“Living” button?

[cclements]

Hey all, looking for some advice. I’m working on a specialized computer enclosure and realized I’ll need an external “button” to turn the system on and off. I thought of making something flexible like a living hinge, but in button form. The button itself doesn’t need to actuate more than a few millimeters.

So far, I’ve had a bit of success with spiral patterns, but I figured I’d ask the community if there are any better solutions as I’m just throwing stuff against the wall at this point!

Pics of attempts so far:

[Jules]

Intriguing idea! I like the spiral design. (Don’t forget to add an escutcheon - they just seem to highlight things so nicely.)

[cclements]

The hole in the spiral is for an acrylic stick to hit the switch and channel the led light

[paulw]

For just a few millimeters you wont need much bend. Maybe something with interlacing fingers?

[drelleum]

Have you thought about doing a double spiral, like this?

[cynd11]

Very cool concept! Can’t wait to see what you end up with.

[Stu_Ackerman]

If it were me, I’d try something like this (very rough approximation).

[cclements]

@drelleum thanks for the suggestion. Doubling the spiral makes the button actuation more uniformly “centered” than the single spiral that tended to angle towards the short side of the spiral. After playing with the number of turns to adjust actuation depth, I arrived at a design I think will work out well for the enclosure.

Here’s the final design in case anyone’s interested

[drelleum]

That’s sweet, glad I could help

[bkressley]

Way cool!