So I had a nice little surprise today when the shear cutters I ordered arrived a day early. That, combined with picking up the final resistors I needed from Radio Shack, let me finish up the Unsped shield (with the exception of the headers on the breakout board) and solder the diodes to the first SparkFun button PCB. I've included a couple of before & after pictures showing how the leads first cut with my old diagonal cutters, then with my new shear cutters.
Before:
After:
This should help the buttons sit properly. Finally, I inserted the 16 LEDs into the board and did a quick smoke test connecting each one directly to +5V with a resistor to make sure there were no issues with the traces or the LEDs themselves.
This is a pretty good view of one of the LEDs lit up. They're very bright (6000 mcd) even in a fully lit room. They do, however, have a narrow projection and you can see a somewhat prominent "dot" when you put the button pads on. I'm going to find a way to get the entire board lit at once before I do any soldering in order to check for any inconsistencies in color/intensity. I'll also experiment with sanding the tops in order to provide a more diffuse glow.
I'm heading out on vacation this afternoon and will be getting back Sunday night. Hopefully I'll be home in time to figure out a quick way to get the board lit by the MAX driver.
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