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Cable management

PostPosted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 3:02 pm
by geoffs
After a long delay, I'm finally finishing off my Ord Hadron.
I'm using an idea I saw on Thingiverse for cable management. It uses flexible shower host and printed calmps for each end.
Image

When wiring for the extruder carriage, should I have connectors or terminal block so that the extruder can be removed easily?

Re: Cable management

PostPosted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 1:03 am
by kbob
Funny you should ask. I just removed my extruder today for the first time to clear a clog near the hobbed wheel. Having a connector was very handy. My printer (not an ORDbot, a Rostock MAX) is about 14 months old, and has seen 22 days of printing time.

So yes. Someday you'll be glad you had that connector.

I love your shower hose idea.

Re: Cable management

PostPosted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 10:15 am
by geoffs
After looking at many, many builds, the majority have connectors of some sort or a terminal strip mounted near the extruder so I guess it's a good idea (or at least popular)
I have some Molex connectors that should be OK for the heater current ( < 4A @ 12V).

I'd love to claim the shower hose idea as my own but it was already on Thingiverse although it's covered in more detail on the reprapdiscount forum.
I've found the the spiral hose has a tendancy to unwrap if you're not careful, a spot of hot glue may help with that.
The metal hose has a rubber hose inside it (waterproof) and removing this leaves the metal part a bit floppy, even with wires threaded through it. Threading 6 wires (stepper - 4, endstop - 2) is a squeeze and will be even worse for the extruder (stepper - 4, heater - 2, fan -2, thermister - 2). The extra wires for the extruder may make it stiff enough without the rubber hose.

Regards
Geoff

Re: Cable management

PostPosted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 10:23 pm
by dave3d
For the bed cabling, I have used a stainless steel plumbing spring, the type used for bending 15mm copper tubing. Dirt cheap and looks good. For the extruder cabling, I got a 8mm stainless steel spring specially wound, which I now regret.
I have used DIN connectors for plugging in the hot ends which work well.