Modified AT Switch Design by khackbarth

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

This is a remix of the AT Switch by atmakers. This design has focused on a thicker and horizontally supported center post on the base to house the micro-switch as well as a sleeve built into the button that directs the button directly downward rather than allowing it to tip and get caught under the edge of the collar. I've added a hole in the center bottom of the base for the insertion of a threaded insert. I eliminated the mount for a headphone jack because it complicated the design and it's very hard to get the threaded collar of the jack to screw tightly enough to the plastic. When looking at the video provided by atmakers they just stuck the cord through the hole anyway and didn't install a headphone jack. I'm a big believer in putting a jack in the switch but I don't think this design lends itself to one. I trialed multiple sleeve lengths and diameters in an attempt to find one that ensured that the button moved vertically with very little sway and thereby very little tendency to get caught under the collar. The result is stable but comes with the washboard on washboard scraping sound and feel that is inherent in 3d printed sliding parts. It might be possible to eliminate the rubbing by sanding down the surfaces. I didn't bother. I wish that I had experimented with swapping out filament colors when printing the base because it would have produced a nice "bee" look.
I had a hard time finding a good spring for the switch. It needs to be 1 inch in length with a 1/2 inch outside diameter. McMaster-Carr only had two springs that met this requirement and one of them was very hard to depress. The spring I went with can be found here:
Zinc-Plated, Music-Wire, Closed & Flat End, 1" Long, 0.418" IDhttps://www.mcmaster.com/#9657K312
The threaded insert can be ordered from McMaster-Carr via this URL:
Heat-Set Inserts for Plastics 1/4"-20 Thread Size, 0.300" Installed Lengthhttps://www.mcmaster.com/#93365a160/=1958fir
Finally the micro-switch can be ordered from Adafruit via this URL:
Tactile Switch Buttons (12mm square, 6mm tall) x 10 packhttps://www.adafruit.com/product/1119
I took the recommendation from kurtschaefer for installing the threaded insert and printed his Soldering Iron Drill Press Adapter (and even purchased his recommended soldering iron for heating the insert) at this URL:https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1637284
There's a great Camera to GoPro mount design by tmorris9 that you can print to mount to the switch and can be found here:https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:991531