Hi!
I had some problems fitting the tactile led switches to Karl's button bases. (Most likely because of printer idiosyncrasies, or because of possible differences in design of the tactile switch itself) They were also a bit too loose in the FMC frame for my liking. This made me redesign the bases slightly using Karl's mesh as a guide.
The white clip part of my
switches is 4,5mm x 5.5-5.7mm.
I made them print without supports by adding a complete layer just under the top part. This layer is bridged and can easily be cut out with a scalpel underneath the recess for the switch top. If it's not visible when slicing, reduce layer height. They now fit snugly for me and the switch works better because of the cleaner bottom layer inside the base.
I also made the top hole a diagonal square so that the slight overhang prints cleaner than a circle, it seems not to affect the brightness compared to a round hole. These are printed on and Ender 3 with a 0.2mm nozzle and 0.16mm layer height. Superslicer seems to be smartest regarding the bridged layer.
The link will be posted here as soon as I get an ok from Karl to share my mod
[NOTAM1] Here's the link:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5193755
[NOTAM2]
I added modded versions of the action button bases as well to the thingiverse thing so you can get both bases. Will do the round buttons bases next. Gladly saw that Karl has made new line select bases for us with the slightly smaller switches!
[NOTAM3] I have now also added modded bases for the round number buttons.
[NOTAM4]
I have now redesigned the line select switches too to fit my switches better. If my other button bases fit, these will too. The internal design is a bit different too to stop light leaking between the cap and base.
I redesigned mine to barely fit the led with enough stop to push the switch and a hole to expose the light. I printed in black and will cover with a 1/8 flat white silicon cover painted black and engraved letters and or numbers. The base fits the leds tight enough not to bound around or turn over and fall off. I think it will also have less light bleed when completed.
Hi @ThingWizard @Karl Clarke
I've had problems using the original button bases in the past, so I tried the updated design by @ThingWizard today. It snaps into my tactile buttons really well and there's a nice firm click when pressing down. Interestingly my button width is 4.2mm under the top white edges and 5.2mm when including the top edges.
I am using the laser cut buttons from Cockpit Sim Parts and so I won't be able to use these buttons with it.
Is there anyway the button connection from @ThingWizard can be used with the laser button bases mod?
Thanks.
Hi!
I made them quite tight for how I printed the facia plate because I don't like wobble. You can try to adjust the scale slightly in your slicer. If you make them slightly smaller they might fit into the facia. However, if the inside then gets too small for the switch to fit, then I'm afraid the problem is the facia, and you might have printed it with too high flow rate. Let me know how the scaling goes. The construction process of the bases and caps is quite convoluted so It takes a lot of time to redesign them and I would do this "blindly" so that's not a good option.
Hi Thingwizard,
I’ve tried your line select bases and caps today using my Ender 3 and they came out really well , however they seem to be too big to fit inside the facia plate, both the bases and caps. Is this something you can have a look at?
Hi ThingWizzard, thanks for redesign the buttons!, i have feedback about your action buttons, the are little bigger then carl's version, they fit perfectly on the tactile buttons, but the action button is on the outsite 1mm too big, likewise for the black top part.
Hi! Thank you Karl - Excellent, I will upload my mod then for anyone who wants to try out. I'm not sure where I'd find the cad-files though, the fmc package I bought was "stl files only". "https://www.737diysim.com/product-page/3d-printed-737-fmc-stl-only" However I can see now up top on that page it says all products include cad packages. I'm a bit confused :) I believe my download was only stl.
Hello and Thank you for both modifying and asking. Yes of course, please add the link. You say you modified the mesh? You know the CAD files in included in the PDF to edit the files directly? Kind Regards Karl