Electronics Slip Ring (diy) for power cable

Alright...

Hopefully I've found the right place to ask!

I have some project in mind where I would like to have a rotating platform, however my problem is I can't avoid the power cable. I've looked at my options and think a slip ring is the best option.

To better visualize what I have in mind:

(http://youtu.be/w8bDha0szIY?t=2m15s)

Now, since it's a power cable I'm assuming the slip ring needs to support 230V and 10-16A (specs for a regular power cord, if I'm not mistaken - wall outlet to PSU). Affordable solutions like on the adafruit store ( http://www.adafruit.com/products/736 ) are not good enough I think (only 2A). Proper slip rings are 300€ upwards as far as I could find info on pricing.

Sadly I forgot almost everything I learned in school about electrics, so I'm hoping someone here can help.

Specifically, I think I can handle the mechanical parts. I need help though with regards to materials and safety, as I'd like to avoid a construction catching fire or melting.

(A very specific issue that confused me: do I need 3 slip rings since the power cord has 3 wires? One each for +, - and gnd? Clarification would be great!)

Well, hope I explained myself well enough!

 

Close to a week gone, almost 500 views and nobody has some advice?

 

I can only say you trawl through Farnell, Digikey and RS Components if you haven't already.

Does it come under any other name?

 

You need insulating plastics and create two parts. The inner and the outer part.

Then you need three rings of thin copper-sheet for the inner part and three brushes made from copper for the outer part.

The rest is just attaching the wires.

Here's a little image to how it's done.

 

and you'll need a decent axis, if you make it a slightly bit wobbly, you'll get disconnects the whole time...

 

What's the max power consumption of your rig? tje adafruit ones are goot doe 440W of mains power, assuming 85% efficiency of the power supply you're good for ~360W of power on your rig..

 

I was planning on using a simple Mini-ITX build, featuring (integrated) WiFi, a few dongles for wireless input (mouse, keyboard, maybe a gamepad) as well as a regular DVD-drive and a harddisk or SSD. No discrete GPU.

So from that perspective, it should be okay - consumption-wise. I was just very cautious because a regular power cord is rated for 10-16A and that adafruit slip ring for only 2A - that really threw me off.

Still not sure how I'd like do it - my thoughts so far were that a slip ring as in the video in my initial post should allow for easier construction, as it allows a sturdy singular pole in the middle as a stand. But I reckon it shouldn't be too hard either to work out a solution with a slip ring such as the one from adafruit.

I guess my key concern is safety and reliability. If I can't get be sure those are met to my expectations, I probably won't be bothered to try this out.

(And frankly, I am very surprised nobody has yet! Still puzzles me, why nobody tried that yet. Or tried hacking those wireless charging stations for wireless power. My basic assumption is simply it is either not possible or too expensive/risky.)

 

Would carbon brushes not be better than copper springs?

 

I got a suggestion to look at broken washing machines, as they apparently have a slip ring that works with carbon brushes and features appropriate specs. So will probably have a look into that, see if salvaging would be an option. After all - that way it might cost nothing at all.