Kenwood TS-50 Button Retainers

thingiverse

I was recently doing a repair job on a friend's Kenwood TS-50 and when removing the faceplate, I discovered that the old rotten foam holding the buttons in place started crumbling. This is due to Kenwood designing the TS-50 with buttons that insert from the outside, making it easy for the foam to fail and cause the buttons to fall out. I've seen some people use small metal rings to hold the buttons in place, but I decided to design a set of proper retainers to ensure there's no risk of loose metal parts inside the radio after it leaves my bench. If you have a TS-50S, the front face is the same, so this should work well for you too. To install these retainers, print out a set of three retainers using the included files. I've provided four options: one with all three retainers and three individual pieces in case you need to reprint one by itself. While the prints are completing, remove the old foam and clean the inside of the front cover with isopropyl alcohol. Once the print is complete, allow the bed to fully cool before removing the parts from the print bed. Next, find the location for each retainer and snap it into place, then carefully insert the buttons one by one into their respective holes. Make sure each button clicks when pressed and returns to its normal position when released. With these retainers, you won't need to replace the foam. Thanks! I hope this is useful for someone. If something doesn't quite fit your radio, please leave a comment so I can address it if possible. P.S. Since you already have the radio apart, I highly recommend replacing the SMD electrolytic caps while you're in there. Kenwood used a terrible brand of caps in this model that will eventually fail and cause damage to the circuit traces. If your caps haven't failed yet, they'll eventually do so, making it a matter of when rather than if.