the wire channels sat with a sharpie.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07143034.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07143034.jpg)
I then assembled the entire hilt, with the LED module in place.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07143419.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07143419.jpg)
This was to check the alignment of the 4" fluted section against the switch placement - I wanted the switches to be perfectly placed and in line. I ran a length of masking tape down the assembled hilt to do this.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07143840.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07143840.jpg)
Once I had that, I used a sharp knife to cut the masking tape at the seams between the MHS parts, then unscrewed the blade holder. I rotated the LED module around until the alignment of the wire channels matched nicely with where I wanted the switches placed, then used the sharpie again to mark this alignment on the bladeholder and the LED module.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07144604.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07144604.jpg)
I took the heatsink, LED and optics out and grabbed a spare MHS-sinktube adaptor I had lying around. I screwed it on, wedging the LED module in place, making sure my alignment was still correct.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07145424.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07145424.jpg)
Here I'm checking to see if my switch placement would work properly with the switch itself. I'm pretty happy with it so I mark the drill holes with the sharpie again.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07145500.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07145500.jpg)
I took the piece to the drill press and chose a drill bit that fitted the switch shaft nicely. Can't for the life of me remember what the size of the drill bit was now, but it was perfect. I used the cross slide vise to line up my drill holes perfectly before drilling.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07172159.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07172159.jpg)
I drilled three holes. Two for the switches, and then a third for a set screw, which would hold the LED module exactly in place. This is why I used scrap MHS - it didn't matter that I ruined that piece, but that piece did a brilliant job of holding the LED module in place while holes were drilled in it. I tapped the set screw hole for 8-32 before unscrewing the parts. 8-32 is quite large for this purpose, in hindsight it would have been better to go smaller, maybe even 4-40 - but it worked, so no complaints.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07173657.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07173657.jpg)
Here you can see the drilled holes all the way through the blade holder and into the LED module.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07174106.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07174106.jpg)
And here is proof that the switch shaft fits nicely in its hole.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07174129.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07174129.jpg)
The next thing I did was something I've not seen anyone do before. When designing, the choke looked at me and said "Look I have all this annoying space taken up by extra stock that I don't actually need!" So I decided that I'd use the choke as a resonance chamber, and mount my 2w speaker inside it.
Here's the hole it would have to fit inside...
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07174341.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07174341.jpg)
That's a spare blade holder of the old style, not the same one as before. And that's because this was my solution to fitting the speaker in the choke...
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07175146.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-07175146.jpg)
I happen to have a lathe. Win! Here's how the choke looked afterwards...
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08103519.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08103519.jpg)
And the speaker fits with a little room to spare for running wires, see?
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08103535.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08103535.jpg)
I then went back to the Madcow switches. I took apart the spare MHS and the blade holder, and pulled out the LED module. You can see all three holes clearly here...
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08103605.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08103605.jpg)
And checking the switch again
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08103626.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08103626.jpg)
Because of how I wanted to mount them, more stock had to be removed from the LED module. I used some scrap wood as soft jaws for the cross slide vise and used the sharpie to roughly mark.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08142946.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08142946.jpg)
Then took the dremel to it.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08143330.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08143330.jpg)
Oh how I wish I had a milling machine. I kept checking the fit of the switch until I had dremeled out juuust enough for it to sit snugly. And so it fitted like this...
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08144857.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08144857.jpg)
And assembled, all of that work looked like this
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08152502.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08152502.jpg)
At this point I started wiring. Don't do it this way, I had to redo it later.
I wrote down all my colour choices for which wire to go to where before doing anything else. I clipped the legs fo the switches that I wasn't using, after testing with a multimeter to make sure I was going to be soldering to the right legs. Then I put the wires through the wire channels on the heatsink.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09123426.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09123426.jpg)
I then proceeded to wire up the switches - strip wires, pre tin wires, pre tin legs of switches, slide heatshrink onto wire, solder wire, shrink heatshrink. I used helping hands because one can never have enough hands.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09125026.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09125026.jpg)
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09125153.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09125153.jpg)
I then moved on to the LED.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09125539.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09125539.jpg)
Everyone who doesn't believe the smiths when they say Ledengins are hard to solder needs to rethink. They are HARD to solder. This was attempt number one.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09132556.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09132556.jpg)
Eh, OK. I'm not the best at soldering, so shoot me. That was not my issue here however.
I pulled the LED down to contact with the heatsink.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09140928.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09140928.jpg)
Then I placed the switches in their spots in the blade holder/LED module, which had its set screw in place so as to not move around.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09141310.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09141310.jpg)
I put the optics in.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09141408.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09141408.jpg)
Then I broke all the solder connections on the LED when I screwed it in. Took no photos because hey, you get to that point and the last thing you're thinking about is photos. It took me so long to solder that LED...
So I put it all down and walked away for a bit. Did some more thinking. Then thought, hey! The wires for the switches are the problem here. I'm giving them too much twist for such a small space, even with anti twist before screwing the heatsink in place. So I used my dremel again to cut a channel through the threads for the switch wires to go through, rather than run them through the wire channels on the heatsink.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09204511.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-09204511.jpg)
I re-soldered the LED (At this point it was the fourth time I think) and used extra alligator clips to hold the small wires down as I was soldering them. Worked heaps better. No pics of that unfortunately. I re-mounted it to the heatsink and then screwed it in. No trouble whatsoever. I then checked the fit of the choke, and found that I had to take some material off of it to let the wires pass through. The inside diameter of the choke is only a tiny bit bigger than the heatsink, and it sits down far enough to pinch the wires. I threw it in the lathe again very quickly and knocked down that edge, allowing the wires passage. I screwed the parts together again.
So now it looks like this pic again
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08152502.jpg (http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy184/pointoforigin1/Saber2/2011-12-08152502.jpg)
Except with wires coming out around the speaker. I'd call that a win, wouldn't you?
So you can see, there's not all that much physical work that goes into Madcow style switches. It's more planning and patience. To give an idea, I've been planning how to do these switches for probably a year now, and have only just implemented that. I still almost didn't pull it off, because my solder-fu needs work. And if you want switches that actually ARE Madcow switches, not just Madcow STYLE switches... I still have no idea how he does them.
This concludes part one :P Not sure when part 2 will come, but it will at some point. Stay tuned!