3D Printed Spring Snaps for Prototyping.

A client has hired me to work on a new product that requires a snap on removable underside for access to batteries. It goes without saying I cannot give out any details about the product, but I have been working on a simple spring snap for one of the requirements.

This has been a nice simple attempt to design something with a flexing mechanical part that can be 3d printed, and is strong and durable for purpose and repeated use. I am pretty happy to find it had worked first time off. This was also using the most recent Makerware software with its nice new interface. Seems to facilitate nice clean prints.

The only real experimentation was to find the tightest and best tolerance to keep the clip nicely in place.

I created a small box of the clip to snap into. I found that an extra 1mm tolerance works well.