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Print-in-place: push button with flexure return and click
How do you 3D print a spring-loaded push button with a click? · Hardware · basis: Xem Studio design: compliant (flexure) mechanism, planar; one designed running gap of 0.40 mm
Also called: print in place button, compliant push button, 3d printed button with spring, flexure button stl, clicky button print
Exact dimensions. True size, with no printing tolerance added.
- length
- 52.0 mm
- width
- 48.0 mm
- height
- 8.0 mm
Notes
- 3D print in place — prints already assembled, moving, in one job. Drawn at true size with no printer tolerance added; the 0.40 mm running gaps are part of the design.
- Running gap 0.40 mm per side, 0.80 mm on diameter — part of the design, drawn as is. On the 45° faces the same 0.40 mm is measured square to the face (0.57 mm along the axis).
- Bed: flat, everything 8 mm tall straight up from the bed: housing, plunger, flexures and click arm are one printed part with 0.40 mm slots between the moving and fixed edges.
- Support while printing: none needed — a straight extrusion; the two mounting holes through the bottom wall are teardrops.
- Captured: the plunger hangs on two parallel flexure beams (21 × 1.0 × 8) from the housing's left wall; its shoulder sits 0.40 mm under the housing top, so it cannot come out, and a block 3.0 mm below it is the hard stop.
- Freeing it: press the plunger fully a few times; the first press clears any strands in the 0.40 mm slots.
- Motion: 3 mm of travel; the tooth on the plunger meets the bump on the click arm at 1.4 mm, pushes the arm 0.6 mm aside and snaps past at 2 mm (a click, and a second one on the way back); the flexures return the plunger. Beam shortening shifts it 0.26 mm sideways at full travel.
Print-in-place: push button with flexure return and click size chart
| key | value | what |
|---|---|---|
| gap_mm | 0.4 | running gap per side on every moving interface (radial, axial, under captured parts) — part of the design, not a tolerance |
| housing_mm | 52 × 44 × 8 | outside |
| plunger_w_mm | 12 | where it leaves the housing (opening 12.8) |
| plunger_out_mm | 4 | above the housing at rest |
| travel_mm | 3 | to the hard stop |
| click_contact_mm | 1.4 | travel where the plunger's tooth meets the click bump |
| click_mm | 2.0 | travel where the tooth snaps past the bump |
| click_overlap_mm | 0.6 | how far the bump arm is pushed aside |
| flexure_l_mm | 21.0 | two parallel beams |
| flexure_t_mm | 1.0 | beam thickness (in the plane) |
| flexure_h_mm | 8.0 | beam height = print height |
| side_drift_mm | 0.26 | plunger's sideways shift at full travel from beam shortening (0.6 d²/L), inside the 0.40 gap |
| up_stop_mm | 0.4 | shoulder under the housing top: the plunger cannot be pulled out |
| mount_holes | 2 × Ø3.4 through the bottom wall | teardrop |
Where the files are
Other publishers' files are linked, not hosted. "verify" = check the license at the link before commercial use.
| Xem Studio | Print-in-place mechanism design (geometry computed in the generator) | web | Xem Studio design |
Free files
★ Free files 2 parts. Xem Studio design: free to use, print and sell things from; not to be republished as files. Xem Studio Design License. index.json
| print-in-place-push-button-flexure-assembly | The whole print as laid on the bed (1 bodies, already assembled); STEP keeps each moving body a separate solid | STEP · STL |
| print-in-place-push-button-flexure-button | Housing, plunger, flexure beams and click arm: one part | STEP · STL |
https://xemstudio.com/mcp to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client (free, no account, one minute) and it can look up exact sizes, mating fits and free STEP/STL from every chat.Plain text: sheet.txt · JSON: /api/geometry?object=print-in-place-push-button-flexure

Fits with







Questions
What makes it spring back?
Two parallel flexure beams 21 mm long and 1.0 mm thick join the plunger to the housing; pressing bends them, and they straighten again when released.
Where does the click come from?
A 45° tooth on the plunger has to push a bump on a thin cantilever 0.6 mm aside; it snaps past it at 2.0 mm of the 3.0 mm travel.