Homebuilt ROVs Forum

Hi guys.

Today at work, i salvaged a damaged Burton connector from the bin and sliced it open with the horizontal bandsaw,

Burton bulkhead penetrators are commonly used on ROV's, particularly Perry work class ROV's which I currently work on.


I've attached a few photos, you can see the make up of the connector, stainless steel outer, the pins look crimped to the conductors before potting, the black compound closest to the pins is some sort of rubber, the the translucent and green/blue layer are some sort of epoxy.

Very nice connectors!

Very interesting post thanks for posting. Almost looks like three layers of different sealant used in them.

-Steve

That's a great cross section of a Burton connector and it shows how its made.

The clear layer is an acrylic disc that has holes in it to locate the pins in the right place, the pins are fitted to the disc and the disk with the pins is then pushed into the metal housing where it locates on a shoulder, you can just see it.
The grey bit is epoxy and the black a synthetic rubber.
You will notice the design has mechanical strength without the rubber and epoxy where the pin has a shoulder that rests on the acrylic disc and the disc rests on a shoulder in the housing. The rubber makes a very good seal with the mating half while the epoxy acts as both a seal and a support for the wires.

It's hard to make connectors of this type without an injection moulding machine to do the rubber bit.
Metal shell connectors that are "O" ring sealed can be manufactured in a machine shop and the inserts and pins borrowed from industrial/military round shell connectors that are not designed for sub sea use. They are no always waterproof when disconnected like the Burton connector.

Thanks for that kermit!

Out of interest do you know of any uk suppliers of subsea connectors that would sell connectors to an individua?l