Kaplag
10 mW
Hey guys
Just wanted to post a project I just tested. I doubt this is worth the time or money it takes to do, but I wanted to make end caps for my batteries based from dewalts method. realistically I don't see any benefit for this, but I thought it would be fun and was able to get most of my resources cheaply.
View attachment DSC01692.jpeg
View attachment DSC01694.jpeg
To get to these results, I took a good number of the dewalt cases I had from getting my cells and sliced them apart using a band saw at the vally of the outer border. I then laid them out and used a full dewalt pack back to back with the joints to even out the spacing and align.
To bond them I simply used hot glue. After the glue was dried, I cut it back with a utility knife smoothing it out as best I could.
at this point I have the outer boarder of the cells.
View attachment DSC01662.jpeg
Now to fill in the missing pieces. the backing of the original is about 1/8th thick. I used a few cut pieces of 1/8 masonite to fill in gaps and raise the plastic so I have a margin of error in the mold. to smooth out the top, which dewalt had wires laid through, I just cut a piece of glossy paper to size and spray mounted it on.
View attachment DSC01681.jpeg
A good method of making custom boxes for molds is to buy 1/8 in foamcore board. It's cheap, sturdy and fairly water resistant. Cut to size and use a generous amount of hot glue (or packaging tape) to seal edges to make water tight. Test box with water and fill to the height you will need the mold. I can then pure that water into two containers and get the volume for my 1:1 silicone mold. I then hot glued my piece face up to the bottom of my box.
I used oomoo 25 silicone. Mix both parts and stir. Pure in one spot and let it find it's own path. it only took 75 min to set.
View attachment DSC01688.jpeg
To demold I lifted up the edges and cut the of silicone where it went through the holes on the edges. I was now ready to spray release agent and cast.
I used smooth-cast 300 white plastic. It only takes 10 min to set and demold. Anyway, the results were fairly good. It fits my pack well.
Ideally I will mod my mold to accommodate wire management and add some holes to lighten it up. As I'm sure many will note, this was expensive and not at all practical. I would highly recommend just using heat shrink to contain a pack. For some reason I wanted to see if it would work and had access to school funded supplies so I went ahead and did it.
I have a few more images of process if anyone is interested.
_greg
Just wanted to post a project I just tested. I doubt this is worth the time or money it takes to do, but I wanted to make end caps for my batteries based from dewalts method. realistically I don't see any benefit for this, but I thought it would be fun and was able to get most of my resources cheaply.
View attachment DSC01692.jpeg
View attachment DSC01694.jpeg
To get to these results, I took a good number of the dewalt cases I had from getting my cells and sliced them apart using a band saw at the vally of the outer border. I then laid them out and used a full dewalt pack back to back with the joints to even out the spacing and align.
To bond them I simply used hot glue. After the glue was dried, I cut it back with a utility knife smoothing it out as best I could.
at this point I have the outer boarder of the cells.
View attachment DSC01662.jpeg
Now to fill in the missing pieces. the backing of the original is about 1/8th thick. I used a few cut pieces of 1/8 masonite to fill in gaps and raise the plastic so I have a margin of error in the mold. to smooth out the top, which dewalt had wires laid through, I just cut a piece of glossy paper to size and spray mounted it on.
View attachment DSC01681.jpeg
A good method of making custom boxes for molds is to buy 1/8 in foamcore board. It's cheap, sturdy and fairly water resistant. Cut to size and use a generous amount of hot glue (or packaging tape) to seal edges to make water tight. Test box with water and fill to the height you will need the mold. I can then pure that water into two containers and get the volume for my 1:1 silicone mold. I then hot glued my piece face up to the bottom of my box.
I used oomoo 25 silicone. Mix both parts and stir. Pure in one spot and let it find it's own path. it only took 75 min to set.
View attachment DSC01688.jpeg
To demold I lifted up the edges and cut the of silicone where it went through the holes on the edges. I was now ready to spray release agent and cast.
I used smooth-cast 300 white plastic. It only takes 10 min to set and demold. Anyway, the results were fairly good. It fits my pack well.
Ideally I will mod my mold to accommodate wire management and add some holes to lighten it up. As I'm sure many will note, this was expensive and not at all practical. I would highly recommend just using heat shrink to contain a pack. For some reason I wanted to see if it would work and had access to school funded supplies so I went ahead and did it.
I have a few more images of process if anyone is interested.
_greg
