I've been following the Heavy lift build thread and was intrigued with the use of Dean's connectors to build a power distribution harness. Since I am in the process of converting from MK to HoverFly I needed to build some type of harness and this looked like a good design. So here's my contribution to the community. I did build one harness that I wasn't happy with. Primary difference between the one you see vs the one I didn't use was that I had a curved arrangement of the Deans rather than a straight line. While the idea worked I installed the power cables by weaving them on the negative contacts and just couldn't get it to sit well in the center hub area. So i started again. I glued the Dean's together 3 to 4 at a time and then glued the sub assemblies together. Just a bit easier to handle. Placed then face down on some wax paper and used Devcon epoxy, a type that was good for plastics. After assembling the entire row, I did use 10 so that I have a couple of extra plugs available, I used two pieces of 8 gauge solid copper wire to string them together. (Photo 1). Then added the connecting wire (10 gauge) on the ends. Paid attention this time and have the wires going from back to front so that while the harness is in the center it faces up for plugging in the motors and the wires naturally feed out the top of the opening. (Photo 2). Filled in the back with GE Silicone II which is non conductive. Entire package went into a piece of shrink wrap and then carved out the plug side for plugging the motors in. (Photo 3). The final product fits perfectly in the center hub. Already used one of the open plugs to be the power source for lights, etc.
Nice work, Gary. The second image appears to be mangled (only the top half shows). Might you be able to re-upload it? Thanks Andy.
Nice work Gary. I still am building the pile O cables versions which work but are a mess. I might try something circular soon...
Brad the semi-circle would work fine if I had used the copper wire and then had the leads point upwards. But after soldering it all together the leads ran left/right off the ends and I couldn't get it into the center hole very well. May try to re-work it this weekend.