My friend has always had a love/hate relationship with his keyboard. This time around the keyboard lost and one of its supporting latches snapped.

I did up a quick 3d model in 123d design and printed up a quick prototype for him. The first time I printed it I forgot to add supports and the underside of the cylindrical tabs were a bit wonky. I later printed him some better ones with proper support that fit well in his keyboard.

I also found it looked much better if I printed the latches lying with the flat side on the top with supports under it. The part had very odd widths and slants that took me 2-3 goes to get right. Each print took roughly 10-15mins depending on resolution.

This part functions as good as the original according to him and even clicks closed like they’re supposed to. The pictures below show the first few prototypes in red PLA.

Here’s a video of my friend testing the final part printed in ABS plastic at 0.1mm quality.