Electrical connector filing template

[Occasional machinist]

Elelctrical connectors are a pain to make holes for, as the holes are usually odd shapes and need to be carefully filed out. In this clip I make up a filing template so that it becomes much more straight forward to produce those holes.

[DIYer]

Thanks Occasional machinist! We've added your Electrical Connector Filing Template to our Miscellaneous category,
as well as to your builder page: Occasional machinist's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Electrical Connector Filing Template by Occasional machinist

tags: file, fixture

[rgsparber]

That template hole is a good candidate for machining on a rotary table.

For one offs, 3D printing might be good enough.

Might also be able to build the double D hole from pieces: drill hole to form rounded top and bottom. Then flank with plates to form flats. They won’t be on the same plane so filing would take some skill. If you made two and stacked them, you would get the alignment for your file.

[Occasional machinist]

Yes. Someone on the youtube site suggested using a rotary table too. The small R/T is still in pieces and the big one is a 30kg 8" version - I feel a little silly getting that set up for a 5/8" diameter hole.
I did think of drilling a hole and then welding up a little so I could make the flats (it's 13.5 A/F, so 1.25mm/ 50 thou per side)
Michael