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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

keyvaluewhat
gap_mm0.4running gap per side on every moving interface (radial, axial, under captured parts) — part of the design, not a tolerance
housing_mm52 × 44 × 8outside
plunger_w_mm12where it leaves the housing (opening 12.8)
plunger_out_mm4above the housing at rest
travel_mm3to the hard stop
click_contact_mm1.4travel where the plunger's tooth meets the click bump
click_mm2.0travel where the tooth snaps past the bump
click_overlap_mm0.6how far the bump arm is pushed aside
flexure_l_mm21.0two parallel beams
flexure_t_mm1.0beam thickness (in the plane)
flexure_h_mm8.0beam height = print height
side_drift_mm0.26plunger's sideways shift at full travel from beam shortening (0.6 d²/L), inside the 0.40 gap
up_stop_mm0.4shoulder under the housing top: the plunger cannot be pulled out
mount_holes2 × Ø3.4 through the bottom wallteardrop

Where the files are

Other publishers' files are linked, not hosted. "verify" = check the license at the link before commercial use.

Xem StudioPrint-in-place mechanism design (geometry computed in the generator)webXem 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-assemblyThe whole print as laid on the bed (1 bodies, already assembled); STEP keeps each moving body a separate solidSTEP · STL
print-in-place-push-button-flexure-buttonHousing, plunger, flexure beams and click arm: one partSTEP · STL
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Plain text: sheet.txt · JSON: /api/geometry?object=print-in-place-push-button-flexure

Print-in-place: push button with flexure return and click, isometric render of a generated part
Render of print-in-place-push-button-flexure-assembly from the free STEP; not to scale.

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.