Modeling utility pole insulators and transformer bushings

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Insulators and Bushings

The tall insulators on he left are High-Voltage Bushings and fit on top of the transformer. This is where the Primary voltage system feeds the transformer. The rest are various forms of Utility Pole Insulators When 3d modeling for printing at Shapeways, currently the best material is FUD/FXD. These materials have a minimum detail of 0.1mm and minimum wall thickness of 0.3mm .. what this means is that if you look at the thickness of the bushing and insulator disks .. that is this minimum ‘wall thckness’. I think that you could get something closer to scale by either photo etching or laser cutting the disks – but since I don’t etch brass or own a laser cutter the point is moot (for now at least). The renderings show both the O scale and HO scale sets – in reality the HO versions are almost twice as thick as the O scale – again the 0.3mm wall thickness limit.

A sectional view. There is an insulator on the top and bottom of a sprue (shown in yellow). The idea is to slice the insulator off of the sprue right where it connects to the sprue. The hole through the center of the insulators is .018″ dia. I made it this size as it matches the dia of some small pins I bought at WalMart – Dritz Quilting Extra Fine Glasshead Pins. This SHOULD print but at minimum will leave a divot you can use to clean the hole up with the right size drill bit.

Here, I am using the HO version as “show and tell”. The idea, is to drill a .018″ hole in the cross-beam, pole and the top of the transformers (pads). Glue in one of the pins and snip to length and slip the insulator over the pin (crossarm) or transformer (HV Bushing). If you cut the pin shorter than the length of the bushings then you will have a small hole on top that you can insert your wire into. The insulators have the wire running down the groove in their sides. In any case – the pin will strengthen the bushings and insulators a lot.

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