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buss bars

rvator9a

Well Known Member
I can't seem to find a place to buy buss bars, I'm looking for something to put behind the panel for things like grounds, instrument lighting, and avionics power. It seems like it would be much neater than bundling wires together.
 
Just did a search in GOOGLE for "buss bar" and got at least a million sites selling such creatures. Some look to be usefull for airplanes.

Check it out.

Van's sells bar stock for making your own.
 
Buss bars are fine, but for future maintenance, sometimes "daisy chain" wiring can be easier to work with. Several times working on customers aircraft I've had to remove multiple breakers just to get one out because they were all tied together with a buss bar.
 
ACS sells a thick buss bar strip which is easy to tap into and twice as good as the stuff Van's sent.

I've used it for C.B.'s on two planes now.
 
Have you considered terminal strips?

rvator9a said:
I can't seem to find a place to buy buss bars, I'm looking for something to put behind the panel for things like grounds, instrument lighting, and avionics power. It seems like it would be much neater than bundling wires together.

You might consider terminal strips for that application, too.
 
What is the difference between a buss bar and a terminal strip? and where can I buy a terminal strip.
 
Also called "Barrier blocks"

rvator9a said:
What is the difference between a buss bar and a terminal strip? and where can I buy a terminal strip.

This is what I mean:

http://rocky.digikey.com/WebLib/Cinch/Web Photos/8-140.jpg

You can buy them at Digi-Key:

http://rocky.digikey.com/scripts/ProductInfo.dll?Site=US&V=116&M=8-140

Search for "Barrier Block". Each pair of screws is electrically isolated from every other pair. If you want to use them as a bus bar, you have to install a little shorting strip (also available from Digi-Key) between adjacent pairs.
 
Copper buss bar

I used 1/4 soft copper tubeing from Lowes, 5 ton press and a couple of pieces of flat steel flattens out nice to make a 3/8 wide piece of copper

jim knight
Burlington Iowa
RV-6 180 hours
 
Local Store

At most local hardware stores they have a small rack of brass tubing and flat stock in 12" sections. Sometimes they have copper too. The brass seams easier to work with.

You can get yourself a nice strip of flat stock to your liking. Use a Whitney punch and make as many holes at whatever spacing you want. As for the daisy chain idea, you can make several sections of strip and put a joggle in them or a link with connectors and a jumper and have the best/worst of both worlds. :rolleyes:

This is the kind of stuff that really helps if you have had experience and know what the certified stuff looks like as far as sizes and configurations.

If you know what your doing you can calculate the cross section to make sure its big enough to handle the loads. I've been at work too long today so I will let someone else explain all that.

Have fun and . . . . . . . . .
 
fuse block

You might consider the fuse block approach, I am planning this for a couple of the busses rather than circuit breakers as it will free up some panel space (fewer CB's) and looks like it may be easier to reach and manage under the slider forward area, will also have extra slots for future changes/additions. They have them also at B and C
 
Door kick plate brass works very well. Great if you can get it from an old door. $25 will get one from a hardware store that has enough for an entire EAA chapter's needs. I made a panel ground plate from this with fast-on tabs from Stein. Can do the same for a distribution block. The block is bolted to 1/4 inch phenolic sheet and velcroed to the top of my map box (not shown). It's behind a removeable section of an Affordable Panel 3-piece which I can easily remove for access.

Sorry for the blurry photo.

Jekyll

[img=http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/3447/panelgroundblock52307iq3.th.jpg]
 
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