Source for buttons?

[David Barnert]

Over the 30+ years I have owned my 46-key Wheatstone Hayden, several of the plastic buttons have broken, usually right where the peg extends from the shaft, sometimes on both sides of the hole that the lever protrudes through.

 

I have usually been able to super-glue the pieces back together and put them back into service, but I honestly don't know whether it's the same few breaking over and over or different ones each time. I have had to replace a couple of buttons but the replacements a) came from The Button Box, which is no longer in business and b) were not a perfect match.

 

Any thoughts on a source, preferably in the USA, where I might reliably get buttons to replace these?

 

[Kevin Knippa]

Bob Snope at Squeezebox Garage might be able to help.

[David Barnert]

3 hours ago, Kevin Knippa said:

Bob Snope at Squeezebox Garage might be able to help.

 

I know Bob well, and he knows my concertina well. He was my go-to guy at the Button Box all the years that it existed, and afterwards when he was still in Amherst. I haven’t needed major repairs since he moved south, but would send him my concertina if I did. But the few times I asked I asked him for buttons (while still at the BB, see above), all he could come up with were close but not exact matches (a little longer and a little narrower than mine).

[Richard Mellish]

My Wheatstone Anglo was made for me in 1984. Over the years since then I have had buttons break from time to time, almost always at the hole for the lever. I can't say exactly how many times, but I'd guess about eight or ten. Steve Dickinson told me I must be doing something to break them but I have never worked out what. From time to time he has sent me a small batch of replacements and I normally keep one with that concertina.

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

Similar things have happened on my Anglo ( Hohner branded) from 1999 ( purchase date)..although they are put together differently. buttons have cracked...

I made one trial aluminium button of my own ) thin solid aluminium core..but was also lucky to be sent several dozen spares ( free) from Brunner)..

I know yours is different ..can you, likewise, also make your own now instead?

Edited October 4, 2025 by SIMON GABRIELOW

[David Barnert]

17 hours ago, Richard Mellish said:

From time to time he has sent me a small batch of replacements and I normally keep one with that concertina.

 

I wrote to him when this first started happening. Never heard back. I also keep an extra button (a glued one) with my instrument.

 

12 hours ago, SIMON GABRIELOW said:

can you, likewise, also make your own now instead?

 

If I had a 3D printer I might make a whole set (they’d be different from the ones I now have because they wouldn’t have metal caps, but at least they’d be the right size). But I have neither a 3D printer nor a workshop, so I won’t be making any buttons.

[David Barnert]

19 hours ago, Richard Mellish said:

My Wheatstone Anglo was made for me in 1984. Over the years since then I have had buttons break from time to time, almost always at the hole for the lever. I can't say exactly how many times, but I'd guess about eight or ten.

 

Do your buttons look like the one in the picture I posted above?

[alex_holden]

Your best bet if you can't get replacement cores from Steve Dickinson is to find someone local who has a small lathe and get them to turn a handful of cores from Delrin. They'll need the broken one to copy the dimensions. Setting up the lathe to make the first one takes more time than each subsequent one so you may as well order some spares. I could do it (and have repaired similar buttons in the past), but USA-UK shipping is a bit of a pain now.

[Richard Mellish]

7 hours ago, David Barnert said:

 

Do your buttons look like the one in the picture I posted above?

Very similar, but the metal caps are slightly shorter, about 3/16" rather than your 7/32".

[RAc]

8 hours ago, David Barnert said:

 

I wrote to him when this first started happening. Never heard back. I also keep an extra button (a glued one) with my instrument.

 

 

If I had a 3D printer I might make a whole set (they’d be different from the ones I now have because they wouldn’t have metal caps, but at least they’d be the right size). But I have neither a 3D printer nor a workshop, so I won’t be making any buttons.

Hi David, if you can provide more detailed measurements (ie length and diameter of the small peglet at the bottom end and position and size of the lever hole), it should not be too hard to design a piece using CAD software. You can take the resulting stl file to any online (eg shapeways) or physical maker shop and have them printed. A bonus is that that way you have a free choice of materials and colors.

 

If that sounds like a doable thing, you can send me the measurements by pm or in public and I can give it a try using FreeCAD. The one thing that requires fine tuning is the exact shape of the dome which is hard to measure exactly, but with plastic, there is always the option to start with a flat top and file or grind in the required dome shape on your end.

[Tiposx]

As Alex said, the dome is best removed from the old plastic part, then attached to the new one. The plastic part will have a flat top.

Btw I suspect that the breaking plastic parts may be made of Erinoid, which was made from dairy produce. This material might not be as durable as plastic, I don't know. I doubt that plastic would be as prone to breaking.

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

10 hours ago, David Barnert said:

 

I wrote to him when this first started happening. Never heard back. I also keep an extra button (a glued one) with my instrument.

 

 

If I had a 3D printer I might make a whole set (they’d be different from the ones I now have because they wouldn’t have metal caps, but at least they’d be the right size). But I have neither a 3D printer nor a workshop, so I won’t be making any buttons.

All I can say is I myself do not have workshop ( just a really nasty horrible  old garage, which is falling to bits, but I manage ( just!) to get by with very few tools regardless. All you need is a folding bench and basic stuff. And, no 3D printer is required😊

[David Barnert]

19 hours ago, alex_holden said:

find someone local who has a small lathe and get them to turn a handful of cores from Delrin.

14 hours ago, RAc said:

it should not be too hard to design a piece using CAD software. You can take the resulting stl file to any online (eg shapeways) or physical maker shop and have them printed.

 

How would I get the metal caps off and applied tightly to the new ones?

[alex_holden]

5 hours ago, David Barnert said:

 

How would I get the metal caps off and applied tightly to the new ones?

 

Drill a small diameter hole in the centre of the core, then open it up to slightly less than the inside diameter of the cap. Obviously be careful not to drill so deep that you go through the top of the cap. Usually the drill will catch and the core starts spinning inside the cap, then when you pull the drill back out the remains of the core comes with it. If that doesn't work try screwing a self-tapping screw into the pilot hole and then pulling it out with pliers. It's easier with a lathe and tailstock chuck but you can do it with a hand drill if you're careful.

 

Turn the new core so it's a fairly snug fit in the cap. Crimp it tight by using a punch to make one or two small dents in the cap near the bottom. Glue doesn't really work with Delrin.

Edited October 6, 2025 by alex_holden

[RAc]

If what Alex suggested is not an option for you, you can do the Hendrik Müller (I remember him writing this up in an earlier blog years ago): Visit a store that has a reasonable selection of ballpoint pens. Take a caliper along and measure the end caps of each pen in stock, and once you found one whose size matches your button, leave the store with 48 of those you can butcher at home (or in a strait jacket if the staff can't figure out what the heck you are doing).

 

Given how widely available writing supplies are (still/yet), I am surprised that it is hard to locate a supplier for just those caps. I did some browsing earlier today just to find that those appear to be made in huge quantities somewhere in the world (India?) and imported en bulk. I suspect it would not be too hard making them oneself even with limited tools. Alex will know for sure.

 

[Clive Thorne]

13 hours ago, RAc said:

If what Alex suggested is not an option for you, you can do the Hendrik Müller (I remember him writing this up in an earlier blog years ago): Visit a store that has a reasonable selection of ballpoint pens. Take a caliper along and measure the end caps of each pen in stock, and once you found one whose size matches your button, leave the store with 48 of those you can butcher at home (or in a strait jacket if the staff can't figure out what the heck you are doing).

 

Given how widely available writing supplies are (still/yet), I am surprised that it is hard to locate a supplier for just those caps. I did some browsing earlier today just to find that those appear to be made in huge quantities somewhere in the world (India?) and imported en bulk. I suspect it would not be too hard making them oneself even with limited tools. Alex will know for sure.

 

And don't feel guilty about the all the left over bits of Biro. They will go to Biro heaven along with all the lost and mislaid Biros of the world.

Edited October 6, 2025 by Clive Thorne

[David Barnert]

Thank you, Alex and Ruediger. But I am not any kind of a craftsman and fear I would screw up any project like this. It took me an hour just to place the bit of felt back into the hole of the button I glued together that had broken across the hole for the lever.

[Richard Mellish]

4 hours ago, David Barnert said:

Thank you, Alex and Ruediger. But I am not any kind of a craftsman and fear I would screw up any project like this. It took me an hour just to place the bit of felt back into the hole of the button I glued together that had broken across the hole for the lever.

In my experience, getting the felt into the hole is a little challenging, but getting it to stay there when I slide the button onto the lever is more challenging and often results in disturbing one of the other buttons. I have at least once given up and used a little piece of silicone sleeving instead.