Button Belly Barrier

I love all kinds of 3D-printing models — silly, decorative, and useful — but where 3D printing really shines is in fixing those tiny, daily annoyances that somehow manage to drive us completely insane.

Case in point: the overly sensitive power buttons on our washer and dryer.

They’re positioned just right so that any time you reach for something on the shelf above the machine, your stomach casually turns the appliance on… or off… or into some mysterious third state. After one too many accidental activations, my wife asked me to “fix it.”

Challenge accepted.

I tried a few “Molly Guard”-style covers that flip open over the button, but they all had the same problem: you have to open the cover every time you actually want to use the button. That just replaces one annoyance with another. No thank you.

The Button Belly Barrier solves the problem without getting in your way. It blocks accidental presses from wandering midsections, elbows, and laundry baskets — while still making it easy to press the button intentionally with a finger. No lids, no hinges, no extra steps.

Most importantly:
✅ Happy wife
✅ Uninterrupted laundry cycles
✅ One less daily irritation

This model is provided in both single-color and two-color 3MF versions, so you can keep it subtle or make it pop — your call. The single color version uses only 5 grams of filament!

To install I used Glue Dots on each corner. Holds it quite securely in place but also allows for easy removal later on.

Dimensions

Overall size: 45 mm × 45 mm × 8 mm

Center hole diameter: 26 mm

Designed to fit around a ~1-inch power button. If your button is larger or smaller, just scale the model in your slicer — simple and painless, unlike explaining why the dryer stopped mid-cycle. And of course it will work with pretty much any exposed power button that has a reasonably flat surface around it.

The filaments I used for the model pictured are SUNLU PLA in Gray and Bambu Lab Silk PLA in White.