Ring Pro cracked button

Mine is also cracked. I replaced a doorbell that was 13 years old that wasn’t cracked. Once this one stops working, I will try a nest doorbell. It’s utterly ridiculous that a $250 doorbell button lasts a little over a year and is not replaceable.

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I agree completely. Shame on Ring.

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I’m happy to print these for others for a little over the cost of shipping. The only other printing services I know of charge a lot for small volume but either way I’m happy to help. Not sure if there’s a way to PM me on this board or not.

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I called Ring today. They were very helpful. My doorbell isn’t one year old yet, so they volunteered to send me a replacement unit and asked that I send the old unit in for them to conduct an engineering review. They insisted I took some pictures and emailed them the same. Fairly painless and very friendly customer service call center out of Arizona. I suspect that my one year warranty will be up in a couple of months, so when it happens again over the next 12 months, I might be SOL. I’ve already proactively ordered 3D printed replacement buttons. When I run out of options in a year or two, I guess I’ll be attempting to replace a button. Hopefully there will be a YouTube video or an instructible posted before that happens.

Thank you for all your work CodeMonkey. I have already orders prints of your button from a contact I made on makexyz. He charged me $10 for two. Since I’m getting a new doorbell, I don’t think I’ll be testing your design for a year or two, but when I do, I’ll let you know how it worked out. Do you know of any resource guide on how perform such a project? I would think that a smart phone screen repair shop might be capable of doing this. What do you think?

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I guess I should have taken video and pics of my process. I may still do it but I hesitate to disassemble something that’s working again. Fortunately it’s a fairly straight forward process where most of the screws and “next steps” aren’t too difficult to figure out, approaching it logically. The toughest part was separating the back from the front that’s both clipped and screwed in and has a great, though non-adhesive, seal. Took a few spudgers to keep it from clipping back together while separating. Overall it wasn’t too difficult. It was mostly tricky designing the button to fit correctly. Thankful for free personal use versions of commercial tools like Fusion 360. An hour later I had a design that I could share with the community that I didn’t see anywhere else, even though there’s definitely a demand for it with some models at least.

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That’s awesome to hear. It’s not a difficult process and doesn’t require any specialized tools outside of some narrow shaft fine philips head screwdrivers and some spudgers to keep things separated. The whole process is mostly removing about 3-4 layers of covers and circuit boards carefully from each other and about 9 small screws that have to be removed and replaced. Other than that, just making sure to use care not to break or pull out any of the ribbon cables inside and test the button before re-assembly. If you don’t count the itterations and testing to get to the final design, the whole process took less than an hour to just replace. One additional hour to do the design and itterate, by itself. Very rewarding to contribute to even small needs like this one. Glad I could help.

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I’m wondering why the button isn’t made out of black anodized alloy aluminum or titanium? I guess it costs too much? When I first got my Ring Pro out of the box, I remember thinking to myself, “Why doesn’t a $250 doorbell have a milled brass button?”

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This is an update in my case…

So basically I contacted Ring Support team they really helped me a lot! Seems they are aware about the situation and also the new version they are releasing seems to have an improved button. After my Ring Pro was out of warranty they sent me a replacement unit and I sent back the faulty one.

For me since the replacemente unit came in a retail box I was able to sell it and moved to another brand (Google Hello) since all my home enviroment is on Google and not in Amazon. The only downside is I’m not able to see my camera in my Samsung Fridge but well I feel that Google Hello has more support and development. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks Ring team and also I recommend the Tech Support team they are friendly and great kudos for them!

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CodeMonky - I do not see a PM feature. You can message me on Facebook via this link https://m.me/rob.bond.56

Thanks!

@CodeMonkey wrote:

I’m happy to print these for others for a little over the cost of shipping. The only other printing services I know of charge a lot for small volume but either way I’m happy to help. Not sure if there’s a way to PM me on this board or not.

@portal7 wrote:
I’ve already proactively ordered 3D printed replacement buttons. When I run out of options in a year or two, I guess I’ll be attempting to replace a button. Hopefully there will be a YouTube video or an instructible posted before that happens.

Where did you order the 3D printed parts from?

UPDATE: I see you answered this in another post. www.makexyz.com

CodeMonkey,

I would buy a button from you if are willing? I don’t have access to a 3D printer.

I bought them from someone local with a 3D printer that I found on makexyz.com. The design came from CodeMonkey. I paid $10 plus a $2 transaction fee for two buttons. ($6 per button)

The printouts took about an hour and they were ready the same day. In fact, they were ready before I was. I haven’t even picked them up yet. I’ll get them today.

I don’t have access to a 3D printer either. You could probably find someone local with a 3D printer, order the print, pick it up and install it before I could get it to you. Since it’s such a small part, I don’t think it takes much to 3D print. CodeMonkey would print one for you, if you asked him nicely and paid for the shipping.

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Lots of options I’m not familiar with…

Process : FDM - SLA - SLS

Which Resin to use?

That’s a great question. I don’t have the best answer. Black?

Thanks!

I will wait for CodeMonkey to respond, I would hate to order the wrong thing.

I don’t think you could order the wrong thing. You have to consider aesthetics, physical durability against fingernails, angry trick or treaters, upset couriers, sustainability withIn your climate, fit and finish. Another words, one button might work better on a wigwam versus another button on an igloo.

Sorry for the delayed response. You could actually order some options that would not be advisable. Resin is great and super accurate. I can print in resin too, however, when over exposed to UV (eg. outdoors) without a layer of paint protecting it they will eventually shatter. Likely worse than the original button. I can print resin and paint it but wouldn’t want the paint to interfere with the tolerances needed to function. I used FDM with PETG for my print. PETG, ABS, and ASA all have properties that lend themselves well to exposure to UV and heat while still retaining good tensile strength. While resin is smoother and doesn’t look 3D printed, I’d have to adjust some tolerances and test it painted before I’d recommend that route. In the meantime, I hold to my offer that I’m happy to print some and send them if S&H is covered. You can reach me @ sorren4@hotmail.com for these. Availability depends on when my printers are avaiable but they are quick prints so the turn around time is usually short. Most US domestic shipping and handling starts at $4 depending on if I have packaging handy or not (usually do thanks to my Amazon “habit”). Otherwise, services mentioned in other posts are great resources too.

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With FDM, I’d recommend using PETG, ABS, or ASA since they all tend to resist UV and can handle heat while maintaining tensile strength. Keep in mind that my button is designed a bit better than the Ring buttons that broke so it will already be a bit stronger by design. However, PLA doesn’t stand up quite as well to UV and can get brittle and crack.

SLS should be really great for this application as it can be printed with no supports and cleanup should be really easy. However, I’m not familiar with its UV resistance. Usually a very strong part though.

SLA is VERY detailed and one of the more accurate options. However, since it’s created from resin that’s exposed to UV light, the more exposure the more brittle most resins tend to become. This often ends in shatering after too much exposure. This can be curbed by painting, but painting adds complications to the design if it flakes off into the rest of the doorbell mechanism, wears off over time, and/or negatively adjusts the tolerances of the design since I didn’t design it for paint and tolerances are tight already. You could also try and go with a tough or UV resistant resin but I can’t vouch for the longevity of an unpainted resin print outside for the life of the part.

Overall, I’d recommend the first option with FDM or maybe SLS. Even better, some services offer milled metal parts. I haven’t tried one of these yet but if I had a CNC mill, I’d definitely love to go for an option like that.

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