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6th Apr 2013, 6:03 pm | #1 |
Nonode
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Virginia Water, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 2,877
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Insulated shaft extension
Dismantling some homebrew gear from a box of assorted stuff I came across this.
I wonder why I never thought of it myself. A blown ceramic mains fuse fits nicely on a knob and into a coupler. In this case it's just a short shaft extension, as the coupler was insulating, but the idea is a reasonable one. Unusual! - Jeremy
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6th Apr 2013, 6:27 pm | #2 |
Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,899
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Re: Insulated shaft extension
The trick works the other way too... the entire live rock music industry is founded on the fact that the barrel from a dismantled quarter inch jack plug will fit in place of a 13A fuse.
David
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6th Apr 2013, 7:15 pm | #3 |
Nonode
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Virginia Water, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 2,877
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Re: Insulated shaft extension
Ah yes, the old 1000A fuse trick in another guise. Better than a nail, some cigarette box foil or a bit of chinese takeaway carton.
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7th Apr 2013, 9:37 am | #4 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 16,536
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Re: Insulated shaft extension
At least fag packet foil might blow at <1000A!
I've been guilty in the past of soldering a strand or two of 0076 across a plug fuse to get something going in a hurry. The fusing value is reasonable but there's no guarantee that the arc will stop I like that shaft extension- creative reuse that is. Just so long as nobody replaces the fuse
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8th Apr 2013, 5:36 pm | #5 |
Octode
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Wimbledon, London, UK.
Posts: 1,465
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Re: Insulated shaft extension
Hi,
Ages ago, when I was trying to make a 'scope, I wanted something to isolate the "brightness" and "focus" controls from the front panel. I found that there was a particular size of plastic knitting-needle that fitted nice and snugly in standard pot knobs and the like. I can't remember what the identity of the knitting-needles was, but they were obviously as close to quarter-inch in diameter as makes no difference. Regards, Colin. |
8th Apr 2013, 8:59 pm | #6 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 16,536
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Re: Insulated shaft extension
A size 3 knitting needle is 6.5mm apparently. I suspect it used to be 6.35mm
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....__________ ....|____||__|__\_____ .=.| _---\__|__|_---_|. .........O..Chris....O |
14th Apr 2013, 4:58 pm | #7 |
Octode
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Wimbledon, London, UK.
Posts: 1,465
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Re: Insulated shaft extension
Hi,
Another thought (it came to me as I was sorting through a tool-box and came across said bits of junk) is to use the plastic bits which you saw off long shafts. These are, of course, exactly the right size and material. Ok, you have to be a bit of a hoarder like me to keep "discarded" stuff like that, but I reckon I'm probably not alone. Regards, Colin. |
14th Apr 2013, 6:38 pm | #8 |
Hexode
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, UK.
Posts: 268
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Re: Insulated shaft extension
No, You're not!
Stuart
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16th Apr 2013, 3:28 pm | #9 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,005
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Re: Insulated shaft extension
If you can get the brass end-caps off 13A fuses, they make good ceramic stand-off spacers. A 6BA nylon bolt will usually fit down the hole of a 13A fuse; some of the bigger 15A fuses you find in consumer-units will happily take a 1/4-inch bolt.
Only thing to be wary of is whether - when the fuse blew - the sand caught all the vapourisation-products of the fusewire. --G6Tanuki |
16th Apr 2013, 3:55 pm | #10 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Ă…lesund, Norway
Posts: 361
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Re: Insulated shaft extension
Lots of good suggestions here
I was looking through our local gardening centre a while back and noticed some wooden stakes that are used to keep plants straight up in their pots, they were perfectly round and over a foot long. Wood is a reasonably good insulator and I used a short section of rubber petrol hose to join on to the potentiometer spindle. Purfikk as Larkin would say Tony Last edited by Anthony Thomas; 16th Apr 2013 at 3:55 pm. Reason: oopsy. |
17th Apr 2013, 9:39 pm | #11 |
Octode
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Worcestershire, UK.
Posts: 1,880
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Re: Insulated shaft extension
Careful with the fuel hose or any rubber hose or tube, some of it is designed to be anti-static, so conductive to some degree.
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17th Apr 2013, 10:17 pm | #12 |
Heptode
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Liverpool, Merseyside, UK.
Posts: 705
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Re: Insulated shaft extension
Outer insulation from thick 3-core flex filled with hot-melt glue, used this a couple of times for semi-rigid spacing but enough flexibilty so the PCB had a degree of shock protection.
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18th Apr 2013, 8:21 am | #13 | |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Ă…lesund, Norway
Posts: 361
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Re: Insulated shaft extension
Quote:
Tony |
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18th Apr 2013, 8:45 am | #14 |
Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
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Re: Insulated shaft extension
Plastic knitting needles are good. I've also used sections of plastic chopsticks when desperate. They have the advantage of being covered in ideograms wishing you great success and happiness. They make great spacers for 70cm helical antennae.
David
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Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done |