Cable Chains for printer

Darren Wright

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Springfield, Missouri
I kicked off a print about 8 hours ago to print out some cable chain links and brackets for tidying up my printer wires. The job still has about 16% left, but really happy with the way they are printing out so far.
2016-12-26 14.53.57.jpg 2016-12-26 17.47.34.jpg 2016-12-26 23.14.50.jpg

From that first photo you can see a small piece of blue tape, it's actually 4 pieces stacked. I had one spot that got caught on the print head and didn't lay down right, so to help keep the job going I built up that area with tape so that the next layer would lay down correctly, worked great.
tapefix.jpg

I bought some commercial 10 x 20 chain for my x axis, just printed the brackets for each end to connect it, still need to route the wires.
xcablechain.jpg
 
Looks good, Darren!

On the product page at GearBest, the photos show the wiring being contained with cable wrap. Does the printer come with the wrap?
 
Well, the estimate from the software said 8 hours, but actual print time was about 12 hours, so need to figure out how to get those two in sync. The supports simply snapped away. I did file the flat areas where the parts connect together, but wasn't really taking anything off on any of them, they were pretty clean and the chain moves easily without any "catches"

2016-12-27 02.22.25.jpg 2016-12-27 02.22.43.jpg

Looks good, Darren!

On the product page at GearBest, the photos show the wiring being contained with cable wrap. Does the printer come with the wrap?

Yes it does, I'll be using it when the wire comes out of the chain. I got a little excited and hadn't bothered to tidy it up yet and had wanted to make sure things were working, I think they are working. :)
 
This is pretty damn cool ... 12 hours for that whole length of chain? how long is it, anyway?

I've thought about making cable chain myself, too ... looked into machining it but getting it all to fit together and futz with it said i'd be better off just buying ...
 
What's super handy is being able to print custom brackets to hold the chain in place. It's not a toy, it's a tool that makes tools!

That's my story and I'm sticking with it.
 
This is pretty damn cool ... 12 hours for that whole length of chain? how long is it, anyway?

I've thought about making cable chain myself, too ... looked into machining it but getting it all to fit together and futz with it said i'd be better off just buying ...

Only about 15" overall. I had ordered the one for the front, just got impatient and decided to let it run, still got here faster than amazon. ;)


Got both chains installed tonight and tidied up the rest of the wiring. I did run the hot end wires separate from the chain as I may use a different hot end for when I do ABS, I have a couple extras sitting on the shelf.
2016-12-27 23.21.54.jpg

Also installed the power switch/cover
2016-12-27 19.29.28.jpg
 
Well, thanks to a bout of insomnia, I too have managed to do a few improvements to my machine.

1) Switch and cover
2) Cable chains
3) Installed sensor for Auto Z Levelling
4) Installed a new guide tube to replace the one I broke.

3dp_wiringtidy.jpg3dp_chains.jpg3dp_switch.jpg

Next step will be updating the firmware and getting the auto leveling working, then hooking it up to an octopi so that I can control it over the network, and not have to keep swapping in the micro sd card.

Although I really do like the standalone capabilities of running from the sd card.
 
Newbee inquiry: Why will you use a different hot end for ABS? Which hot end do you recommend?

I had read somewhere that it was suggested not to mix your filament types in the same extruder, as the temp range for each type of filament vary. It was suggested that this is a primary source of clogs for the printer as if you're doing ABS at a higher temp, then switch to PLA, the ABS may not get fully cleaned from nozzle, when temps drop to a cooler temp for PLA, any left-over ABS may break loose and clog the nozzle.

Probably overkill on my part, but the hot ends are cheap. I'm actually planning to locate a set of plugs on the carriage for the thermistor and hot end connections to make the swap easier.
 
Found some of the same style on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01I4ZQU88/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They don't have the exact same plugs, but planning to put some plugs on the carriage so that I can swap them without having to route the wires to the back each time.

As an update to the chains, they are both working well, but the Y axis chain kept popping up above the bed height and the print head would hit it as it went to home position. At Brent's suggestion, I super glued the first link on the bed to point straight out as it was bending upward prior, with it glued in place the rest of the links hit their stop points before rising above the bed, worked like a charm. :thumb:
 
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