3D printed lock for Ford NACS adapter

Here's my first attempt at 3D printing a lock for the adapter to prevent someone from just disconnecting the adapter and taking it while charging. It has 2 parts (plus a padlock). The inner sleeve that covers the release button is tapered to match the size/shape of the adapter. It has to be pushed on from the back side. I believe it's tight enough and strong enough so that it can't be pulled off the front of the adapter. Then the second piece slides up from the bottom to keep the sleeve from being pushed back. Lock together with a padlock.

I'm open to suggestions. This design does not prevent the locking lever from moving, but just prevents access to the release button. I don't believe you can pull the lever up when installed without some sort of hooked tool. Also, I left the release for the NACS plug exposed. That could be covered up as well, but thought it best to have a way to quickly unplug. I did consider some sort of hidden button lock (like a puzzle box), but thought that could be figured out. I plan to print this in black to conceal it somewhat when in use.

That's a nice solution.

While devising my own locking plate (in a related adapter locking thread) I saw the issue as three related problems:

1. Preventing the pivoting silver locking lever from being moved up off the charging port's latch / preventing the silver push button from being accessible to do that. The obvious way is to cover either end or both ends of the pivoting silver lever to either hold the working end on the latch, or making the push end inaccessible.

2. Preventing the locking / cover device from being slid back off the rounded body of the adapter. This problem is a bit harder... I see how a tightly dimensioned 3-D printed cover should solve this. I used the cavities in the car's charging port on the sides of the latch to accomplish this by bending my metal cover's ends into prongs.

3. Preventing the locking mechanism from being rotated around the body of the adapter to expose the silver push button. Your 3-D wraparound printed part's design accomplishes this elegantly.

I'm sure as time passes and the Tesla adapters become more common, others will come up with even better solutions.

JustBob said:

Here's my first attempt at 3D printing a lock for the adapter to prevent someone from just disconnecting the adapter and taking it while charging. It has 2 parts (plus a padlock). The inner sleeve that covers the release button is tapered to match the size/shape of the adapter. It has to be pushed on from the back side. I believe it's tight enough and strong enough so that it can't be pulled off the front of the adapter. Then the second piece slides up from the bottom to keep the sleeve from being pushed back. Lock together with a padlock.

I'm open to suggestions. This design does not prevent the locking lever from moving, but just prevents access to the release button. I don't believe you can pull the lever up when installed without some sort of hooked tool. Also, I left the release for the NACS plug exposed. That could be covered up as well, but thought it best to have a way to quickly unplug. I did consider some sort of hidden button lock (like a puzzle box), but thought that could be figured out. I plan to print this in black to conceal it somewhat when in use.

Click to expand...

Very cool! Would you be willing to share a STEP file? I use Fusion 360 for 3D CAD, so if you do too, we could collaborate on the design.

A couple questions: on the left (non locking) side, is it just the stiffness of the material that keeps the overlapping portion from being removed? What type of filament are you planning on printing it in?

JustBob said:

Here's my first attempt at 3D printing a lock for the adapter to prevent someone from just disconnecting the adapter and taking it while charging. It has 2 parts (plus a padlock). The inner sleeve that covers the release button is tapered to match the size/shape of the adapter. It has to be pushed on from the back side. I believe it's tight enough and strong enough so that it can't be pulled off the front of the adapter. Then the second piece slides up from the bottom to keep the sleeve from being pushed back. Lock together with a padlock.

I'm open to suggestions. This design does not prevent the locking lever from moving, but just prevents access to the release button. I don't believe you can pull the lever up when installed without some sort of hooked tool. Also, I left the release for the NACS plug exposed. That could be covered up as well, but thought it best to have a way to quickly unplug. I did consider some sort of hidden button lock (like a puzzle box), but thought that could be figured out. I plan to print this in black to conceal it somewhat when in use.

Click to expand...

Nice work!

Do you know what kind of 3D printer I would need to print something like this?
Will something under $200 from Amazon work? Thanks.

21st Century Pony said:

That's a nice solution.

While devising my own locking plate (in a related adapter locking thread) I saw the issue as three related problems:

1. Preventing the pivoting silver locking lever from being moved up off the charging port's latch / preventing the silver push button from being accessible to do that. The obvious way is to cover either end or both ends of the pivoting silver lever to either hold the working end on the latch, or making the push end inaccessible.

2. Preventing the locking / cover device from being slid back off the rounded body of the adapter. This problem is a bit harder... I see how a tightly dimensioned 3-D printed cover should solve this. I used the cavities in the car's charging port on the sides of the latch to accomplish this by bending my metal cover's ends into prongs.

3. Preventing the locking mechanism from being rotated around the body of the adapter to expose the silver push button. Your 3-D wraparound printed part's design accomplishes this elegantly.

I'm sure as time passes and the Tesla adapters become more common, others will come up with even better solutions.

Click to expand...

I do like your metal plate design. I wasn't thinking about it holding the back of the adapter with those hooks. I didn't realize there was room for that. Maybe my next attempt will need to be something like that. Maybe a top and bottom piece that lock together and could be installed after charging starts. One concern with my tapered ring would be thermal expansion. There's not much of a taper, so maybe sitting in the sun would expand it enough that it could be pulled off the front.

One question on your metal plate design. I assume it doesn't matter if you install the adapter on the car first, or on the Tesla plug first? Ford says to install on Tesla plug first, but I don't believe yours can do that. But charging can't start until the car and charger communicate with each other.

JohnFoxeSheets said:

Very cool! Would you be willing to share a STEP file? I use Fusion 360 for 3D CAD, so if you do too, we could collaborate on the design.

A couple questions: on the left (non locking) side, is it just the stiffness of the material that keeps the overlapping portion from being removed? What type of filament are you planning on printing it in?

Click to expand...

No problem sharing. I'll send you a direct message. This is a work in progress and I'm open to any suggestions or other people finding solutions. I already have a few other ideas to try.

As for the non-locking side, I printed this with 4-5 mm walls in PETG plastic. It's very rigid. A hammer or crowbar could break it. But the point is to prevent someone from just disconnecting it and walking away.

jason330i said:

Nice work!

Do you know what kind of 3D printer I would need to print something like this?
Will something under $200 from Amazon work? Thanks.

Click to expand...

I'm using an Ender 3 S1 printer with PETG filament.

JustBob said:

I do like your metal plate design. I wasn't thinking about it holding the back of the adapter with those hooks. I didn't realize there was room for that.

One question on your metal plate design. I assume it doesn't matter if you install the adapter on the car first, or on the Tesla plug first? Ford says to install on Tesla plug first, but I don't believe yours can do that. But charging can't start until the car and charger communicate with each other.

Click to expand...

The top front (business end) of the Tesla adapter snugs up against the latch area in the car's charging port. There are two roughly triangular, pretty darn deep voids to the left and right of the latch tooth on top of where the normal CCS1 and Level 2 plugs plug into the charging port. Because the top of the Tesla adapter kind of blocks off those voids to a large degree, whatever is hooked on there in those two voids can't be pulled off... I think Your design could easily add some 3-D print material to create filler blocks in there and thus secure the adapter locking device from backward pull-off.

I follow the TeslaTap routine (have one of these too) by 1st always plugging into the Tesla connector, then after 10 seconds plugging into the car's charging port. I faintly recall the Ford adapter instructions having a blurb about this sequence as the correct sequence.

I lay the orange plate on top of the adapter after the Tesla adapter and the Tesla connector plug are mated, and then latch everything to the car's charging port. My orange adapter plate has enough vertical "give" to allow the adapter's silver latch arm to latch onto the car's charging port. Then and only then do I snug the orange plate down onto the adapter with that REI bicycle flat metal yellow combo lock, which keeps the silver latch end secure on the latch as well as making the silver push button on the adapter's other end inaccessible.

I hope I've answered your questions... kinda hard to do without both of us looking at the same device together, he hee.

Originally I was thinking of making a locking plate that would prevent the business (car) end of the adapter's silver latch arm from raising at all... but my final design avoided some fitment problems inherent in that approach.

21st Century Pony said:

Originally I was thinking of making a locking plate that would prevent the business (car) end of the adapter's silver latch arm from raising at all... but my final design avoided some fitment problems inherent in that approach.

Click to expand...

Interesting. Wonder if I could make 2 pieces that fit in that gap around the locking lever. One to hook over the back of the adapter, then another to fill the gap above the locking lever. Lock the 2 pieces together and the adapter latch can't be lifted. That might be a simpler and more effective way to lock.

JustBob said:

I'm using an Ender 3 S1 printer with PETG filament.

Click to expand...

PETG is a good filament for this (recognized it immediately)

For a beginner like the other poster, it might be helpful to say that PLA, the most common printer filament type, is not appropriate. PLA sags somewhere above 100F to 110F so not a good choice for functional outdoor use. ABS and ASA would be two other good choices (and some more exotic stuff).

For anyone who doesn't want to buy a printer, there are 3d printing companies and services. You can upload a file to them and they send you the response. If you look up "3d printing service" in a maps application, or on the internet, you'll see a number of them. There might be one near you. This is certainly better than learning how to own and operate your own printer for a small number of parts.

just playing devils advocate here, but wouldn't a hard twist on the lock break this? It would need to be in TPU, Nylon, or something else that pretty durable to avoid being easily defeated.

metfoo said:

just playing devils advocate here, but wouldn't a hard twist on the lock break this? It would need to be in TPU, Nylon, or something else that pretty durable to avoid being easily defeated.

Click to expand...

It's pretty rigid. I think a hard twist could possibly break the adapter first. I'm not willing to test that. ?

Twist probably wouldn’t break it easily. Hitting with a screwdriver, knife, etc. to separate the layers probably would though.

I totally dig the ingenuity of people on this forum, but I really don't see this as an "issue" worth addressing, but that's just my opinion..

ipca204 said:

I totally dig the ingenuity of people on this forum, but I really don't see this as an "issue" worth addressing, but that's just my opinion..

Click to expand...

it's only worth addressing if one drives the Mach E long distances and frequently (I do - now just under 75K miles on mine), and DC Fast charges during those trips, and gets out of the car and walks about during charging (I always do, for my health and to get my butt circulation moving, and the dog when she's with me needs movement as well).