Cricut Venture
Cricut Venture Button Assemblies
For the Cricut Venture I designed two button and light pipe assemblies. The assemblies were main interaction points for users to operate the machine.
UX Button Board
This is the overall assembly of the UX board on the Cricut Venture. This included the three buttons which also acted as light pipes to help indicate when to press them. There was also a status bar light pit to help indicate the state of the machine.
UX Button Exploded
For the UX button assembly I worked with electrical engineers to provide the board layout for placement of snap domes and LEDs. The buttons were made out of a clear ABS and painted to match the exterior color. The silicone buttons provided a soft touch press and were painted to help prevent light bleed. The status part was made from PC with 1g/kg of titanium fill to help provide even light dispersion. Finally, the mount was made from POM to provide a smooth slider surface for the buttons. Features on the buttons and mount were designed to help prevent incorrect button placement.
UX Button Board Mount
For the button board mount I designed in pass core features simplify tooling. I performed a tolerance stack on the components to ensure that buttons would not have false pressed with installed.
Mat Arm Release Button
The Mat arm release button was a sprung button that interacted with a latch in order to release support arms that were used when cutting with a mat. The button also included a light pipe with indicated when the user should press the button.
Mat Arm Release Button Exploded
For this button the lower plunger was made from POM to reduce friction and wear on the button tub and latch. A silicone light pipe was used to help provide even lighting. Once the plunger and button were attached to each other the lid would snap over the tub and hold the whole assembly together for easy installation.
Mat Arm Release Button Tub
This part was also designed with many pass core features to help reduce the complexity of the tooling. It utilized two small boss that located onto a sheet metal end plate to help correctly position the button relative to the sheet metal support bracket and provide good alignment and gap control to the exterior case part.
