Drilling Through Copper Bus Bars

[davidrose99]

I recently spent roughly an hour drilling through copper bus bars, surely there's an easier way to do it? :ack2:

 

[GB.Kayak]

Water laser makes a pretty enough job,but maybe the odd issue in a live bus-bar chamber...:icon12:

Hydraulic punching rigs were once on my repair list,10,000 psi power-packs...inch and a quarter of road plate - no problem...but do not be tempted to try doing the same on a piece of Kevlar matrix...stuck like King Arthurs' sword...not my best bit of R&D :conehead:

What is a 'water laser'? I have only come across water jet OR laser cutting ... though often companies who do one also do the other! I really don't want to be too pedantic ... I just can't help it ... 'Kevlar matrix' is an interesting term. The Kevlar in a product made from Kevlar is the fibre reinforcement which is surrounded by a 'matrix' that is generally some form of thermoset plastic or thermoplastic material.

 

[PEG]

What is a 'water laser'? I have only come across water jet OR laser cutting ... though often companies who do one also do the other! I really don't want to be too pedantic ... I just can't help it ... 'Kevlar matrix' is an interesting term. The Kevlar in a product made from Kevlar is the fibre reinforcement which is surrounded by a 'matrix' that is generally some form of thermoset plastic or thermoplastic material.

No,your right,it deserves qualifying ..."water-laser" is a common enough generic term for HPW cutting equipment,some water only,the larger rigs use a range of "introduced" or injected cutting mediums,and are used in the gas/petro-chemical industries,for their obvious benefits.

The reference to "Kevlar matrix",was for a product described exactly as so,which formed the inner lining,on a chamber used in ballistic testing,where,basically,bullets could be filmed impacting various materials. It was fairly old,and i had it described,to me,as a "super" bullet proof material.

Over the years,out of boredom/interest,i had "tested"" it brutally,and wondered one day,what carnage a large,hole-punch would inflict....

It got part way through its' cycle,and jammed. Properly.

It was an afternoon out of my life,to press it back out,and the forces involved,were considerable,at one point i had a piece of copper,as spacer for the punch,and witnessed it "oozing" from the edges like caramel :icon12:

 

[Knobhead]

If a hole is drilled and tapped, then studded, does this affect the CCC? I'd have thought the bolt/ stud would in effect become part of the bar, but I'm ready to be educated!

We avoided drilling large holes in bars if we could but it wasn’t always possible to get lugs with multi-hole fixings. What we would do is put a copper compensating plate on the side of the lug with a steel pressure plate on the otherside of the busbar.
The steel backing plate was a trick I pinched from GE switchgear. If you look in any GE System 4 fuse switches there is an anodised steel pressure plate between the fuse connections and the securing nuts.