Button assembly with drive assembly

1. A method for adjusting tactile feel of a plurality of buttons on a device, the method comprising:

for each of the plurality of buttons:

causing a screw drive to drive a switch assembly corresponding to the button towards a plunger of the button a first distance, until the plunger engages a contact of the switch assembly, wherein the first distance comprises a slack distance between the plunger and an apex of a dome membrane of the switch assembly and a dome distance between the apex of the dome membrane and a contact in the switch assembly; and

causing the screw drive to drive the switch assembly corresponding to the button away from the plunger of the button a second distance, wherein the second distance is a predetermined distance that is constant among each of the plurality of buttons.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first distance varies among the plurality of buttons.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the screw drive is driven parallel to a direction in which the button moves when depressed.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the screw drive is driven perpendicular to a direction in which the button moves when depressed.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the screw drive engages a wedge portion, which engages the switch assembly.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined distance is selected based on a correlation between particular back off distances and particular feels for buttons of essentially the same type as the plurality of buttons.

7. A method for characterizing a tactile response of a first mechanical actuator, the first mechanical actuator having a plunger, a dome-shaped flexible membrane, and an electrical contact, wherein the plunger, an apex of the dome-shaped flexible membrane, and the electrical contact are aligned with each other such that a contact signal is generated when the dome-shaped flexible membrane touches the contact, the method comprising:

moving the plunger a first distance towards the electrical contact until the contact signal is generated at a contact point;

backing off the plunger a second distance from the contact point, the second distance being a back off distance; and

correlating a feel of the first mechanical actuator in accordance with the back off distance

correlating a plurality of feels of the first mechanical actuator to a corresponding plurality of back off distances by repeating the moving, the backing off, and the correlating for each of the plurality of feels;

providing a second mechanical actuator in a consumer product being essentially the same as the first mechanical actuator;

selecting a feel for the second mechanical actuator; and setting a back off distance of the second mechanical actuator in accordance with the back off distance corresponding to the selected feel;

wherein the setting a back off distance includes: causing a screw drive to drive a switch assembly corresponding to the second mechanical actuator towards a plunger of the second mechanical actuator until a contact signal is generated at a contact point;

and causing the screw drive to drive the switch assembly away from the plunger a distance equal to the back off distance.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

repeating the causing a screw drive to drive a switch assembly towards a plunger and the causing the screw drive to drive the switch assembly away from the plunger for each of a plurality of essentially the same type of mechanical actuators in the consumer product.