Rivets should not be a consumable!

Hours after I finished assembling my Core One, I had to remove the side panels to install a camera. After fighting with the plastic rivets that hold the side panels on, I vowed never to use those rivets again.

I printed these replacements using Prusa Orange PETG (highly recommended in this application), but many filaments will work just fine. For each unit printed, you will need one M3x10 screw (or M3x8, or probably whatever M3’s you have lying around) and one 15mm diameter x 2mm magnet. The M3 isn‘t really a fastener in this application; I haven’t tried, but I suspect a 3mm x 10mm dowel pin would work as well. It’s just to aid with vertical retention, so that the panel doesn’t vibrate down the side of the Core One. The magnet provides the horizontal retention.

These allow easy removal of the side panels with no tools in just seconds, and with zero waste - they are 100% reusable. A convenient finger grip simplifies removal.

Each acrylic side panel is originally held to the Core One with five plastic rivets, but I printed three of these for each side and so far this seems fine. You might try tweaking the design to use 10mm or even smaller magnets, five per side.

These are large enough and brilliant enough that you are unlikely to lose them, but as a totally optional step, you can use a small dot of your preferred adhesive so that they become a permanent part of the acrylic panels.

Original TinkerCAD project: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/5hq4GpSgO1R-magnetic-rivet-replacement-for-prusa-core-one