Injection-Moulded Electronic Buttons

A client brought us a single small part from an electronic device, a soft two-button keypad, and needed it made again in quantity. There was no drawing and no CAD file, just the original part in hand. We reverse-engineered it from that sample, rebuilt it as a clean 3D model, and took it through to injection moulding so the device could be fitted with identical soft-touch buttons by the hundred.

From one part to a CAD model

Reverse engineering starts with the object itself. We measured the original button closely, capturing the size of each cap, the thickness of the flexible bridge that links them and the small mounting loop that holds it in place, then rebuilt all of it as a clean, editable CAD model. The goal is a file that matches the real part exactly, so the replacement drops straight back into the device and behaves the same way when pressed.

Moulded soft in silicone

The button is meant to flex, so the material matters as much as the shape. We produced it in soft silicone, the liquid silicone rubber used for tactile buttons, by injection moulding, so every piece has the same give under a fingertip and the same translucent, slightly rubbery finish as the original. From there it is a volume process: one mould, run again and again, turning out identical parts at the quantity a mass-produced device needs. What began as a single sample becomes a reliable supply of the exact same button.