90° Plug
16 June 2023
We have a number of plugs that stick out of the wall inconveniently. One of them is a power cord plugged into a socket behind the kitchen sink. Ideally I'd replace them with a 90° plug.
Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, nobody sells J-type 90° plugs (other than this monstrosity). There are however lots of straight plugs available that can serve as organ donors.
[Edit: An astute reader points out that this commercial plug has the 'L' (and the corresponding 'N') reversed on the molded plastic. Yikes!]
I measured all the metal components from a straight plug, then designed a new shell using SketchUp. [Source file.]
The design printed well, though some filing was required since 3D prints are never quite the same dimensions as the values in the CAD file.
With the original molded plug chopped off, the wires were reattached after triple-checking that I hadn't reversed the polarity.
The new shell doesn't have room for a strain relief, so the whole thing was simply glued shut. Just like the original molded plug, there are no user-serviceable parts inside.
The result saves about 5cm and creates a much tidier appearance. Someone should really sell these commercially.
