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Are there any 3D printable electrical grade plastics?

JST

Diamond
Joined
Jun 16, 2001
Location
St Louis
Materials suitable for the body of, for instance, a power carrying connector?

Would need to be a good insulator, UL 94-V0 rated, and reasonably strong so that it survives abuse.

I need to make some specialty connectors for a test fixture. Some of the features are very much not readily machinable out of suitable material, and 3D printing would be ideal. But with 230VAC on the pins, a good electrical material is essential.

Some internet searching came up with very little information, nothing on anything of this nature. But I am not at all "up" on the subject, and may not know where to look.
 
I would think in theory it would possible. I am thinking about the mylar type material, like the stuff that connects moving objects like a print head to the pc board.
If you could find a non conductive substrate (flexible, high melting point) I think there are printers that can lay down a flexible metallic substance on to that substrate.
Just thinking off the top of my head, but lacking a lot of info about your goal it makes it a little more difficult.
Sorry could not help more, but best of luck. On second thought maybe look at what materials are being used in those clothes that light up & how they conduct pwr around.
 
And it has to melt at a temp low enough to melt for 3D printing, but high enough not to melt in the face of a high-amp load that may see some significant heat if things go south.

Chip
 
I am by no means well versed with this technology, but...

Here's some promising info from a Wikipedia article on FDM, Fused Deposition Modeling:

"FDM, a prominent form of rapid prototyping, is used for prototyping and rapid manufacturing. Rapid prototyping facilitates iterative testing, and for very short runs, rapid manufacturing can be a relatively inexpensive alternative.[SUP][7][/SUP]
FDM uses the thermoplastics ABS, ABSi, polyphenylsulfone (PPSF), polycarbonate (PC), and Ultem 9085, among others. These materials are used for their heat resistance properties. Ultem 9085 also exhibits fire retardancy making it suitable for aerospace and aviation applications."


However, I see two problems:

1) If you need certs or some sort of approval, that is not likely. Even if the raw material has approval for some applications, the agency doing the approval has no way to determine if YOUR PART is a properly fused solid. Approval for your application would likely require you build the parts, then submit some for tests.

2) If your part isn't properly fused, each crevice between the stringer beads of plastic becomes a moisture trap, and a potential creep path.

Best advice, contact a couple of the service bureaus doing this sort of work, and see what they say.

Dennis
 
If you're just wanting to test form and shape, any of the plastics will work good - even PLA. PLA is low melting temp and almost universally used in FMD printers. But no, it won't be commercially viable as a safe product. But if you're just doing R&D to see about function and fit, I would think any common FDM plastic is good to go, whether PLA, ABS, etc.
 
Is your part large enough that the conductor bores could be made oversize, to insert insulated sleeves made from a better material?

(maybe even heat shrink tubing over the conductors before inserted into the body)
 
They want a usable part, they don't want enough (by a factor of 1000 or more) to mold it. Might get looked at by OSHA (but will be far better than the open live prongs they are using now)

You are bringing up the same problems I see with it...

I will probably redesign it to use a rated version of PVC and be machinable. McMaster has lots of 94-V0 PVC.

yes, almost any ordinary stuff is OK for proof of concept.
 
I think a lot depends on who is going to do the printing and what machine they use.

I see that several commercial shops can print with Ultem™ 9085, but I suspect it will not work well in low end printers.
 
Hi
I don't have a direct answer to your question but I have been looking at general purpose 3D printers.
The Airwolf can print a wide variety of non-proprietary plastics. One of which might satisfy your needs.

My thoughts are that it is important to select a printer based on the materials it can print, and the cost of those materials.
 
That Ultem looks good, but appears to be rather spendy.

Of course, I recall what we used to pay for similar models 25 years ago. You can buy printers now for what it used to cost to get a couple prototype parts.

looks like I will get the fun of banging out a set of parts by machining, with the redesigned version.
 
With what I know about thermoplastic 3D printing, (more than some, less than others) your best bet would be to 3D print a case, install your conductors and then fill the cavity with electrically insulating resin. The same thing industry does with molded cord ends, except your mold and fixture is staying with the part.

Rich C.
 
Of course, now that I have put in time looking it up, the *&^%$! customer has lost interest for the moment.... "waiting for approval"........
 
With what I know about thermoplastic 3D printing, (more than some, less than others) your best bet would be to 3D print a case, install your conductors and then fill the cavity with electrically insulating resin. The same thing industry does with molded cord ends, except your mold and fixture is staying with the part.

Rich C.

I would (and HAVE, come to think of it..) grab a near-as-dammit stock item off the rack, shed the guts, install your own, then as Rich says, 'pot' the bugger with any suitable goop and move on.

I couldn't be bothered to re-invent that wheel even at the labour costs of 30 - 40 years ago,

"when the only tool you have is a 3-D printer, the whole world looks like a.. ??"

....not sure I want to KNOW, wot with all the ladylike robots they are working at in Japan alone..

:)

Bill
 
The answer I've used in the recent past is to 3D print a mold for use with scotch cast, then pot the conductor and you're good to go. There are multiple suitable release agents that can be used in this situation.
 
I like the idea of printing the mold

The problem I see with 3D printing is the possibility of porosity. That is the EMF isolation will actually be less than the equal air gap.

The casting solution provides a continuous homogeneous material, and so the resistance can be assured.
 
I would (and HAVE, come to think of it..) grab a near-as-dammit stock item off the rack, shed the guts, install your own, then as Rich says, 'pot' the bugger with any suitable goop and move on.

I couldn't be bothered to re-invent that wheel even at the labour costs of 30 - 40 years ago,

"when the only tool you have is a 3-D printer, the whole world looks like a.. ??"

....not sure I want to KNOW, wot with all the ladylike robots they are working at in Japan alone..

:)

Bill


Wonderful idea, except that it absolutely will NOT work in this situation.

The "connector" is to mate with a specific terminal block to supply test power to the DUT without having to loosen each screw, screw down each and every individual wire, unscrew each separate wire individually after the test, AND THEN return the screws to standard position of snugged-down, for each tested device. That's a lot of "screwing around", which they do not want to do.

It's a full-custom device, and MUST have retracting shield or equivalent means to cover the pins when not connected, even though they theoretically are not powered except during the test.

The customer is NOT going to accept suggestions to change their design to make the test connector simpler, cheaper, etc, either. It's got all the UL recognitions, and is not changing. They just need a quick way to connect, and no double-talk.

Assuming, of course, that they ever decide to authorize the project, after wasting our time on it. They are usually a good customer, or we'd not have bothered this far.
 
Sounds like the retracting shield is the really tricky part, and following on to other who have said print a mold, it occurs to me that you could print a master and then have certified sheet material vacuum molded over it. Then again, you could also use the 3D design data to CNC an al mold.

Dennis
 
Stratasys Has FDM material that is specifically designed for PCB work, if you need more info let me know.

Cheers,
 
Wonderful idea, except that it absolutely will NOT work in this situation.

The "connector" is to mate with a specific terminal block to supply test power to the DUT without having to loosen each screw, screw down each and every individual wire, unscrew each separate wire individually after the test, AND THEN return the screws to standard position of snugged-down, for each tested device. That's a lot of "screwing around", which they do not want to do.

It's a full-custom device, and MUST have retracting shield or equivalent means to cover the pins when not connected, even though they theoretically are not powered except during the test.

The customer is NOT going to accept suggestions to change their design to make the test connector simpler, cheaper, etc, either. It's got all the UL recognitions, and is not changing. They just need a quick way to connect, and no double-talk.

J.

Nothing for it NOW, but perhaps yet another example of being hoist by their own overlooking of the quick-test need when they chose the initial connector / family?

We are close enough in age you've probably seen the same umpteen thousand connectors designs Canon, Cinch, Marsh & Marine, Burndy, AMP, T&B.. yadda yadda... MIL-Spec to studio audio to submarines, warships .. micro & milli to commercial BIG-amp power ....fly by in catalogs as I have.

So damned many choices - too many of 'em out of stock until a 'batch' is made every third year for small demand - that there actually oughta be a STIFF FINE imposed for any Ingineer who adds yet another new connector to the hair-tearing chaos accumulated over the last century and a half.

And worsening at increasing speed, still yet.

:(

Bill
 








 
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