I bought a bunch of MR60 connectors because I planned on swapping my standard bullet connectors over to them for my DIY build. I could never really find a solution that I liked for mounting the MR60’s. Best solution I found was a 3D printed panel to help house the existing MR60, with epoxy on the inside of the enclosure to hold it into place. I wanted to see if I could make something that didn’t need epoxy so I threw some sketches together and started printing stuff.
Note that my printer has been giving me major headaches lately because of various “improvements” I’ve done to it lately, so the quality of prints in any pictures probably won’t blow you away. Anyways, I basically recreated the male side of the connector, but expanded out the 'waist of the connector into a panel with two M3 sized holes in it for mounting. I originally had this all as one piece, and recreated the back side of the connector as well (for the grey wire shield to connect) but I wasn’t able to get the tolerances right so the grey piece wouldn’t click on as it was supposed to.
I ended up splitting it into two pieces: an inside and an outside piece. The outside has the MR60-M part, and the inside has 3 individual exits for the wires to keep them apart (like the factory grey piece’s dividers).
I haven’t fully assembled one yet for testing, but that’s next. My plan is to pop the bullet connector pieces out of the MR60-M side (already done), then slide the inside panel onto my 3 phase wires, feed the wires through the enclosure hole I will cut (shaped similar to the MR60 size but with a little extra clearance), then feed them through the outside panel mount, solder the bullets onto the wires, then pull them back in and press-fit them into the panel mount. Dry fitting everything makes me think this will be ok. Biggest thing is making sure not to have so much solder that it bulges way out past the 4mm diameter of the bullet connector, so I can feed it into the hole and fit it. (picture below should describe it better)
Any criticism is welcome here, good or bad. Here are some of the drawings and I’ll put some pictures in replies below where I am at so far.
Any fear of pulling the pins out when removing the connector? What if you designed the panel mount on the exterior so that the pins get slotted in first then mounted. That way you get the mount and the enclosure for the pins to brace against. But I don’t know how that would affect fitment issues, and how current connectors solve that issue.
I was messing with it a bit and I will probably end up pushing the connectors into the front panel from the back instead of from the front, so like you said it will be braced against the panel a bit when pulling the connector out without risking pulling the pins out
Whats your plan for securing them against slipping out? They even do that with regular MR60 ports, 3dp with worse tolerances can’t be any better. If they slip out while driving you loose half your brakes and fry your ESC, so yeah. Maybe implement some latch on the bottom side.
I might use some hot glue or a bit of epoxy on the back side of the bullets to keep them from pulling out, but that is definitely a concern of mine. I’m not sure how much heat these connectors see but I know that I won’t print them from PLA just in case they do get warm. I have a bag ‘o MR60’s and plenty of time to kill so let’s see what kind of weird stuff I can make
I made something similar, mine is glued to the enclosure because there was a space for wiring but it could work the same for panel mount.
Used some bullet connectors and used heat shrink to hold the plugs in place, to disassemble just cut the heat shrink and replace it ^^
I dig it! Very similar idea. I was planning on heatshrinking the 3 wires onto the inside panel part I made, which should help keep them from pulling out when removing the connector (maybe?)
Did up a test mount today to see how it all holds together. Put bullet connectors on the ESC end so I don’t have to modify the factory stormcore wires, and those connect to my MR60-F via short 12awg wires. I’ll tape up the bullet connections and they’ll stay inside the enclosure. Got the connector rigged up and stuck a female end in there to make sure the bullet connectors inside stay aligned correctly while the epoxy is drying. I’ll test the epoxy with a multimeter to make sure it’s not conductive because if it is, this test is for shit . Just having fun anyways, it’s pretty shitty out here for riding right now
Checked with a multimeter and all is well on that front. The epoxy, even though it’s still curing, is holding very very well. I’m going to rip this one apart to salvage the bullet connectors and wires and print some new mounts with some changes made to fit my board better. I have holes drilled in my enclosure for the current grommet and I’m going to need to lengthen that hole to accommodate these. I’ll have to make the mount taller and square the ends off a bit more to clear my CNLinko sensor wire connectors. Might get a little sassy and print TPU “gaskets” as well but we’ll see. I’ll get the new bits designed and printed tomorrow.
Got the newest version mocked up. Eliminated the exit channels on the inside mount piece because they weren’t really necessary. I modified the overall size/shape of the panel mount to suit my enclosure and situation better (overall is 38x19mm). Still using M3 bolts… probably M3x12 if I had to guess. Will make a couple 1mm TPU gaskets for the inside and outside. Probably unnecessary but this whole project is pretty unnecessary so why not keep with the theme. Should get some test prints done tonight to see how it all works
New mounts printed in PETG. Easy quick print (less than 1/2 hr per set). Haven’t done the TPU gaskets yet but probably this weekend. Have one mount setting with epoxy and wires right now. Will let it sit for a day and test the push/pull strength tomorrow evening. Size is good - they will cover the 5/8” holes I have currently for my grommets.
I haven’t finger fucked them yet, but diagrams seem to indicate they’re 3.5mm bullets. Idgaf about whatever amp ratings they/others state. For the vast majority of esk8ers, 3.5mm bullet on your phases is more than enough. If they’re a weird proprietary 3mm bullet, that may be different…
Nope I hadn’t seen those but I like the look of them. Evolve and Meepo (I think) use some form of combined phase wire and sensor cable but I haven’t been able to find out who makes it etc. This one isn’t exact, but it is the same idea.
I’ve done to it lately, so the quality of prints in any pictures probably won’t blow you away. Anyways, I basically recreated the male side of the connector, but expanded out the 'waist of the connector into a panel with two M3 sized holes in it for mounting. I originally had this all as one piece, and recreated the back side of the connector as well (for the grey wire shield to connect) but I wasn’t able to get the tolerances right so the grey piece wouldn’t click on as it was supposed to.
. Just having fun anyways, it’s pretty shitty out here for riding right now
