Wiring the front control panel

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Wiring the front control panel

Postby DasGrinch » Thu Dec 01, 2011 6:55 am

What kind of wire did you guys use for this? I haven't really found a lot of documentation on it, I picked up some 12-conductor shielded, but it was way too massive for this, I was going to use some twisted pairs out of cat5, but I wasn't sure if this had to be shielded or if twisted wire would be enough. This is for the panic button, the test fire button, pwm switch and trimpot.
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Re: Wiring the front control panel

Postby twehr » Thu Dec 01, 2011 1:43 pm

DasGrinch wrote:What kind of wire did you guys use for this? I haven't really found a lot of documentation on it, I picked up some 12-conductor shielded, but it was way too massive for this, I was going to use some twisted pairs out of cat5, but I wasn't sure if this had to be shielded or if twisted wire would be enough. This is for the panic button, the test fire button, pwm switch and trimpot.


Twisted pairs from cat5 is exactly what I used.
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Re: Wiring the front control panel

Postby bdring » Thu Dec 01, 2011 1:49 pm

I prefer 22awg wire over the cat 5. The standard cat5 is solid which breaks easily. The better "Cat" wiring is stranded, but thin and often not tin plated, so it is hard to solder.

I make my own tightly twisted pairs of exactly the wire color I want. I just use a cordless drill with a screw eye to twist the wires.
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Re: Wiring the front control panel

Postby twehr » Thu Dec 01, 2011 3:03 pm

bdring wrote:I prefer 22awg wire over the cat 5. The standard cat5 is solid which breaks easily. The better "Cat" wiring is stranded, but thin and often not tin plated, so it is hard to solder.

I make my own tightly twisted pairs of exactly the wire color I want. I just use a cordless drill with a screw eye to twist the wires.


I only used the stranded for flexibility. Like the idea of the "twist" your own, though.
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Re: Wiring the front control panel

Postby DasGrinch » Sun Dec 04, 2011 3:01 am

Thanks for the info, I used three strands of 24AWG wire to make the pot hookup, and cat5 pairs for the rest. I also used the same 24AWG wire for my endstop/enclosure switches, I hope it stands up to the movement of the laser head.

Which leg of the pot is the top/bottom? I was guessing that if I measured resistance from the bottom to the wiper, and turned the knob clockwise, my resistance would go from 0 to 5k, is this right, or am I backwards?
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Re: Wiring the front control panel

Postby twehr » Sun Dec 04, 2011 3:21 am

DasGrinch wrote:Thanks for the info, I used three strands of 24AWG wire to make the pot hookup, and cat5 pairs for the rest. I also used the same 24AWG wire for my endstop/enclosure switches, I hope it stands up to the movement of the laser head.

Which leg of the pot is the top/bottom? I was guessing that if I measured resistance from the bottom to the wiper, and turned the knob clockwise, my resistance would go from 0 to 5k, is this right, or am I backwards?

You want your resistance Togo from 5k (0 volts to laser) to 0k (5 volts to laser) as you turn clockwise. The lower the resistance (the higher the voltage), the higher the power out of the laser.
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Re: Wiring the front control panel

Postby DasGrinch » Thu Dec 29, 2011 11:57 pm

twehr wrote:
DasGrinch wrote:Thanks for the info, I used three strands of 24AWG wire to make the pot hookup, and cat5 pairs for the rest. I also used the same 24AWG wire for my endstop/enclosure switches, I hope it stands up to the movement of the laser head.

Which leg of the pot is the top/bottom? I was guessing that if I measured resistance from the bottom to the wiper, and turned the knob clockwise, my resistance would go from 0 to 5k, is this right, or am I backwards?

You want your resistance Togo from 5k (0 volts to laser) to 0k (5 volts to laser) as you turn clockwise. The lower the resistance (the higher the voltage), the higher the power out of the laser.


That's 0V-5V measured between 'input' and 'ground' on the laser control cable? I believe I have it wired up right, I just want to be sure before I turn it on and the laser goes pop. Thanks,

Grinch
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