Boring Mundane Everyday Print #312: Meanwell PSU Endcaps
-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=1441948;image)
AutoDesk Online 3D Viewer
I've had this ugly-ass Meanwell 24V PSU on my desk ever since the original power brick from my 32" Cinema display kakked. I finally got tired enough of looking at it to do something; I decided to whip this out so I could put it away.
Endcaps are a press-fit, and allow for use of a salvaged C14 socket and DC power cord from an old AiO PC. And I finally found a use for Deans' connectors that doesn't make me wanna cringe. 
This is actually part 1 of a bigger project; if part 2 is successful, I'll update with more pics.
As always; full details and 3DP nerd stats are over on the 3DP thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/3d-printing/3d-printer-yet/msg4188976/#msg4188976
mnem
-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=900426;image)
I'm in two minds about this.
On the one hand it's neat and does improve the safety of the PSU, covering up bare mains terminals. On the other hand that's a PSU that's designed to be fully enclosed, in particular the mesh that's on it doesn't meet, and was never intended to meet, safety rules for Nicht gefingerpoken, nicht cokensplaschen. So having a more consumer friendly wrapping with an IEC 60320 socket about the naked OEM supply makes it more likely that it might get used or handled in situations and by people who shouldn't use it. The "it's obviously made to be plugged in" look versus the "it's obviously made for experts" look make it a temptation for fiddling with by the uninformed and unwary.
In your own house it's down to how likely other people are to obey a "This here. Don't touch! Only for use of chief monkey!" instruction but I'm still not too sure that I'd be comfortable with it in my house where compliance is a dead certainty. If it were my house and used on a monitor where someone might conceivably go "It's not working, I'll follow the cables with my fingers behind this desk while leaning over it wearing this metal chain around my neck to see if it's got power" I'd be much happier putting it in an earthed metal case or a proper double insulated enclosure.
Perhaps a 3DP case that fully encloses it ought to go into the design queue. If nothing else, the challenge of designing one for 3DP that meets ventilation and Nicht gefingerpoken, nicht cokensplaschen requirements (e.g. IEC 60950) ought to be an interesting challenge.
As long as there are no 3 year olds, I doubt that an adult can get their fingers through that mesh...
I think the actual real risk is a Bumblebutt propelled loose screw or tool knocked off the back of the bench.
I'm not gonna own up to the number of those style of PSUs that I've fried with a dropped tool/part when they're inside some other equipment that I've been conducting open chassis/case measurements with the power on. Let's just say that the number is higher than zero... [Fx: wanders off whistling an innocent tune]
Some people can get a bit anal about electrical safety and strictly they are right, but when it comes to stuff that stays in the lab I'm prepared to be a bit more laissez-faire as long as people aren't being idiots and some sort of actually useful risk assessment has gone through their heads. So I'm most definitely not saying this is out and out dangerous, just "Is it worth considering something a bit more enclosed?".
There is no exposed opening larger than 5mm diameter. The
entire point of these endcaps is to cover everything that was small enough to get a finger into.
Now screwdrivers and other slim metallic bits... well, that's another point; but even today we make all sorts of gear with long slim slots big enough to stick a ruler or drop coins into...
-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=1493560;image)
TL/DR version: There's a reason I'm
still keeping it stashed away under my desk; I feel that there it is more than safe enough.
Also, the whole project is quite in keeping with the Vince's
"just what I have lying around" design ethos.
It's an old-ass mac. Nobody (besides the dwagon himself) gonna use it voluntarily anyway 
Y'all kin kiss muh scaly dwagon arse;
since I put this PSU in service, the reason I keep using the ol' MacPro is cuz it's right there in the corner of the living room, and most of the time
It Just Works™. For the same reason, my wife and son also use it. Well, that and the 32" Cinema display, which even tho it is 13 years old, is still quite glorious, even by today's standards.
Yeah, it's old... but this was a professional workstation back when it was made, not some crunk-ass old
Screamin' Mimi Mac G5, so even now it is still a more than capable daily driver, and it is a great platform to learn on. I run Fusion360 and Cura on it and it more than handles them, and quirks of the OS aside, the learning curve has not been at all steep.
Unlike MS-WTF-ever, the underlying filesystem and memory management isn't a teetering inverted pyramid on top of a
tiny Pliocene era coprolite of code; so sleep/resume actually work seamlessly and painlessly, and I pretty much reboot like once a week whether it needs it or not.
I got the thing for free. I've spent maybe $100 fixing it up, and I've learned a fekking lot from that and from using it.
What will put the last nail in its coffin will be when fanatics stop supporting it with patched software... then it'll have to become a *NIX box. Which, from personal experience, it is also a more than capable machine.
mnem
-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=1139098;image)
Home
Help
Search
Login
Register
