Putting The Space Matt Buttons Back Together

"And They Say There Are No More Miracles Left."

Well it took a lot of mucking about and even some pretty delicate filing with my fine Riflers Files to make the button contacts work nice when each of the buttons are pressed, but I persevered and I was able to get a good contact reading with my Multi Meter once I had filed all of the contacts I had made down nice and flat to match the height of the wire laid into the groove in the white plastic bed. Basically I had poked a 22 AWG wire through tiny holes I drilled into the mounting plastic bed that the Brass or Copper buttons sheet are laid over top of. (I can't tell which my guess is Brass). I had then soldered those wires onto the inlaid wires running through the plastic mounting bed. Fiddly work but I got it done.

Next step was to re attach the thin metal Brass button's sheet onto the white plastic mounting bed where I had made my modifications to the existing contacts so as each one can be assigned separately if needed. I did another Multi Meter test to make sure they were making a good contact when pressed and labeled each button wire with my usual green painters tape method. You can see in the image on the right how I like to identify each of the individual buttons.

I suppose now the next stage will be to pull out the lower console from the car and figure out the best way to install my newly configured Calculator buttons array into the console. Good thing I never fully installed it ;) I'll paint my buttons first though after I do any trimming needed to make them fit into the console. So far looking good though.

Space Matt Button Array Idea

OK so in the spirit of trying an experimental idea that I'm sure it far from original, but new for me in any event, I figured I would try and see if I can do an experiment with some buttons from an old Texas Instruments Calculator that I found on eBay. The buttons are pretty close to what is seen in the actual Knight Rider Lower Console Space Matt array. Obviously they will need to be painted and then the coloured rectangles added. But hey I figured for $8.00 on eBay it's well worth the experiment just to have something for now until I eventually get the USB keyboard Space Matt buttons from Knight Rider World.

Not The Droids I'm Looking For

OK so one slight snag already with my Oh so brilliant plan. After I dismantled the Calculator I was a little disappointed to see that the buttons inside were not quite the type I was expecting. I thought for sure they might have been the mini Micro Buttons soldered onto a small circuit board. Instead they turned out to be these very tiny brass or copper ever so slight dome shaped sheet type buttons with a plastic back and a sticky black plastic cover that holds them over thin brass or copper wires running through the white plastic bed for the buttons.

I'm still pretty determined though in that I think I can still make them work for what I intend to do with them, they are after all a crap load of tiny buttons that apart from the USB Keyboard variation I can't REALLY think of too much to do with the Space Matt Buttons array out side of simply hooking them up to a DTMF random Tone Generator.

One of my initial thought is to simply hook up the buttons array to the Message Centre and just simply have the array cycle through the messages with random DTMF Tones. This to me so far would be a very simple use for them.

Wiring Up The Individual Buttons

Now even though I have mentioned my very simple usage for these buttons I can't for the life of me see no reason to not at least try and see about wiring up the buttons individually even if for the time being I simply combine all of the individual wires into one that can go to the Message Centre Cycle button and DTMF Tone Generator. That way I can at least later on assign them to something if I want. Here on the right you can see I have already broken the connections that linked the buttons in strips together making them separate. I also drilled in a tiny hole big enough for some black 22 AWG wire to poke in through the back of the white plastic back board and soldered them to the wire.

Testing A Few Buttons

Now I did not want to go super crazy soldering in a whole bunch of wires without at least doing a test on a couple first to see if my somewhat crazy idea was even going to work. So what I did was rig up just a few and then place the sheet of Brass or Copper buttons over top of my make shift switches and see if I get a reading on the Multi Meter when I press the buttons..... I actually do. Now you can see on the back of the actual plastic buttons I had to cut off of the original Texas Instruments Calculator with my Dremel that they will have a much more precise pressure point for pressing the slightly domed metal buttons on the sheet.

So over all I think theoretically anyways that my idea should work. I have even so far made an overlay or bezel for the Space Matt Buttons using some black plastic scrap I had kicking around. I need to even out the edges a little and smooth it all down but I think once it's painted and my buttons are all wired up and I do some testing of the final array before installing it into my Lower Console it should work. Now depending on how well it works I might just say to heck with it and just go with it.

Lower Console Installation Challenges

On of the major challenges I am currently facing with the installation of my lower console is the huge "Rats Nest" of wires there are for all of the switches, it would be a lot less wires if I was never going to have any plans for the switches and just wanted the pretty lights lol, but I do want to do something with the buttons eventually so I most definitely want it all set up for that eventuality ;)

After a test fitting I found I had to take out the shifter knob so I could remove the forward OEM stock plastic console cover to thread my wire harnesses through. Even with that the huge "Rats Nest" of wires was still making it difficult to get the wires into the hole I had cut out. So I had to try to minimize the amount of "Chunk" with the wire "Rats Nest" even as well bundled and organized as it was it was still a "Rats Nest" lol

After going another test fitting and trying to get the now minimized "Rats Nest" stuffed down into that hole it was still difficult. I'm almost thinking that a smarter idea of installation might have been to have taken out the entire centre console, put it up on my work bench and installed it directly to the console. I must admit it might have make running the wire harnesses through the console easier and then I could have tied them off to the side of the console. Something to consider if I ever make another Knight Rider car in the future.

In any even a little more thinning out of the wires on the console will be in order and then I should find it easier to stuff the wires into the hole. I wonder if in the T.V. show if they only had the switch lights hooked up as I can see them having a real fun time with putting in some functionality by running the extra wires... I know I sure am lol ;)

Lower Console Lighted

I hooked up my Lower Console to my Eliminator 12V power supply to see what it will look like when installed in the car. Pretty cool I must say. Took a while to finally get all the wiring done but I knew taking the extra time to wire up Molex connectors would make installing the console easier and make removing it for any future maintenance a lot easier too.

More Prep Work On Getting The Lower Console Electronics Installed

I'm taking a little break from the software development while the warmer weather is coming. Time to FINALLY get the ball rolling again on some of the manual labour like installing my dash, lower and upper console. Not much I can do on the upper console until I order the electronics for that, even the lower console I need the Space Matt buttons. I had a set of non functioning buttons that I recently sold off in favour of getting some functioning buttons. I made an inquiry to the fellow on Face Book I will be buying the Space Matt buttons for for the dimensions so I can pre cut my hole in the Lexan plastic overlay I am making for my buttons. I have a lot more cutting and filing o do but in the above left photo you can see the progress of my plastic overlay or bed for the buttons. Next are the buttons I got from Jupiter Electronics ready to be installed once I have finished cutting and filing my Lexan plastic mounting bed. 

Test Fitting The Lower Console With The New Mounting Tabs

After I had finished fabricating the mounting tab on the drivers side of the lower console I took it out to the car to do another test fit to make sure that the two mounting tabs were going to work well together. I figured they would but sometimes you never know with this stuff until you do a test fit, there could have been some adjustments that still might have needed to be made. Fortunately it fits great.

I think the mock panel on the top of the stock OEM console make need to be cut out, I say "Mock Panel" because I don't think it is a real panel held in with screws, just made to look like it does. Firebirds seem to have a few "Mock Screws" in them. I'll examine it in closer detail before I go and drill my side mounting holes into the stock OEM centre consoles sides.

In the mean time I can begin the long process of adding layers of primer to my modified lower console this way I can see better where there are any surface flaws that need to be sanded and filled. Once i have it all primed and smoothed out I can begin to look into working out how my switches are going to get mounted onto my lower console. I have a non functioning set of space mapping buttons that I had bought very early on in my Knight Rider Conversions Project but over time I have become dissatisfied with them given that there are plenty of working versions of the same type of buttons available, and on a personal note I want to make as many functioning aspects of my K.I.T.T. as I possibly can.

Jupiter Electronics Parts Arrived

Finally got most of my order from Jupiter Electronics today minus the Switchpod Displays. These are electronic parts for the upper and lower centre consoles. Awesome so I can begin assembling those parts of K.I.T.T's interior.

Knight Rider Parts Arrived Today

Some of the interior Knight Rider parts arrived by mail this morning. Steel throughout Gullwing Steering Yoke, Switch pods, Overhead and Lower Console. So can't wait for warmer weather to arrive and for the electronics for a lot of this stuff to get here too. I'm not sure which part of K.I.T.T. is going to be the most fun to do, the interior or exterior??? I get all giddy just thinking about it lol