Power switch on UDM

[Jngrbrdman]

I'm not sure about this power switch thing. I find that the way it has those guards on either side make it difficult to turn off. When you are wearing nitrile gloves it isn't very easy to get traction on the middle of the switch, so I naturally go for the top. My thumb gets blocked by those two guards though. That is one problem. The other problem is that it sticks out below the guards way too far. It is tricky to shut off, but to turn it on all I have to do is set it down wrong and it starts right up. I've got a little video that I'll upload that shows exactly what I'm talking about. That just seems to be a design issue. Isn't there any way to design the switch area to be a little more user friendly? I'd rather accidently have it turn off on me than to turn on. There really needs to be some sort of protection around the switch for when it is off.

You can see the switch issue in this picture.



I'll post the video when I get it uploaded. I think seeing how it sticks out in that picture illustrates the potential for accidental activation of the tool. All you have to do is bump it upwards toward the top and it turns right on. Cleaning polish spray off the sidewalls of the tires wasn't really something I planned on doing to the car I was working on, but it turned out to be almost necessary after I set the polisher down wrong...

[Jngrbrdman]

Here ya go. This is exactly how it happens. Maybe I put the machine down too hard, but that is how I have been handling my PC for several years and it hasn't had an issue yet. It doesn't click on when the head hits the ground. It isn't till it rolls over and catches the switch that it happens. I've only set it down on that carpet so far, but I would imagine that any surface that oculd catch the switch would give the same result.

[Djmigs]

I know DB has a fix for it(im sure you already know about this), i think the fix involves the switch to have more resistance then to easily turn on, but in your situation im not sure if that would work(guessing), i recall DB say the PC and Udm has simularity except for motor,fan,brushes(bigger/efficient), now if it such an issue try exchange out the switch from pc to your udm again just a suggestion...

gl

[ZoranC]

Shutting it off is far from tricky. If you are holding your left palm over the head all it takes is flick with a thumb.

[Jngrbrdman]

The two rails on the side block your thumb if you do it any other way though. If the guides extened beyond the top of the switch then it wouldn't be a problem, but my thumb just goes up the side and over the top. I'm not saying it is hard, I'm just saying that I don't like the design of the switch. It is more inconvenient than difficult.

[Jngrbrdman]

Originally Posted by Djmigs

I know DB has a fix for it(im sure you already know about this), i think the fix involves the switch to have more resistance then to easily turn on, but in your situation im not sure if that would work(guessing), i recall DB say the PC and Udm has simularity except for motor,fan,brushes(bigger/efficient), now if it such an issue try exchange out the switch from pc to your udm again just a suggestion...

gl

Someone near me is going to disassemble the UDM and a PC and compare the internals. I seriously doubt the shells are interchangable, but I may play with the switch and see if I can find something that works better. Even if the switch wasn't so blocky it might help, so maybe I'll just shave some off and cut new notches in it. Or maybe I'll just extend the guides further down to cover the switch. That would solve the problem altogether.

[DavidB]

Jngr,

The slide switch mechanism between the UDM and the PC are interchangable. I moved the "slide knob" component from the PC to a UDM this morning to see if a smaller slide would help, but it really does not fix the issue.

The problem is fixed by shortening the slide knob on the bottom and rounding over the corners of the guard on the top.

I'm looking at making a new slide and sending it out as an update.

db

[Jngrbrdman]

Hmmm... well I guess that answers the question anyway. It sounds like you are looking into making the same changes that I would be making. I feel the same way about shortening it and rounding off those edges. Maybe if the slide was higher in the middle than on the so that turning it on was a matter of putting your thumb in the middle of the slide rather than the top or bottom then it would help. Or just making the middle fo the slide more concave so the thumb fits in it better. However you decide to fix it, I'm glad you are looking into a solution.

edit: I reread your response and saw that you are looking into making the changes my post suggested, so I reworded it.

[DavidB]

The way I modified my proto unit (three zips with the roto tool) it works much better, including turning it off.

[Jngrbrdman]

Could you show me how you did that so I can do the same thing?

[DavidB]

Yep. I have an appointment with my CAD guy. I will post pics later when I get back.

[Jngrbrdman]

Swweeeeeeeet. Thanks David!