Update: Started on cabling - and intolerant drawers

I have now been running my combined X and Z axis cable chains for a while in testing, without any cables installed. This has been successful, so I wanted to start on creating the cable looms to replace the old (and very poor) umbilical. 

One thing with the cable chains which was a little irritating was that there was a slight sag to the X axis chain due to its length and weight. While this wasn't really a problem, it was a itch which needed scratching. To create a simple resolution, I modified the design of the carriage mount an introduce a ten degree tilt to it, to offset the sag. This was a very simple solution and it seems to have worked. 

By tilting the chain ever so slightly against the direction of sag, it has straightened it at the lowest point. 

The next exercise was to create the cable looms. My ideal is to have each component on the carriage removable. I did toy with using a single connector for this, but the mix of currents and types made me decide against it. Moreover it does go against the ability to remove each part separately. Instead, I created a separate loom for each component, although I have linked the two fans into one,

Another exercise on the list has been to create shielded stepper motor cables. Clearly the extruder is going to need this, so I used this as an opportunity to create the first of these. 

For the motion axes, the motors themselves will also be earthed, but I'm not yet certain whether or how best to achieve this with the extruder. Nevertheless, the cable was created as part of the loom.

Next, the cables for other parts were created and labelled.The fan cables include a separate splitter which takes the three-wire cable from the chain and converts it to two two-wire cables. This will include a 5V feed for the Noctua fan which will replace the cold-end cooling fan. 

These cables were then threaded through the cable chain. As the chain has removable covers, this is fairly straightforward. 

Obviously, many of the covers are still removed in this picture which means that the chain is less rigid. Once they are re-installed, the chain will stiffen up quite significantly. 

The completed effect is more clearly evident from the rear. 

I just need to create a loom now for the thermistor and run this through the chain too. Thereafter will be a shielded cable for the X axis motor, which will use the Z axis chain to reach the ground. 

Although each end of the chains has a cable tie base built in, these aren't yet fitted, so the cables are loose. 

This has been quite successful so far, but I have some way to go yet to complete it. I always saw this part of the project as one of the most important, as it finally removes the standard umbilical which never worked properly and sometimes even got in the way. 

One slightly less successful discovery is that the design for the under-base drawers is too tight. It works very well indeed with one drawer installed and I'm really quite pleased with how it fits and how it looks

However, on printing and fitting a pair of drawers side-by-side, the fit was too tight. The tolerances I had used in the design were simply too small. I will need to scale it down just a very little too allow both the fit. This is a nuisance as the prints are quite large, so  will take quite a few hours to complete. I will probably shelve this (forgive the pun) for a while to concentrate on the cabling. 

I still have a single drawer working well and it's never been an essential part of the project. 

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