Power button for Powermac 8500/9500
Power button for Powermac 8500/9500
3D
Published 2022-05-03T08:34:13+00:00
A replacement power button for the Power Macintosh 9500, 8500, 8200 and 8550 series of vintage Macs. Chances are if you have one of these computers, the power button has broken itself. I gave up on trying to find an original replacement, so I modeled my own.
Due to the bizzarely over-engineered design of the original part, I've separated my version into 3 parts for ease of printing: the main body, the spring/push arm, and the actual button face. They are modeled to key into each other at the right spots, but you'll need to use an adhesive (I used superglue) to make the connections usable and permanent. Once it's assembled, it should attach to the computer and function exactly like the original part, except this time it's not made out of the worlds most brittle, decades old plastic.
It's also likely you'll need to use supports to print the main body and spring arm, since they are pretty complex shapes. I tried to minimize the overhangs, but I wanted to stay as close to the original design as possible to minimize potential incompatibilities.
Printed in PLA on a FlashForge Creator Pro. Everything printed at .2mm layer height except for the buttons, which I printed at .05mm because it was small and round enough to benefit from that kind of precision. This isn’t required, but it definitely looks better.
For FFF printing, I definitely recommend printing them in the orientation in the supplied pictures, to best make use of layer grain and angle for fewest supports.
| Date published | 03/05/2022 |
| Time to do | 90 - minutes |
