Need some sort of small universal power connector

[Jamzrk]

I know nothing about electronics. Thought i should start there. But I have a Idea and willing to learn if the part i need exists or can be made.

So I want to make a box. A small cube, hoping for 33 mm but if it's impossible in such a small space then i can increase a bit.

This box will be a tiny power source. A toy kind of. I'm thinking a hearing aid battery like a CR927 3V. Now this will be contained within the box. At the top of this small box will need a small switch/button that turns it on and off.

The part I need to know if it could exist is some sort of power connector that's both male and female. This toy piece would be something like a LEGO that you connect other cubes to, hopefully by magnets at each corner, though the magnets might not be a good idea with a battery?.

So imagine, a cube with six sides, the bottom side will house a battery that can be removed and replaced with the bottom of the cube opening.
The top side would have a switch that has a external switch that presses down to turn the cube on and off.
Then the remainder four sides have connectors that connect to other blocks. Which would power them, each other block only serving as extension block and a internal LED at the top to make it glow. The connection should be any side of those to any 4 sides of the power source. Then the extension should be able to connect to other extensions on any side as well.

Does that exist? If so what is it called? Can i get one small enough to fit between 4 or 6[special extension cube] in a tiny cube? If it doesn't exist pre-made can it be made? How? And with what?

The power source doesn't matter much I could use two batteries or maybe a external power source for that block.

The size can also be increased but I wouldn't want by that much.

The purpose of the cube is purely decorative yet functional but not for much as the purpose is intended.

 

[(*steve*)]

I have a cube in front of me that I made using 3mm acrylic sheet and a laser cutter. It is 25mm cubed.

That much is easy to make. (You can make it from MDF too)

Let's assume we have a 33mm cube. That would have an inner volume of about 19 cm^3 which is a reasonable volume.

I'm sure you could shoehorn in a small switch and some equally small batteries.

Getting connections would be interesting. Perhaps you could press-fit some rare earth magnets into holes on each face and connect them up to the batteries.

It would be relatively trivial to cut holes to make a press fit for these and then to perhaps glue them into place. Cleverly choosing N and S for +ve and -ve would allow you to automatically orient parts onto them.

The harder part would be to connect wires to the magnets and to figure out how to do that so you could fit it all in the box without wires dangling all about and getting in the way.

 

[Jamzrk]

Yeah laser cutter looks pretty expensive for a prototype. I was thinking the opposite direction and getting a 3D Printer since the holes and such would be a bit easier to make. And I found the UP! 3D Mini Desktop Printer which is all i need in size. Relatively cheap too.

Magnets sound great, that could work if it works. I'll remember that.

 

[(*steve*)]

My local hackerspace allows me to use a laser cutter for $10 per evening plus 10c per minute of laser time.

Let me tell you. A laser cutter is *way* easier for this.

The only thing you need to determine is the correct kerf for the material and power setting you're using. (In my case it was 0.07mm).

And getting a basic box is as easy as going here: http://www.makercase.com/

You can edit the resulting file with inkscape (I think) and then export it in the form required for the laser cutter (in my case it was dxf)

Find a hackerspace with a laser cutter. You won't be disappointed.