The buttons are connected together to maintain the placement so they can depress the switch contacts on the PCB. After much use the original plastic started breaking as it flexes with each button press. Tried using TPU flex filament instead of a rigid plastic. So far it is working great.
Printed TPU .4mm nozzle .15mm layer height in 50 minutes on Prusa i3 mks+
The author marked this model as their own original creation.