this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2024
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Hello!

So I decided, as a way to improve my cad skills, that I would take an old laptop of mine and design a case around the motherboard and use it as a micro PC in my work area. I have nearly all of it designed, just shy of the power button.

On account of not having a sautering iron, I would rather avoid sautering a button on and was trying to go a more analogue approach by printing a button into the case that could maybe use a compliant mechanism to press in and come back out, but I am very uncertain how to go about it.

Any help appreciated

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Compliant mechanisms are cool, I used it ones before and it works quite well. If you can get everything lined up properly that is.

All you really have to do is give the button a cutout, which is supported on only one side. Make the supporting area not too thick so it's easy to press (1 or 2 mm should be good I think) and give the button some shape that makes it easy to feel by hand.

It's a bit difficult to give any real tips without any pictures, but that's the gist of what you need to do