Cable Chains instead of braids..

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askernas
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Cable Chains instead of braids..

Post by askernas » Sat Sep 12, 2015 7:31 pm

For a while, I wanted to change out the cable braids for chains, and now the work has been started!

Firstly, I found this nice model on thingiverse, tosdjuenfs Cable Chain: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:40124

I printed out a bunch of those, first to test my PET, worked great, but I wanted them black, so back to the old ABS.

To mount them to the M2, I found another nifty mod on thingiverse by rklosinski: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:151024.
Since I was not using a store bought chain, but rather my own, I imported this and made my own version of it with a cable chain end point integrated.

I cut off part of the model in order to allow for this to be printed without supports.

Image

Then I also needed to fasten the other end somehow. There is a very nice little hole near the edge where I've previously had a cable tie holding the Y axis cables in place. This was perfect for my needs. Now i just needed to draw and print a holder that was made for this task:

Image

Once I had printed enough links in the chain above, it was a simple matter to remove the braid and carefully thread the cables one by one (largest first) through the cable chain.
While doing this, I had them broken un into segments of 4 pieces, as this was easier to thread the cables through smaller segments.

There was one big 4MM bolt that helps holding the top plate to the steel frame that was a bit in the way, but I replaced this with a smaller screw that should normally be counter sunk, but it got the bolt low enough to allow the chain to pass over without issues.

Here's the result of the Y-axis DONE!
Image

Now for fixing mounts for the heated bed and X-axis....

Once this is done, I'd be happy to upload y modifed files, if anyone should want them.

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Jules
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Re: Cable Chains instead of braids..

Post by Jules » Sat Sep 12, 2015 7:48 pm

Great job! :D

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jimc
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Re: Cable Chains instead of braids..

Post by jimc » Sat Sep 12, 2015 10:12 pm

nice. i like it

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Matt_Sharkey
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Re: Cable Chains instead of braids..

Post by Matt_Sharkey » Sun Sep 13, 2015 1:01 am

Excellent job.

Odd question: Does it make any noise?

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insta
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Re: Cable Chains instead of braids..

Post by insta » Sun Sep 13, 2015 2:10 am

Does the stock wiring harness fit through the cable chain without lengthening?
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askernas
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Re: Cable Chains instead of braids..

Post by askernas » Sun Sep 13, 2015 9:57 am

Matt_Sharkey wrote:Excellent job.

Odd question: Does it make any noise?
Nope, it is absolutely silent! =)
insta wrote:Does the stock wiring harness fit through the cable chain without lengthening?
So far I've only done the Y-axis and still drawing the holders for the other axis, but for the Y-axis, there was no issues at all fitting the cables without the hose. Length was perfect.

It was a bit fiddly at times, as you really need to break down the chain into smaller segments when pulling the connectors through.

You really need to start with the extruder motor connector, and then do them in descending size order, otherwise you will have issues.

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PcS
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Re: Cable Chains instead of braids..

Post by PcS » Sun Sep 13, 2015 2:06 pm

Very nice work !!! That has been on my m2 bucket list since the start !!! Cannot wait to see your solution for the bed !!! ;-)

askernas
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Re: Cable Chains instead of braids..

Post by askernas » Sun Sep 13, 2015 2:23 pm

Based off a chain solution on thingiverse for a commercially availble chain by jhaupt (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1001793)

I have used that as a base, and drew this in Rhino and printed. I printed in ABS and scaled it to 101% for shrinkage.

Image

Fits great!

Next up is the bracket to hold the cable from the Y-axis stepper! That one will be a bit tricky, as I only have an image in mind to go after, but that's half the fun, isn't it? ;)

The files by jhaupt on this are incomplete, and the bracket for this one is 0 bytes.

I have still pretty much redrawn it all from scratch on all parts so far anyway, but it helps to have a model to base it on, as I don't have to worry about the measurements for stepper motors and holes in the M2 and such...

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jhaupt
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Re: Cable Chains instead of braids..

Post by jhaupt » Wed Sep 23, 2015 6:16 pm

Looks great askernas!
The files by jhaupt on this are incomplete, and the bracket for this one is 0 bytes.
I don't know what happened, they're fixed now. jdacal managed to print them so maybe Thingiverse did something weird.

askernas
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Re: Cable Chains instead of braids..

Post by askernas » Fri Sep 25, 2015 1:54 pm

jhaupt wrote:Looks great askernas!
The files by jhaupt on this are incomplete, and the bracket for this one is 0 bytes.
I don't know what happened, they're fixed now. jdacal managed to print them so maybe Thingiverse did something weird.
They were 0 bytes when I downloaded them, but since, I have made my own and fixed it for the printed chain.

The only thing now that stops me from completing, is that I haven't gotten around to extending the cables, other than that, all parts of the 100% printed version is done!

Most parts are based off your ideas, but edited to fit my printed chain, and in some cases totally remade. I even increased the printed chain size at some points to be able to fit everything inside.

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