Fixing things with 3D Printers

Heres a short blog about a fix i did with a 3D printed part

I had a power supply for a cordless phone base station that got damaged

As you can see from the picture the earth pin got snapped off. It performs no earthing function as it’s just plastic, but without it the shutters on safety sockets won’t open and you can get the plug in.

Rather than spending money on a new PSU  I decide to see if I could print a replacement part…

Step 1 remove the rest of the broken plastic with a dremel to expose the metal post

Step 2 Knock up a 3D model. For this I used FreeCAD and took the dimensions off another plug

Step 3 3D print the part.

Step 4 Glue the part on to the post. For this I used superglue on the metal post but before I pushed the pin on I dipped the end in Acetone so that it would weld to the plastic body of the plug. A light sanding to clean it up when it was dry, et voila, one repaired power supply 🙂

if you are interested in 3D printing and want to learn more why not come along to one of our open “3D Thursday nights. You can learn about how to operate 3D printer, how to create models using free software packages, get advice on what 3D printer to buy or even how to build your own from scratch, and best of all it’s completely free.

3D Thursday is held at Maker Space on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month and our next one is on 4th October.

Regards

Glen