-
Hello MLAers! We've re-enabled auto-approval for accounts. If you are still waiting on account approval, please check this thread for more information.
PowerMac 9600 Fan plug
- Thread starter EtherRad
- Start date
Do you have a picture of the part that is broken?
Grainer has some disconnects but I don't think any of these would fit:
I've gone through several revisions over the past year to make a connector through the sendcutsend website for the 9600 case fan. This seems to work decent in terms of shape, but the thinnest cold rolled steel is 0.8 mm which is still super thick and cumbersome. CRS is the easiest to bend. Since the part size is so small they do not provide bending services. I have been using a small vice grip and hammer to make the bends but its very "hit-or-miss" in the literal sense. Other difficulty is the innnermost tab is hard to grab to bend and I haven't been able to test that bend for that reason. I can't get the dxf file to upload on the forum since the file extension isn't allowed, but I'm happy to share it if there's a more appropriate way to do it. Any ideas on how to tweak this to make it easier to fit would be much appreciated!! Please note that I have not tested this for connectivity/conductivity. The wires would theoretically be fastened by crimping the three bottom tabs.
Here's a proof of concept picture below that shows it can at least be semiforced into the groove. I do wish it was much thinner so the contact arm would bend without mechanically stressing the opposite side of the connection circuit. If there are fabricators with thinner sheet metal this might help. I have tried several other metals but they snap when i make the bends even at high temperatures using the max temp on the smd hot air station.
Here's a proof of concept picture below that shows it can at least be semiforced into the groove. I do wish it was much thinner so the contact arm would bend without mechanically stressing the opposite side of the connection circuit. If there are fabricators with thinner sheet metal this might help. I have tried several other metals but they snap when i make the bends even at high temperatures using the max temp on the smd hot air station.
You just zip it, then upload it.
Hot air isn't going to be hot enough for softening metal, and induction heater or gas flame would probably be what you want. Get yourself a small, cheap induction heater from eBay/Amazon/AliExpress. They're only a few dollars. You'll want to heat steel to cherry red at least to bend it.
https://www.amazon.com/Induction-Heating-Flyback-Driver-Ignition/dp/B09NFK36QD/
How are you preventing it from rusting?
Here's the dxf! Xometry has so much more options, but the minimum price is a bit higher. I'm thinking of testing their anodized copper 101. ( https://www.xometry.com/materials/ ), they can get it down to 0.5mm. I have some blue steel parts from sendcutsend that are 0.15mm; that induction heater looks cheap so ill try that on the blue steel and see if it will bend. Thanks!
If anybody comes up with better materials/company/measurements, please post how it works out! It's a super simple design, should be easy to change it.
If anybody comes up with better materials/company/measurements, please post how it works out! It's a super simple design, should be easy to change it.
Are you sure it is electrically conductive?
Is that blue steel as in heat treated? You'll lose the colour unless you redo it yourself.
Sendcutsend customer service said that in general their different sheet metal products were conductive enough for a low power computer fan, but they couldn't really tell me what the best material was unfortunately. I didn't realize the blue steel would lose color but I believe it has been heat treated, they did say I'd still need to anneal it before it can be formed. I just realized the dxf file I made has a minimum thickness and maybe that is why the thinner sheet metal options are blanked out on xometry. Will the inductor work for blue steel even if it changes?
Hum. The higher the resistance of the contact, the less power that will go to the fan. I've never seen much about anodised copper, but the surface of anodised aluminium is not considered to be very electrically conductive. It is usual to machine off a little area where you put grounding studs for that reason.
It will anneal it fine and let you bend it, I'm not certain what exact materials you're talking about though, I'd expect "blue steel" might be some kind of spring steel? But it would help if you mentioned the grades of the metals.
If it is spring steel or something similar, you can anneal it and then harden it as much as you like by heating / quenching, heating, cooling. My memory is terrible, so best find a guide for that and verify the type of steel you're using is appropriate for heat treating.
The induction heater will anneal anything that has been heat treated or work hardened though. And it is a fun thing to have. You can use it to blue screws, like on old fashioned pretty clocks.
Similar threads
