Digital Calipers "Switch"

I got tired of opening my "precision stuff" drawer only to find that the battery had once again died on my calipers. Off I went to Onshape, and a few iterations later I had a good design. I figured I would share it, only to see that someone else had beat me to it. 8 years ago:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1734129

Oh well. I think mine is a little better anyway, so I here it is. Like above, my original design could freely slide all the way out, meaning I would lose it. I wanted it to stay reliably inside the calipers, like part of the tool, so I came up with a couple of ideas:

FIN.STL - This is the one I use. Due to its geometry, you kind of have to force it in, passed the "fin," but once it is in, the fin holds it in place every time, and there is a satisfying stop where the device stays in the open position and does not fall out. I would have to pull it pretty hard to get it to pop back out. I don't even use the ON/OFF button anymore. In the ON position of the switch, it stays

FLAPS.STL - This was more of prototype idea, but I figured someone might have a caliper set that the final version is is too small for ... or something. Anyway, I included it just because.

I include the STEP files as well.

My calipers are of the absolute highest quality and precision imaginable, straight out of Harbor Freight, a genuine PITTSBURG! Wow! I've had them for maybe ten years or so. No Mitu-whatevers here!

Print this and stop worrying about dead batteries every time you reach for your calipers when they haven't been used in a while!

Category: Machine Tools