decent quality bus bars

[nicknorman]

Brass has four times the resistivity of copper so the I²R losses will be sixteen times greater.

 

Errr, it's the I that is squared, not the R. But anyway, you could still use brass but just make it thicker than you would have done for copper.

 

As said, copper is pretty soft and probably not a good idea to tap a thread and screw down hard into it. Also it may tend to compress over time resulting in the connections coming loose.

Edited February 23, 2017 by nicknorman

[mross]

Errr, it's the I that is squared, not the R.

 

But anyway, you could still use brass but just make it thicker than you would have done for copper.

Oh yes! Ooops, brain fart. Copper's not much different in price compared to brass. (on eBay)

[MtB]

Hmmm never mind brass, a lump of stainless bar a suitable size is only £3.95!

(A LOT more effort to drill and tap though...)

[mross]

Mike, why do you want to drill and tap? What's wrong with nuts and bolts? Just asking.

[Tonka]

can't you just hammer a piece of copper pipe flat and drill holes in for bolts

or steal a bit of lightning conductor

[widebeamboy]

Mike, why do you want to drill and tap? What's wrong with nuts and bolts? Just asking.

 

perfectionism (I suspect) and not meant in a bad way

[MtB]

Mike, why do you want to drill and tap? What's wrong with nuts and bolts? Just asking.

 

 

perfectionism (I suspect) and not meant in a bad way

 

 

Correct. Nuts and bolts would actually be fine but tapped holes with machine screws are just a bit more elegant.

[nicknorman]

Correct. Nuts and bolts would actually be fine but tapped holes with machine screws are just a bit more elegant.

With nuts, bolts, washers, wires and only two hands, you are just bound to drop the nuts and washers into somewhere inaccessible!

[mross]

Because copper is quite soft I'd be worried that machine screws would loosen off. But copper bar is probably sold 'hard', as far as I know. Brass would not relax.

 

I searched for used busbars but did not find any,

[cereal tiller]

With nuts, bolts, washers, wires and only two hands, you are just bound to drop the nuts and washers into somewhere inaccessible!

A drilled and Tapped Buss bar is best, on a lightly loaded one Fork Terminals make assembly easier than using ring Terminals.

 

CT

[IanD]

Hmmm never mind brass, a lump of stainless bar a suitable size is only £3.95!

(A LOT more effort to drill and tap though...)

Stainless steel is 40x resistivity of copper, brass is only 4x...

[Dylan]

 

 

 

Correct. Nuts and bolts would actually be fine but tapped holes with machine screws are just a bit more elegant.

Best to drill and tap as suggested, run bolt in from behind the busbar, then use a nut and washers on the front to secure the lug. That way the thread in the busbar retains the bolt, but the connection is not reliant on that thread. That is how we did them on HV installations.

[ditchcrawler]

How about this http://www.clrwtr.com/PDF/Weidmuller/Weidmuller-SAK-Busbars-Mounting-Rails.pdf

[Mikexx]

Brass has four times the resistivity of copper so the I²R losses will be sixteen times greater.

 

It would be 4 x losses than in copper. Loss is proportional to 'R'.

 

If you passed 4 x the current in copper, then you would have 16 x heating loss, since proportional to I² .

[dmr]

go on...mek yer own, it will be very satisfying, especially if you manage to drill all the holes in a perfect straight line,

m8 bolts should be big enough, I have a set of taps if you don't. I would use copper cus copper is the right stuff for electric things, and its just so nice, a proper semi-precious metal, whilst brass (gypsies gold) is just ponced up tin. What about cutting up a broom handle to make the supports?

............Dave

[Dylan]

Short stubs of plastic pipe make good supports. What is the busbar being fixed to?

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, dmr said:

go on...mek yer own, it will be very satisfying, especially if you manage to drill all the holes in a perfect straight line,

m8 bolts should be big enough, I have a set of taps if you don't. I would use copper cus copper is the right stuff for electric things, and its just so nice, a proper semi-precious metal, whilst brass (gypsies gold) is just ponced up tin. What about cutting up a broom handle to make the supports?

............Dave

And you can polish it every week

[Onewheeler]

11 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

And you can polish it every week

You could gold plate it.

[Dinz]

http://www.copperbusbar.co.uk/category_s/52.htm

Do standoffs and bar

[WotEver]

1 hour ago, Dinz said:

http://www.copperbusbar.co.uk/category_s/52.htm

Do standoffs and bar

That's a little cheaper than my link plus Mike only has to buy two instead of five. 

[rusty69]

16 minutes ago, WotEver said:

That's a little cheaper than my link plus Mike only has to buy two instead of five. 

Think he was talking about wanting two bus bars.

[WotEver]

34 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Think he was talking about wanting two bus bars.

Oh well, still cheaper

[David Mack]

3 hours ago, Dinz said:

http://www.copperbusbar.co.uk/category_s/52.htm

Do standoffs and bar

Blimey! How long a busbar do you need? They sell it in 4.1m lengths!

[WotEver]

46 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Blimey! How long a busbar do you need? They sell it in 4.1m lengths!

I can see Mike the Busbarman's business growing nicely...

[rusty69]

4 minutes ago, WotEver said:

I can see Mike the Busbarman's business growing nicely...

Well, he did say that it wouldn't be worth setting up shop for less than 1000.Maybe that's where he has been all day!