7 Pin Strain Relief Repair

ctechbob

ctechbob

Well-known member
The jacketing started pulling out of my 7 pin plug a while back and I kind of ignored it until I decided on a repair for it. Came to the conclusion that the only way to fix it would be to replace it.....if.
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I didn't have a 3d printer.

I haven't put this together yet, but will this weekend. I am going to fill the area that the jacket is slipping from with some RTV adhesive and then coat the areas above and below it with enough to bond the print to the plug. I'll then use CA/Accelerator to stick the two halves together and secure them with wire ties in the 3 grooves.

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I figure the RTV will keep the water out, and the print will keep the assembly from flexing and breaking the RTV.

The parts are printed with flexible TPU so there is some give to them and the fit is tight enough that when everything is secured, the wire jacket isn't going anywhere.

I'll post pics of the completed project on Friday.
 
ctechbob said:
The jacketing started pulling out of my 7 pin plug a while back and I kind of ignored it until I decided on a repair for it. Came to the conclusion that the only way to fix it would be to replace it.....if.
View attachment 2334
I didn't have a 3d printer.

I haven't put this together yet, but will this weekend. I am going to fill the area that the jacket is slipping from with some RTV adhesive and then coat the areas above and below it with enough to bond the print to the plug. I'll then use CA/Accelerator to stick the two halves together and secure them with wire ties in the 3 grooves.

View attachment 2332View attachment 2333
I figure the RTV will keep the water out, and the print will keep the assembly from flexing and breaking the RTV.

The parts are printed with flexible TPU so there is some give to them and the fit is tight enough that when everything is secured, the wire jacket isn't going anywhere.

I'll post pics of the completed project on Friday.
Click to expand...
That’s a great idea. I just changed the plug out as the pins weren’t an exact fit for the plug in on my truck. I filled the gap where the cord went in the new plug with black rtv. Fits nice and snug now. But the part you made would have been a lot easier to install.
 
I have had to replace the complete junction box before. I can't remember what I got but it was an upgrade over the stock one.

That looks pretty like a pretty decent upgrade.
 
I'm beginning to think there aren't many things that couldn't be printed. however, I'm having a hard time visualizing how you are going to use the two pieces. Will it replace everything but the plug end of the 7-way?
 
I'll have better pics tomorrow when I assemble it, but this is how the piece sits on the plug. You can make out the upper wire tie slot just in front of the finger hold on the bottom of the picture. So the printed part will completely encapsulate part of the plug, the area where the jacket has pulled back, and about an inch of the jacket.


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ctechbob said:
I'll have better pics tomorrow when I assemble it, but this is how the piece sits on the plug. You can make out the upper wire tie slot just in front of the finger hold on the bottom of the picture. So the printed part will completely encapsulate part of the plug, the area where the jacket has pulled back, and about an inch of the jacket.
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Ah, I see. Pictures please when you get it put together.

Did you do the design yourself?
 
Assembled. Haven't decided if I'm going to change it a bit, I'll see how well the RTV Adhesive holds and go from there.


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6 hours later and I'm pretty confident that everything is sealed up tight. I used some Permatex RTV Adhesive and CA to stick the edges together, although I'm going to test the RTV and see if it wouldn't have just done the job by itself.

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--Edit--

After testing with some scrap TPU and the RTV, I could have skipped the superglue and used more RTV to the point it would have squished out the edges. That would have been plenty of adhesion in conjunction with the wire ties.
 
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That's a really cool application of 3D printing. I'm getting closer to wanting a printer of my own.
 
Yep, if I can remember when I get home I'll dump the .stl's on Google drive.

You could probably print it out of stiffer PLA, but I've found that it doesn't hold up as well in the sun, the flexible TPU seems to work much better for warmer aplications.
 
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3d Prints - Google Drive

drive.google.com drive.google.com

G Drive Link to a folder with 2 files.

The 'Short' one is the original that I took pictures of, the 'Long' version is a bit longer on the top so it captures more of the OEM plug.

All he needs to do is print 2 copies of whichever, I used 100% fill so they are completely solid inside. He can pick his preferred way to do that. I just told my slicer to make the walls super thick instead of having it do a grid infill.

Let me know if for some reason it doesn't work.
 
ctechbob said:

3d Prints - Google Drive

drive.google.com drive.google.com

G Drive Link to a folder with 2 files.

The 'Short' one is the original that I took pictures of, the 'Long' version is a bit longer on the top so it captures more of the OEM plug.

All he needs to do is print 2 copies of whichever, I used 100% fill so they are completely solid inside. He can pick his preferred way to do that. I just told my slicer to make the walls super thick instead of having it do a grid infill.

Let me know if for some reason it doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Awesome I will see if he can do it tonight! Thanks!
 
ctechbob said:

3d Prints - Google Drive

drive.google.com drive.google.com

G Drive Link to a folder with 2 files.

The 'Short' one is the original that I took pictures of, the 'Long' version is a bit longer on the top so it captures more of the OEM plug.

All he needs to do is print 2 copies of whichever, I used 100% fill so they are completely solid inside. He can pick his preferred way to do that. I just told my slicer to make the walls super thick instead of having it do a grid infill.

Let me know if for some reason it doesn't work.
Click to expand...
I have them, let me see what the boy can do with them once he gets home from work.
 
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