C3 Corvette Power Sweats Switch

prusaprinters

Please note this is WIP. Some of the tolerances may not be perfect. Holes may need to be drilled out to make clearance and plastic trimmed with hobby knife. Please let me know of any troubles or improvements. How to rebuild your switch(es)Disassembly NOTE: Be extremely careful, you DO NOT want to tear any copper, break a PCB, ETCRemove the seat switch cover from the car, undoing the screws, then the plugs.Depending on the state of your switches, it may be easier to remove the copper busses before you push the switches out. If everything is falling apart, you can pull the switches out on the table, but be careful to not break the PCBs or copper busses. I ended taking the switches out first, but would recommend at least getting the two rearmost traces off before pushing the switches out from where they are sitting, so I'll describe steps as if I am doing it that way.TAKE PICTURES OF THE BACK AND AS YOU TAKE IT APART. The busses are symmetric in ways my brain doesn't want to comprehend and it needs to go back with all of the copper connections in the exact way they started. Take special note of the “teeth” and “holes” that the copper posts fit in.Pick one bus bar and using a dental pick, a small jewlers flathead, or whatever works, get under each of the copper teeth and lever them up. The goal is to make them lose their grip so we can slide the bus bar up and off the posts. Repeat 4 times per hole, for 3 holes per copper piece. Once done, slide off the bus bar and repeat for the other. (you may need to slightly lever from underneath but be careful not to damage them)Once this is done, AS CAREFULLY AS POSSIBLE, slide off the paper. You may need to help separate it from the copper backer, but don't rip it. If you have a small rip, as long as it still insulates the busses from touching the big copper bus, it should be fine, but try to minimize.Once you are to the main copper plate, TAKE A PICTURE, I didn't take one and would have been screwed if I didn't have the one from the front, but it took me way too long to figure out how to put it back on.Repeat the tooth loosening procedure on the teeth for the large copper plate. Now if you haven't already, push on the switch rockers (or whatever is left) walking all 3 switches out of the trim piece until they are out. At this point remove the two side switches first, then work on the main one. You can lever from underneath with a large flathead, but if you need to much force, work on the teeth some more.Yay! Your switches are loose!Finish disassembly by prying off the metal clips on each switch, taking notes on how they go back on. Be careful not to lose the tiny springs and graphite “nubs”.  Remove the plastic from whatever you will be replacing. If you have a cracked PCB, it's not the end of the world. A little super glue and it's good enough for government work.Dissasembly complete.You may want to clean the contacts while it's all apart. There's guides about how to clean switch contacts.Rocker SwitchPrint two  “Single Switch Body Half”If you don't have the rocker piece, print one “Switch Single Whole” or two "Switch Single Half". You will probably also need to print two nubs, and use something like a mechanical pencil spring.Ideally if you need to replace the nubs, though, you'd use a 4mm graphite rod and shape it like one of the existing nubs. Easiest way is chuck it up in a drill and a bit of sandpaper, and you can use that same technique to clean up any nub tips that are out of shape.Insert the circuit board into the housing at the same time as the rocker with springs, and carefully put on the other half of the case to avoid the springs sproinging. You may need to hobby knife a bit of the plastic to get it to fit perfect.Finally put the clips on and you should be good to go. 4 Way Switch You will probably have to drill out the bottom plate to the right size for each of the pins, push the circuit board through the bottom printed piece.I did not use a printed top piece, since mine was fine and I didn't want to have to break it to get it off. I wasn't able to find a way to get the actual knob out without breaking it. Long story short the top piece is untested. If you cant get the knob off of the actual rockers assembly, you can split the STL down the center and glue it together over the knob.If it needs new nibs, follow the steps detailed for the single rocker.Place the clips on, should be good!ReassemblyAll of the teeth on the copper busses are now bent, and no longer grippy, woo. Using the reverse, method as before, start pushing the teeth back towards flat. They don't need to be perfect. Once all of the teeth are roughly in shape, you can use a pliers or some form of tool to push them down to flat.Start with the middle 4 way rocker switch. Take the large copper pad and align it as in your photos you took. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND it is not rotationally symmetric, so if it's flipped over you'll probably break something electrically.Using some hollow tube that fits over a pin such as a small ratchet or empty exchangeable screwdriver, push the copper down over all of the pins, switching from pin to pin and walking it down all the way so you don't overstress any of the connections. You only need to do this for any pins that have teeth.Repeat this step for the rocker switchesPlace the paper over, and repeat the same process for remaining bus bars, matching the pictures you took. Now is the final chance to test with a multi-meter with continuity checking. Check the pins of the switches, the rockers should be middle to the outsides, but you'll have to play around with the center switch to see how it works and if it's still workingFinally press it back into the housing and you're done!