simple hacks and workarounds - ALWAYS IN PROGRESS ;)

1) how to atach a LED diode to the chassis? there are many solutions, with its good and bad sides ...
- on many older and cheaper electronics the led light is simply glued in the hole with the thermoplastic glue - the problem is to remove  the led from the hole without destroying it ... another problem is that LED has some volume and if put in thinner faceplate it tends to stick out of it so ugly. For that purpose I use an ordinary nut (for a d5mm LED M6 nut), glued to the faceplate (for the "ordinary" look on the inside, for the more "rock" look on the outside). The threads hold the LED just right in its place, that it doesn't slip out and is pretty easy to remove.

2) pcb rivets - they offer so many advantages in pcb design:
- you can mount components on both sides of the board with ease
- the components are much easier to remove (it is said that it is practically impossible to remove the soldered noval socket from the board without damaging both of them, I did it easily) - this is specially useful for the wires soldered to the board
- the components are soldered on much bigger area, so the joint is better, electrically and physically

The main disadvantage is price, they tend to be really expensive. If I could find a cheaper supllier, I would be very happy ...
Another one is additional work needed - to put the rivets in holes and fix them (I do it with the hammer and a center punch on metal surface)

3) use solid wire to secure jacks and switches having solder lugs to PCB (went great with my custom pcbs)