Switch buttons for Emcomat 7

thingiverse

Model engineers in the 1970s favored the Austrian-made Emcomat 7 lathe; many of these remain operational today due to their exceptional build quality. A notable shortcoming with this lathe, however, is its propensity for button failure - switches would frequently lose their buttons or experience breakage. Consequently, numerous surviving Emcomat lathes are missing their original buttons. The replacements shown here are equipped with grub screws to prevent the buttons from falling off as they did on the originals. The buttons were printed using Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate (ASA) plastic, a material more resistant to cleaning compounds and ultraviolet light than ABS. Printing settings included 0.15mm layer height and 40% infill. ASA can be polished with acetone, resulting in an appearance closely resembling the originals. One consideration is that Emco utilized various switch bodies; it's possible that the blades supporting the buttons may differ in size or orientation.