“A couple months ago, I started a project on Tinker CAD, this would later become my fully working Button Box that I now regularly use in sim games and even for shortcuts in Fusion360. Up to my Tinker CAD project, I had limited skills in CAD and electrical design. After some time researching, I consider myself abled in both CAD design and electrical design (By no-means am I a professional so please take this advice with a grain of salt and feel free to let me know of any errors or improvements). For this Instructable, I will betrying to teach you the skills to design your own Button Box, as opposed to a set-in-stone final product, so my final product may look a little different than my examples.
For this Instructable, I recommend some exposure to Fusion360 or CAD software as I do not go in-depth on the basics of CAD.
Some skills you can expect to learn in this Instructable are:
How to utilize Parameters in Fusion360 to create your Button Box Housing
How to create your own schematic for your own button box
How to utilize your own schematic to create a schematic in Fusion360
Howto create your own electrical library for your schematic in Fusion360
How to transform a schematic in Fusion360 to a PCB
How to Auto-Route nets for your PCB
Unfortunately, I will not be teaching you to code your button box, as I do not yet feel comfortable in sharing code that I’ve designed. I have just started coding and do not want to damage or hurt anyone, but you can refer to the Additional information section at the end of this Instructable for some great coding resources.
Supplies
Some Buttons, Switches, and Encoders to think about using for your Button Box:
Momentary Push Buttons (12MM) — Amazon
Momentary 2 Position Rocker Switches — Amazon
Rotary Encoders (5 Pin) — Amazon
Supplies you should remember:
Screws M4x14 — Amazon (I used metric because metric heat set inserts are most common)
USB - USB Micro — Amazon (For use with Arduino Pro Micro)
Brass Heat Set Inserts M4 — Amazon
Special Notes or Comments:
I recommend beginners in Arduino/electronics to start with an Arduino Leonardo because it pretty easy to protype designs using a bread board without soldering, but you can use an Arduino Pro Micro if you feel that you are good with soldering.
If you are going to use a 3D printer to create you Button Box Housing, I recommend using PETG filament for its strength and ease of printing qualities
Lastly, I used Carbon Fiber Vinyl for my Button Box Lid, but this is purely aesthetic.”