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In search of a gland — Parallax Forums

In search of a gland

Brian CarpenterBrian Carpenter Posts: 728
in General Discussion
Guys, i am sure you have used one. at least one of you....
I am looking for a gland that i can pass a USB Type-A male through into a box and then tighten the gland down to keep the box watertight. looking for something affordable. I have seen the $70 ones. Any ideas?
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Comments

  • Hal AlbachHal Albach Posts: 747
    Just a suggestion, use a USB Micro or Mini, something with a connector that is more in line with the size of the cable. That way you can use a smaller (less expensive) gland. Did you google 'marine cable gland' ?
    Once inside the box you can use a small adapter to go back up to the humongous Type A connector.
  • WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,934
    I buy lots from Polycase:
    https://www.polycase.com/cg-series

    Someone mentioned Elecdirect to me recently, but I have never used them:
    http://www.elecdirect.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=gland
  • PropGuy2PropGuy2 Posts: 360
    Depends on your usage. Do you just want it to be Splash proof, rain tight, water tight or something to withstand internal / external pressure of a few(?) PSI. Each instance has a solution. Remember when water leaks, it is usually followed by corrosion and device failure. I suspect you just want it to be Rain tight, then Home Depot might be a good place to start. If it is going to be under water at any depth, then something high tech is in order, possibly a feed-thru connector.
  • rosco_pcrosco_pc Posts: 464
    Not sure what the prices are, but saw these recommended somewhere else: http://www.icotek.com/en/product-catalogue/cable-glands/
  • MicksterMickster Posts: 2,693
    I use IP65 Neutriks for my ruggedised tablets:

    http://www.neutrik.com/en/multimedia/multimedia-connectors/usb/
  • T ChapT Chap Posts: 4,223
    edited 2017-05-10 13:25
    You don't mention if this needs to be permanently connected. If so then it is much easier to route a cable through a sealed grommet then resolder the wires back.

    http://www.newark.com/bud-industries/ng-9511/cable-gland-clamp-pg7/dp/83F3332?ost=83F3332&searchView=table&iscrfnonsku=false&ddkey=http:en-US/Element14_US/search

  • RS_JimRS_Jim Posts: 1,764
    USB type C cable with a2c adapter inside the box.
    Jim
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    Thanks for teaching me a new word. The thread title had me worried.

    And thank goodness this thread wasn't about Chinese organ harvesters. "I woke up in a bathtub full of ice and read this note..."
  • WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,934
    Brian, FYI, I have made myself a note to check my stock at home tonight. I may have what you need as I just remembered a sample kit I got at last year's D2P show has a handful of cable glands in it. If so, I can just toss it in the mail.
  • MikeDYurMikeDYur Posts: 2,176
    erco wrote: »
    Thanks for teaching me a new word. The thread title had me worried.

    And thank goodness this thread wasn't about Chinese organ harvesters. "I woke up in a bathtub full of ice and read this note..."



    That's a new word for me to. Where did it come from? Sweat gland maybe, like an open or closed pore. Funny word to be used in electronics.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    How is this a new word. "gland" has been in use in engineering at least the time of water pumps and the steam engines https://www.heritagesteamsupplies.co.uk/gland-packing.html

    Of course it helps to qualify it as "cable gland". To avoid confusion :)

    Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. Just so happened I suddenly have need for such things here this week.
  • MicksterMickster Posts: 2,693
    erco wrote: »
    Thanks for teaching me a new word. The thread title had me worried.

    And thank goodness this thread wasn't about Chinese organ harvesters. "I woke up in a bathtub full of ice and read this note..."

    ROFL!!!
  • DaveJensonDaveJenson Posts: 375
    Check out the Wikipedia page:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuffing_box

    From the dictionary:
    ɡland/
    noun
    plural noun: glands
    a sleeve used to produce a seal around a piston rod or other shaft.
    Origin: early 19th century: probably a variant of Scots glam ‘a vice or clamp’; related to clamp.
  • MikeDYurMikeDYur Posts: 2,176
    edited 2017-05-10 21:14
    Heater. wrote: »
    How is this a new word. "gland" has been in use in engineering at least the time of water pumps and the steam engines


    That may explain it. You Brit's have very descriptive words for things:

    One technician said to another, "give me that bloody gland".

    The British have such a way of expression, could have caught on from someones slang use.


    EDIT: Just seen Dave's post, further proof it came from that side of the pond.
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    Heater. wrote: »
    How is this a new word. "gland" has been in use in engineering at least the time of water pumps and the steam engines https://www.heritagesteamsupplies.co.uk/gland-packing.html

    Of course it helps to qualify it as "cable gland". To avoid confusion :)

    Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. Just so happened I suddenly have need for such things here this week.

    I would guess that most of us on this forum have not dealt with steam engines and other early 20th century machinery so in the context of this forum it is a new word to us. For myself, having started in the medical side of computers and instrumentation the first reaction to seeing it was along the lines of what erco posted.
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2017-05-10 21:23
    DaveJensen wrote:
    Origin: early 19th century: probably a variant of Scots glam ‘a vice or clamp’; related to clamp.
    And now, "glam" has a whole 'nuther meaning!

    And about those one-syllables that end in "am": almost every letter of the alphabet can be used to precede it, viz:

    am
    bam
    cam
    dam
    e
    fam
    gam
    ham
    i
    jam
    k
    lam
    ma'am
    Nam
    o
    Pam
    QAM
    ram
    Sam
    tam
    u
    v
    wham
    x
    yam
    zam (after sha)


    -Phil
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    I would not like to guess where the "gland" terminology comes from but every American electrician knows what "cable glands" are.

    Well, at least the guys at Platt Electrical in San Jose https://www.platt.com/search.aspx?q=glands

    @DaveJenson ,

    In this politically correct world are we still allowed to say "stuffing box"? So many good old engineering terms seem to be off limits today, for example "ball cock".

  • DaveJensonDaveJenson Posts: 375
    Heater. wrote: »

    @DaveJenson ,

    In this politically correct world are we still allowed to say "stuffing box"? So many good old engineering terms seem to be off limits today, for example "ball cock".

    No ever accused me (or Wikipedia) of being politically correct!
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) wrote: »
    And about those one-syllables that end in "am": almost every letter of the alphabet can be used to precede it, viz:

    am
    bam
    cam
    dam
    e

    Pam
    QAM
    ram
    Sam
    tam


    -Phil

    Green eggs and ham, Glam-I-Am?

    Not in a box, not with a fox.
    Not in the rain, not on a train.

    It's not my will, I tell you Phil!

  • MikeDYurMikeDYur Posts: 2,176
    edited 2017-05-11 17:29
    A gland helps keep water out, on a boats propeller shaft, and helps keep a seal on a steam piston.
    stuffing-box-300x180.jpg
    300 x 180 - 13K
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2017-05-12 01:02
    Thanks, I'm familiar with packing, as a rotary shaft seal. Just hadn't heard gland as an out-of-body piece of hardware.
  • WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,934
    WBA Consulting wrote: »
    Brian, FYI, I have made myself a note to check my stock at home tonight. I may have what you need as I just remembered a sample kit I got at last year's D2P show has a handful of cable glands in it. If so, I can just toss it in the mail.

    Sorry, nothing that large in my stuff. However, have you looked at the USB male A connectors with solder cups so you can cut, feed through a small gland, then solder on the connector?

  • Brian CarpenterBrian Carpenter Posts: 728
    We are looking for ip65 rating.
    PropGuy2 wrote: »
    Depends on your usage. Do you just want it to be Splash proof, rain tight, water tight or something to withstand internal / external pressure of a few(?) PSI. Each instance has a solution. Remember when water leaks, it is usually followed by corrosion and device failure. I suspect you just want it to be Rain tight, then Home Depot might be a good place to start. If it is going to be under water at any depth, then something high tech is in order, possibly a feed-thru connector.

  • Brian CarpenterBrian Carpenter Posts: 728
    You guys are too funny. Haven't been back until tonight due to school and work and family and... gave me a laugh
  • Brian FairchildBrian Fairchild Posts: 549
    As well as the usual glands for circular cables you can get them for 'flat' cables as used here in the UK (and I guess elsewhere) for house wiring. Although the cable is more rectangular than flat.
  • Hal AlbachHal Albach Posts: 747
    edited 2017-05-12 12:39
    While I was serving in the US Navy oh so long agoI learned quite a bit about "Stuffing Tubes" which were used to allow cables to go through bulkheads (walls) and still maintain watertight integrity. They consisted of a steel tube of various diameters that were welded into the hole in the bulkhead and had internal threads at both ends. The running end of the cable was fitted with a threaded collar and several slip washers and inserted into the tube and pulled through the bulkhead and pulled tight. The collar and slip washers were then screwed into the tube loosely. At the running end of the tube the installer would pack the tube with a twine heavily soaked in a thick, brown, greasy, pitch like substance we lovingly referred to as "monkey sh..", using a specially formed wooden tool to tightly pack the tube until no more would fit. Another set of slip washers and threaded collar was placed over the cable and screwed into the tube. Using wrenches the collars were were tightened into the tube from both sides, compressing the packing until the cable would not move when pulled. Now imagine doing that thousands of times per ship during wartime shipbuilding!
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    MikeDYur wrote: »
    A gland helps keep water out, on a boats propeller shaft, and helps keep a seal on a steam piston.

    Over many many years of working with mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, steam, and vacuum hardware I don't recall ever having the parts that keep the stuff inside from leaking to the outside (or vice-versa) called anything but seals or o'rings. Glands was a new one for me.

    Is "gland" perhaps referring to a specific type of seal?
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    I'm not sure but I think seals and o'rings are different things than glands.

    In good old steam engines and pumps one has a hole through which a shaft has to travel. The gap between the hole and the shaft being filled with some graphite, some fiber, rubber, whatever, packed in there. In order to stop that sealing stuff from falling out it is rammed in and held in place with some screw/nut arrangement that tightens p on it.

    In modern day electrical things cables pass through holes in boxes and get sealed with a similar arrangement of a packing material and something to screw it in tight.

    I think "gland" refers to that whole assembly. The threaded parts, the sealer inside, etc.

    Where as "seal" or "o'ring" is just that bit in the middle that is doing the actual sealing.

  • MikeDYurMikeDYur Posts: 2,176
    edited 2017-05-12 21:09
    It"s just not what we call them around these parts.
    A cable gland (in the U.S. more often known as a cable connector or fitting) is a device designed to attach and secure the end of a cable to the equipment.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_gland
    400px-Presse-etoupe.jpg
    400 x 121 - 8K
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    Which parts?

    Platt Electrical has been selling all over the USA since 1953 and they sell "cable grands"
    https://www.platt.com/platt-electric-supply/Strain-Relief-Cord-Grips/Cable-Glands-Non-Metallic/search.aspx?SectionID=9&GroupID=121&CatID=856

    A cable gland is not any kind of "cable connector".
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