Button Spring

This device does not look at all complicated to fabricate.

1) Depending on the material you choose and the actual dimensions of the box it is hard to give you price. Also it is hard to tell, what, if anything is happening with the button - does it need a little mechanism to latch onto - I don't know. If the block is made out of wood and drilled with a hand-drill, the spring from your local hardware store, and the button doesn't have any latching mechanisms - it will be very cheap.

2) Yes - it can pretty much be manufactured out of whatever you choose. The box could be hollow (welded steel, epoxied plastic, resined fibreglass, ....) or it could be solid.

3) A cost can not be provided until you determine the size and material of the box and how it is to be constructed. Also, what quantity of these do you require?

4) It looks like any of your local machine shops can handle this. Like I said before, it could be a solid block of anything and just have the spring "housing" drilled through (2 sizes, that is, to enable the button to be held in place). Or if you decided to go with fabricated sheet-metal - I bet any of your local sheet metal shops could form and weld the box.

Lastly - where exactly are you located? 'cause I know this guy just down the street from me.

To explain further this is NOT what I want to manufacture but simply showing the principle of what I want to achieve. So I dont need to know the cost of the item in this diagram.

The size of it is important though. The button is ONLY around 5mm diameter.

I am either going to make this out of metal or plastic. Preferably out of metal although I dont know what the difference in cost is though? Is metal roughly twice the cost of plastic? I dont know!

To my understanding I cant see how you can machine this with a simple drill, as the inner hole(which houses the spring) is wider than the hole at the top. Can someone please help me understand the manufacturing process of this?

Also rather than using a button it would be preferable to use a ball bearing but again I dont understand the manufacturing process of this. The cost etc? Can someone help with this?

Oh, I live in the UK.

With a solid block of material:

Drill completely through the block with the small drill bit.

Starting from the underside/back of the block, drill almost completely through with the larger drill bit.

(then you will need to add a few threads in the larger opening)

You then place in your button, then your spring, and thread a plug in to hold everything together.

When you say 'thread a plug' what exactly do you mean? I think I understnd but would you do this when mass producing a product? Could you do this with plastic?

See this website for a good depiction.

And yes you can do it with plastic.

If you did not feel you would have to take your spring or button out - you could also not even bother with threads and just cover over the big hole (weld steel plate over, or glue in a plastic plug)

Yes this could EASILY be done while mass-producing your product - especially if you go with a solid block of material.

Thanks for your reply Guest. That really helps : )

The questions is then. What is the cost impact of manufacturing in this way?

I am not sure what you mean by 'cost impact', but I will offer this:

1. Buy long bar stock of whatever material you choose, in the same width and thickness as you need
2. Cut the stock into the length that you require (the cuts should take just seconds to do)
3. Drill the small hole (a matter of seconds again)
4. Drill the big hole (seconds again)
5. If you choose to do the threaded plug - thread into the material (the longest of the operations above but can be done under a minute)
6. Put in your ball/button
7. Thread in your off-the-shelf plug

The drilling and threading will have the biggest impact on the cost of manufacturing because the materials (bar stock and plugs) can be purchase already made.

We need more information before we can assist you. For example, and these are just a few of the considerations possible, are you:

Looking at mass production, or a limited quantity?

What type of forces are you looking to apply, or having to apply to generate your desired outcome?

Size?

Unusual operating or enviromental conditions?

Occasional operation, rapidly repeating operation of the button, or something in between?

Anything like electricity, steam, heat, etc. involved?

Simple on/off, or something more complex?

Again, these are just a few of the possible considerations. Refine and expand your information (within reason) to assist us in assisting you.

Thanks for replying standarded. Please see my reply to Guest, these are also applicable.

I will try to answer all your questions:

1. Looking at mass production.

2. They are small force to keep the item in place. Around 10 ounces.

3. Button needs to be 5mm diameter.

4. No environmental issues.

5. Occasional operation.

6. Linear Pressure. Doesnt switch on/off.

Really I would like to make this out of metal(of some sort) although I dont know what kind of cost factor there is between plastic and metal and in particular manufacturing something like this.

Also I would prefer to have a ball bearing, rather than a button, but again dont know the cost implications of doing this. Can you please help?

Also I will need 5 of these per item to hold my item in place. Please see the following thread to explain what I am trying to achieve:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/25341/device-holder

Hope this helps. If not then please contact me ASAP.

O-T-G! When I first saw the thread title, I thought you meant a shirt button, and I was thinking "whatever for?!?" This is more of a locking mechanism, so it will be a trifle more complicated, yes? It will need to be released occasionally, not just held in place forever?

Shirt button!

It doesnt have to lock, it just has to accomadate for the various sizes of the devices that maybe placed in my holder. See the following thread for more details.

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/25341/device-holder

I gather what you are really seeking is to create a detent so that anything pushed into those grooves will be held in place by the spring loaded, ball shaped, detent.

Yes?

I'll bet if you plug in detent devices somebody makes something that will suit your purposes fine.

Thanks Jack Jersawitz for your reply.

A ball detent is what I would really prefer. I will google for manufacturers of ball detents, but if you know of any then please inform me. Thanks again for everybodys help.

Take a look at these folks. Wait for the active illustration to change.

j.

Sorry. I dont understand. Should there be a URL link?

Yes. Sorry.

http://www.kilaproducts.com/

j.

Have you sent me the right link ; )

Yes I have. Just checked it. Wait for the picture to change and you will see ball detents. Look down the side and click on the detent line.

j.

I think that the best solution for you is to buy such item; there are a lot of manufacturers that do all of that button things. Most likely you will find exactly what you need and you save yourself all this hustle. I would start with www.mcmaster.com or any general mechanical wholesale site.

Thanks for your reply Aner but I have tried mcmaster and unfortunatley they dont ship to the UK!

Do you know of any general mechanical wholesalers in the UK? If not I will search on google. Thanks.

http://www.rs-components.com/index.html - they ship to the UK, but i am sure you can find local supplier as well, RS are considered as relativly expensive.

if you manage to find someone who manufacture them or import it will be easier for you since all you need is the internal mechanism and not the exterior.

We have a tooling manufacturer here in Cleveland, OH (Jergens) that makes a part that might suit you. It looks a little like a toggle switch, but instead of a switch, the "toggle" is spring loaded to hold material in place. I can get you the information on it on Monday, when I'm back at work.

Thanks. Look forward to hearing from you. : )

Both Jergens and Carr Lane have what you want. Carr Lane has a UK office. I gave you the Jergens international sales manager (as guest, I forgot to login). Just google search for jergens or carr lane to find UK sites. Or go to carrlane.com or jergens.com for the main corporate sites.

Sorry, jergensinc.com or carrlane.com

Try: larry.murray@jergensinc.com He's the international marketing director.

Just looking at my childrens toys - their power ranger figures! They are good examples are various types of rotational fitting and some even have spring loaded buttons!

They must get manufactured relatively cheap! I presume they are manufactured in china. I know this might sound silly but does anyone know of any manufacturers who could help me? : )

What about a door "bullet catch". I hope you could get them a lot cheaper than this in quantity:-

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=145&cs=1

Or perhaps for your application something like this would be better:-

That looks alarmingly like the little gizmo that holds the extention onto the vaccum cleaner wand. Not that I vacuum.

This looks like what I would wwant.

You can find huge assortment of very inexpensive "Buttons" at:

http://www.stimpson.com/eyelet_intro.htm

and Springs at:

http://www.asraymond.com/ or http://www.leespring.com/

Thanks for these links Ray8 : )

Thanks for everyones help. : )

Currently though this post is only part of the issues that I have solve. Overall I plan to use the button spring/detent etc within a device holder. The details of this is given in the following post:

device holder

I would really appreciate if you could help me with this.

The device holder is dimensions are:

Height: 115 mm +/- 10 mm

Width: 62 mm +/- 3 mm

Depth: 10 mm +/- 3mm

Hope someone can help?

Looking at these dimensions again I think the ball bearing detent wont be suitable.

Order a few of the smaller ones and try them on a trial unit. My mind's eye, and my conversion to inches, says they will.

j.

Touchnturn,

Are you planning to set up a production line to mass-produce this? If so, you'll need a whole lot of cash - and a fair bit more design expertise than you currently possess.

There are many different catches available off-the-shelf and - if your volume requirements are high enough - most manufacturers will consider modifications to existing products. I suggest that you tell a catch supplier what you want (get a rep in to see your application, if necessary, and obtain prices. You may find that they can make it for far less than you would do yourself because they will have had umpteen years of development to value engineer their products.

A tip: as far as I can tell the nearest off-the-shelf item for your application is a Bales Catch - google this, they come in several types and sizes.