Welcome back everyone. Today's project is a bulkhead power connector. This is a
useful item for bringing main power into your project where people will have
access to both sides of the connector. A cable continues off from the bulkhead
into a locked enclosure where the main power connections are made. The bulkhead
connector is built up from a Tripp Lite power cable that has an IEC C14
connector on it and two milled parts. The power delivery cable can easily be found
of the desired length and correct plug for the region. Commercially available
there are main power modules that often have a switch and a fuse but those have
pigtails. Alternatively there's this style of bulkhead connector from
McMaster but it has exposed terminals. Both of these types of bulkhead
connectors are meant to be installed directly on to a locked enclosure. I hope
you find this project interesting. It's little details like this that really
finish off a project and when you can't find a simple item like this available
commercially it really makes you thankful to have the equipment necessary
to manufacture one yourself. When I have odd shapes like this that I'm trying to make
a part around, I'll scan them on a flatbed scanner, import that image into
SolidWorks, and create a sketch around the image, then add dimensions to that, do
my cuts and my extrusions. To verify dimensions and relationships it'll 3d
print the parts and assemble them. Even though the 3d printer is often slower to
make a part, it doesn't require any interaction from
me or any set-up time. After any required tweaking, the parts are exported to
Fusion 360 where the CAM operations are created. This is the cover plate that the
IEC C13 connector will go through. That connector inserts into the IEC C14 connector
that we're securing into position with the other piece. The cover plate squeezes
the IEC C14 connector into that second piece and also covers up any messy cuts through
the panel. Following the adaptive clearing with the stubby quarter-inch
end mill, an eighth inch end mill is used to square up the corners and bore the 5.5
millimeter thru holes for the screws. This is a Dremel wire brush
mounted an 1/8 inch ER20 collet. I thought it would work well to deburr the
part and maybe also leave the part with a
nice finish. It worked well to deburr the part, the first couple passes left
a nice finish, but I kept going and it burnished the part, kind of smearing the
aluminum. I certainly didn't like the appearance. Later I sanded both parts and
he looked great in the end. These are 4.2 millimeter blind holes
that will later be tapped to receive five millimeter screws. There's a lot of
material to remove in the center of this part and I want to plunge the end mill to
its full length to start. The material is first drilled out with a 3/8 inch drill. Oops!
When I step drill to 1/2 inch, I start with quarter inch but this time I
skipped it and I ran out of spindle power as the drill bit was breaking
through. When the spindle stalls and the tool continues to press into the part,
the closed loop stepper motors notice the stall. Their fault lines are wired
into the emergency circuit and LinuxCNC performs the emergency stop. I
finished drilling the hole manually using the pendant, re-indicated and move on. No
trouble drilling the final 1/2 inch holes. By first drilling those holes, we
can drop this 1/4 inch extra long end mill to the bottom of the hole and
start cutting the entire length of the hole immediately. No long slow ramp in
period. Of course this is a 3d adaptive clearing operation using rest machining
from the previous operations. This operation is fun, with all the chips being
made, and there's a few ways to maybe improve its performance.
The first is increase the no-engagement feed rate. In my setup it was set to the
cutting feed rate which was 22.5 inches per minute. This could easily
be increased for this part to 100 inches per minute and treat it as rapid
operation. If doing that, just have to be careful that the chips are sufficiently
cleared. Raising the part up in the vise a little bit more would help the chips
to clear underneath of the part.
These chips are 3/4 inch long and when this operation gets
going it's easy to get behind on the clearing of the chips. The FogBuster by
itself doesn't have enough pressure behind it to clear that most of these
chips out. Eventually I hit the feed stop button to clear the mess. For an
automated setup a periodic air blast or a computer-controlled coolant position
system like Tommy made on his IronHead Machine YouTube channel would work well.
I didn't leave in extra stock material with a 3d adaptive clearing operation
but the connector doesn't quite fit. This is a 2d contour operation as a spring
pass and after doing this the connector fit fine. Finally a quick chamfer
operation on the mill and hand tapping at the drill press and this part is done.
So I'll show you how these parts go together. The cable on the left is
essentially a computer power extension cable and I cut one end off leaving the
IEC C14 connector and a long cable. I thread that through the first part and
there is a ring on the backside of that part that prevents the IEC C14 connector
from being pushed out. The plate on the front presses against that IEC C14 connector
and keeps it secured into that first part body. Finally, a normal computer
cable can then connect to the bulkhead connector assembly. To mount the
connectors to the machine cover plate I print out a one-to-one drawing and glue
that to the surface of the panel.
Irregularly shaped sections are traced and holes are center punched. This
material is steal cladded foam and step drills work well for making clean holes
through it. In addition to the power connector, I'm also adding an Ethernet
connector. This Ethernet bulkhead connector has rj45 connectors on both
sides so it's really easy to install. To trace the irregular shape hole I'm using
a carbide burr mounted to a Dremel.
The glue that I use is a 3M spray contact adhesive. It's stronger than
what's needed, but the residue comes off easily with some alcohol. And I'm finally
mounting the new part. I never found one of these commercially. If you know of a
source please let me know. It doesn't take very long to make one of these, but
if I didn't need to make one it'd be one fewer part that I need to make. And
finally the panel is installed back into the plant phenotyping or plant imaging
machine. This was a fun project I hope you enjoyed it, I learned a few things and I
hope you did too. Until the next video thank you for watching.