We live in a time when all manner of electronic components are practically a mouse click away. Still, we like to see people creating their own components. Maybe a stock part won’t fit or isn’t immediately available. Or maybe you just want to build it yourself, we get that. [Aptimex] shows off a design for a 3D printed slide switch that uses a paperclip for the contact material.
Of course, it had better be a metal paperclip and we’d make sure the shiny metal was pretty conductive. Of course, you could probably use thick wire to get the same effect. It sounds like [Aptimex] was inspired by an earlier Hackaday.io project that created a few different kinds of switches using similar techniques.
The 3D printing pieces look small and easy to print, the hard part is probably straightening and cutting the paperclip. The instructions offer some tips on how to best do that. From the pictures, they look as though they make nice PCB terminals.
Custom printing switches might not be for everyone. As for us, we can’t help thinking about how to design switches for some retrocomputer replicas or to replace bad switches in old radio gear. Of course, it isn’t news that paperclips are pretty versatile hack material. We’ve seen them in use for breadboarding. We can’t forget the paperclip computer, either.
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
