this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2024
14 points (93.8% liked)

3DPrinting

15519 readers
165 users here now

3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

The r/functionalprint community is now located at: !functionalprint@kbin.social or !functionalprint@fedia.io

There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml

Rules

If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)

Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

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

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] papalonian@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Not the exact answer you're looking for, but if the only thing stopping you from soldering a premade button to your case is a lack of soldering iron (and I'm assuming the knowledge of how to use one), depending on where you live they are incredibly cheap and accessible, and for the kind of soldering you'd be doing here you can learn how to do it very quickly, probably a 15 minute YouTube video and some practice on spare wires.

If you're into this kind of tinkering, you're probably gonna need to use one anyways, it's one of those things where you probably won't use it all that often but it's invaluable when you need it. I had to rebuild my printer a few weeks ago which included an upgrade to a stealthburner extruder and I do not trust that simply twisting and taping all of those wires together would've been sufficient.

[–] TheMonkeyLord@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Normally I would just go out and grab one as I have done it a bit before, and I know how useful they are, I am just a bit strapped for cash at the moment. (College student who didn't manage to grab a job for summer :/)

Maybe I will make a temp solution and then make something more proper later on.

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 months ago

Reasonable. A junk soldering iron will just be a pain point for you for years to come. Ask for a good one for Xmas or something though. Decent soldering iron is a tinkering must have.