Need two push buttons to be made for...

[Jim Horn]

Geoff, a house we rented had a music system mounted in the dining area wall. It worked well though its power button was missing. I used a digital calipers (US$10 on sale) to measure the switch shaft and recess, then entered the resulting rectangular block with a rectangular blind hole into Tinkercad(.com). The resulting file dropped into the Makerbot Replicator 2 software we had at work and 10 minutes later I had a custom fit pushbutton that worked fine. A few moments of light sanding on a flat surface eliminated the striations from the printer, giving a smooth look not unlike the missing part must have had.

Give it a try - it's fun. If you don't have a 3D printer, you may find a makerspace nearby that does. Shapeways is always available, too.

Note that there are metal filled filaments available now to make parts that appear to be metal. Maybe not as good as machined aluminum but still handy for getting things working.