I’m going to add a seacon 8 pin micro wetcon inline tether disconnect to the ROV end of my tether, and I’ll need to pot the spliced section. I can 3d print a mold for the compound, but I’m worried it will permanently bond to the plastic. Anyone happen to know where they sell inexpensive purpose built molds, either single use, or reusable?
One thing you can use, and it is more than likely not as cheap as you want but they WORK! I have hydro tested splices made using these kits at 1000 psi for 40 hours straight … and we did seven year accelerated life testing on them … and they work.
This is a link from Grainger where you can buy a single kit. Otherwise you are stuck buying a box of ten at a time.
I can’t remember if I found the resin material as a stand alone material … there are some other kits that you can use but I don’t have the data at home. Will post later.
Since the splice mold in this kit is bigger than what you are more than likely looking for … if you have a bunch of splices on your system to do and can 3D print a bunch of molds for them … the resin in this stuff rocks.
Hello
I have made my own mold from hdpe plastic,and Resin compound will not bond to the plastic.
I have buy from ebay,from this seller:
I use seabotix tether (two 85 meters,molded to 1 tether) to my bluerov2,because I had tether before bluerov2 come out.
Nice, I’ll give that a try. I need to find one of those metal anchor cable end thingies too somewhere. Ordered a packat of that stuff, we’ll see if it sticks to a 3d printed ABS mold then. If it doesn’t, I’ll post the STL here when I get it done in case someone else wants to do the same thing later.
Thanks, I’ll do a test with the 3M stuff first. if that doesn’t work I’ll grab the stuff from Granger!
I’ve seen a lot of splices that use heat shrink instead of a mold. Basically heat shrink is shrunk on one end to create a seal and then the potting is poured in from the other side. Doesn’t look quite as. Ice but it works well.
If the 3m goo sticks to abs, that will be my plan b. I also found a cable strain anchor thingy in stainless. It’s called a Kellem grip apparently, and Mcmaster carr has them that will fit a blue robotics tether wire. Next I just need to save up for the long end of the tether heh.
Hi Tim,
I am interrested about the STL file if you have one. It would be very usefull to me.
I’ll finish it up tonight. It was waiting on a final cable piece. What cable diameters do you need for your setup bluerov tether is 8mm and deacon seems to be about 10mm if you are joining those.
We do this for some jobs. For shallow/quick fixes we use Bosch hot glue (the black one, metal grade, not like the cheap hobby stuff) instead of epoxy. Dispense that into the sealed heat shrink and the heat shrink starts to mold around it. Then you can use a heat gun to finish off the heat shrink as well as get the glue molten again and form into a nice shape. Works pretty well.
yes I will use a seacon attached to the bluerov cable, so it’s 8mm to 10mm.
Here are the STL files. I’ve included an 8mm to 8mm version for inline 8mm tether splices, and an 8mm to 10mm tether for attaching a seacon connection.I haven’t had a chance to print them myself yet, These require 4 M3 bolts and nuts, probably a 35mm bolt should do. I made the main chamber 120-ishmm long +/- a bit. Will print and test these tomorrow Potting jacket for an 8mm to 10mm or 8 mm to 8mm inline cable splice by piercet - Thingiverse
thanks! I’ll print one today and try it asap