Boeing 737 Starter Switch by jbliesener

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

This is a starter switch for a Boeing 737 Overhead panel. It was inspired by https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2981928, but it definitely is a completely new design.
I highly recommend an SLA/DLP printer, as FDM printers most likely will not be able to print the threads on the front mounting plate and in the jacket. I used an Anycubic Photon.
You need four 3D printed parts:
Center pin
Jacket with tab
One of the two backplates. You can try to use a solenoid to reset the switch to the OFF position (I didn't have any luck with this, as the solenoid did not have the necessary power) or use a mini servo. For each of these options, a back plate is provided.
One of the four front plates. They only differ in the position of the alignment tab. Choose the one that matches the bore on your OVH panel
You also need the following additional parts:
a rotary switch that has (or can be set to) four postions with 60 degrees difference between them
a set of spacers or screws between front and back mounting plates
a small metal spring (VERY IMPORTANT), maybe from a pen. You don't see it in any of the pictures, as it is hidden in the jacket and presses the center pin outwards
two 3mm screws to tighten the jacket on the rotary switch axis
a servo or a JF1039B solenoid, together with the respective mounting screws.
a knob - lots of designs everywhere
The spring in the jacket pushes the center pin outwards so that, when in the OFF position it latches in the triangular groove on the front mounting plate. Therefore you have to push the knob and the center pin inward to be able to rotate it.
The servo or solenoid can push on the tab on the jacket to return the rotary switch to OFF when it is in the GRD position.