I put the switch back together on Saturday morning. Did you know that Old English telephone boxes were made for this sort of task.
I reassembled the horn button and the task of getting two contacts and a spring into the right place without sending anything between one to three pieces into orbit is tuff. It’s easier to get the contacts into place and fixed, then insert the string in from the side. I still believe that Japanese bike were made to assembled quickly, it’s just a matter of finding the right sequence.
The 3D printed horn button fitted beautifully and worked first time. The button was the resin printed rather than the filament style and looks like an injection moulded part. I started off with a stainless M3 screw with the head ground down but it didn’t look like the spring was going to work with that, so I went with the 1/8” pop rivet head. The original contact in the button was contoured to locate the spring and provide a contact surface for the spring. The pop rivet seemed to give the closest profile to this. I could have Dremeled the stainless screw but the pop rivet looked easier. I did drill the button out to give a clearance hole to the pop rivet but didn’t include any glue, hoping that the spring pressure will keep it in place and I’m pretty sure that it will.
Interestingly, the printed part had a M3 screw thread printed into it and the thread was perfect, the screw went in like a charm.
3D printing opens up a heap of opportunities. The guys web side is
wharrie.com and he can be emailed at philip@wharrie.com.
He's a pragmatic mechanical engineer who will advise you if the application will work. If you can describe the part, I'm pretty confident it can be printed.
