r/functionalprint • u/Difficult-Rip-8200 • 13h ago
[ Removed by moderator ]
/gallery/1w4f9ao[removed] — view removed post
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u/Halsti 12h ago
finally i can save pennies on the readily available normal covers, that i can get in any hardware store near me.
i would love to install a homemade cover that, in case of a house fire, would probably lead to a lawsuit with my insurance, because it didnt have a fire rating.
not to say this doesnt look cool... but i would never use this.
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u/jesusrambo 9h ago
Even ChatGPT doesn’t parrot misinformation this reliably
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u/mattague 4h ago
I'm so lost on what you think is misinformation? It is absolutely true that renters insurance and home owners insurance will deny an entire claim due to a single instance of something like this.
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u/chriswood1001 13h ago
Fantastic work! Could this be modified to act as a low voltage wall cover without a mounted junction box? If the "bar" was wider than the hole it could slip through the drywall and clamp against the back of the wall. Possibly two "bars" to lock that in place and your cover clips on top to make it all clean.
Lots of low voltage hobbiests out there! I'd love to make this work!
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u/lekroif 7h ago
I don't usually comment, but man people are honestly awful and clueless in these comments.
This print has a clever and stylish design, very functional and it is even parametric
Do all the folks consider not everybody lives near a hardware store?? I'm not going to drive 40 minutes just to get a cover. And not going to order an entire delivery for a single cover.
And also, at least in my old house - I have junction boxes that no longer have covers sold for them. So the model being parametric is very practical.
Plus you can customise it so it's not just a boring cover.
And you can print in ABS which is basically what commercial covers are from.
Keep up the amazing work with such functional models.
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u/AnotherBerthPun 6h ago
I think it’s hard for people to square the two ideas: having a nice tight fitting cover is so much better than no cover, but in live wire situations these are not as flame retardant, heat resistant, heat deflecting, UV resistant etc as even a cheap injection molded UL listed cover, probably to the point of not technically being safe enough to sell in stores. But it’s still 100x better than a piece of tape or some other home DIY fix.
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u/Difficult-Rip-8200 13h ago
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u/work_work-work 6h ago
Thanks! I was just about to go looking for something like this to hide the cable connections going to my security cameras. This is exactly what i need.
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u/HornedOwlsNest 9h ago
What is up with these comments? I understand the comments where people are concerned about safety and not using this for high voltage applications. But why do people feel the need to point out that you can buy one of these at a hardware store for dirt cheap? I find this model useful. I have a lot of low voltage wiring that runs around my house and to have a cheap parametric model available to create junction boxes without having to run out to the store is really useful. I live almost an hour away from the closest hardware store. If I could run a couple of 3D prints overnight and save myself a trip, I will.
Thank OP for posting a cool functional model.
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u/357noLove 7h ago
Because, as an electrician, this isn't tested for safe use. The way most filaments react with heat is entirely dependent on the filaments used... and even with that said, most filaments can't withstand direct electrical flame in order to keep the fire in the box, as opposed to your entire house.
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u/SheriffBartholomew 6h ago
If you have flames coming out of your junction box then you have much bigger problems than it being covered by a 3d printed cover. ABS is perfectly fine in high heat scenarios, but I can't think of a single scenario where your junction boxes should be producing any heat at all. Your shit is not wired correctly and not properly fused/breakered if your wires are heating up and catching fire.
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u/357noLove 5h ago
Lol. Spoken like someone that doesn't understand electrical, at all. That is fine. That being said, you do you, I just would recommend anyone else on here keep the useful prints away from things that have required safety ratings. Rules are written in blood, and all that.
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u/SheriffBartholomew 5h ago edited 5h ago
What wiring in your house will produce meaningful heat? I've done extensive wiring throughout my house and all wires are cool to the touch. That's not even considering stuff like networking wire, which don't carry much load at all. I'd expect a breaker to be tripped before anything could heat up and catch fire. Obviously shit does happen. A friend of mine lost his 100 year old house to an electrical fire. But it burned to the ground without any 3d printed covers. ABS is used in engine compartments, which get much hotter than any electrical wiring in your house should get.
Edit: to clarify my tone, I'm genuinely asking you. You said you're an electrician, so I'm sure your knowledge far outweighs mine. But I can't for the life of me think of any wires in my house that are expected to produce any heat at all, unless they're wired wrong, or some other issue that absolutely has to be remedied and would likely trip the breaker.
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u/HornedOwlsNest 3h ago
Even if wired correctly, high voltage wires do get warm. When you pump 20 amps through a 12 AWG wire, the temperature rise is 60°C. That is considered "safe operating conditions".
In practice, you should not be running a continuous 20 amp load.
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u/357noLove 4h ago
I have come across countless situations of bad wiring, wiring that has loosened due to the wiring expanding and contracting, and straight up criminal "repairs" done by homeowners that were hot to the touch even after I turned off the breaker to do repairs. I have also directly seen a house fire from someone using an incorrect (unlisted safety rating) cover on a junction box. This is for 120v. Let alone anything higher. The problem is two-fold. One is that even if you wired it right, sometimes junctions fail, for various reasons. Do you really stand by your work that much that you will say without a doubt that it will never fail? I don't, which is why I always use listed materials. The second factor is that the junction box, switch, outlet, or similar covers are listed to be fireproof for a set amount of time. Usually enough time for the arc fire to burn up the connection and go out, before burning through the box and or cover.
Again, I have seen the results too often to count of not caring about this. I have literally opened up junction boxes and seen that it did it's job and the house or business are still standing. Hell, I can even post pictures of last week where I caught a bad diy hack job at a business that ended up burning up, but the box it was in kept it from burning down the entire building of 5 businesses.
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u/SheriffBartholomew 3h ago
Okay, well thanks for the warnings, and I'll heed them. I'd be a fool not to listen to the wisdom of someone more experienced than me. Cheers.
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u/UnexpectedAnanas 4h ago
I literally had a breaker not trip last winter and cause a melted electrical socket with smoke that was connected to an electric heater. I caught it only by the smell of the smoke. If that outlet hadn't been flame retardant, it probably would have been an actual fire.
Yes, electricity at load generates heat. It's pretty much the entire reason we have different gauges of wire for different rated loads.
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u/SheriffBartholomew 3h ago
Yes, electricity at load generates heat. It's pretty much the entire reason we have different gauges of wire for different rated loads.
I'm aware of resistance and what it does, but that's why you're supposed to use wire thick enough for the load that it's carrying, so it doesn't get hot. But that electrician guy gave a lot of good examples similar to yours in his last reply, so I concede.
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u/jesusrambo 4h ago
The reason we have different gauges of wire is.. get this.. so that it doesn't generate excessive heat..
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u/HornedOwlsNest 3h ago
Yeah so the plastics used in electrical situations are actually self-extinguishing an ABS is not. This is a real safety concern but again I would not recommend using this in a high voltage application.
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u/UnexpectedAnanas 6h ago
You act like houses have never burned down in electrical fires before.
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u/357noLove 5h ago
Pretty much the same for everyone that responded or messaged me about how wrong I am. God forbid someone actually experienced in this field say something bad about a "functional" print for something that requires a real safety rating for a reason.
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u/HornedOwlsNest 3h ago
Yeah I think maybe my comment was not clear. I'm saying the safety concerns are valid. What I'm confused by is the comparison to the cheap hardware store alternatives.
As an electrician, I'm sure that you know that this would be perfectly safe in a low voltage application such as ethernet or speaker wires.
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u/Genji_main420 8h ago
I'm not understanding the use case. Please enlighten me
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u/HornedOwlsNest 8h ago
If you have low voltage wiring you need to splice or reroute within your house or you need it to be pulled out of the wall and still look nice then this is a nice model.
For example, I have low voltage ethernet and speaker wires running through my house. This would be a great model to use when running these through the walls.
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u/UnexpectedAnanas 7h ago
Right up until someone later uses it for high voltage because it's established and available!
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u/jesusrambo 9h ago
Block them all, it massively improves the quality of the sub
Correcting someone on a CRITICAL SAFETY ISSUE makes them feel important
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u/IAmDotorg 7h ago
This sub hasn't had any quality in years, since it became the defacto dumping ground for people spamming for makerworld credits.
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u/Genji_main420 13h ago
U have a lot of open junction boxes in your house? Is this a euro thing? Why not use readily available and usually cheap standard junction box covers from the store?