Just curious and 16g would be big. And unusable if connector is smaller than wire. 18g is fine, if it fits…
Ouch, 75 ft minimum? Have you checked with any local suppliers? I’ve even seen some shielded at orange or blue big box…
Going to take a look at that stuff at HomeDepot tomorrow. I want something with 600V insulation rating if I can get it.
Assuming you can’t get your money back for that cable and that it has a braded rather than foil shield (like your other “leading candidate”), why not cut the connector off, strip the jacket off the cable, and if the 4 individual insulated wires fit the spindle connector’s backshell, cut off however many wire strands are necessary to fit the connectors solder cups? If the individual wires don’t fit the backshell, you can splice smaller gauge pigtails to them that fit everything.
I have to chime in on this idea and highly suggest you not do this kind of patching. Anywhere.
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Found a great alternative for the cable by the foot. The last one was 18 AWG (7 strands of 26 AWG) and this new one is 18 AWG (16 strands of 30 gauge). Definitely more flexible and they have a 20 ft minimum. I may order $50 worth (about ~50ft) to hit the free shipping and do the stepper cables as well. The cable is rated for 600v which is what I wanted and the diameter is perfect for the connector on the 800W spindle.
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“not suitable for continuous flexing applications” and "3.96 Minimum Installed Bend Radius (inches)"
“these cables are ideal for both stationary and flexible applications with limited mechanical stress and free movement without any tensile stress, loads or forced movements”
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That is close to the ideal stranding for portable cordage and with the 600V rating the sheath is plenty thick. (I don’t know why you spec’d out the 600V. That probably is overkill and will make the cable a bit more stiff, but not that you will notice in this application.)
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I ordered 51ft of it today to get free shipping and it came to just under $53. I’ll have enough to do the stepper motors or sell off lengths to other doing the upgrade too. I’ll report back once I get it
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I have the Beaver Proximity Switches installed and absolutely love them. About the only thing I don’t like is the header wrapped in electrical tape used to connect the power to the switches. (see highlighted area in photo)
I broke the black +5v wire disconnecting it so I decided to clean it up using some wires I bought on Amazon and a little soldering
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The new 18/4 cable came in today. One word to describe it is FANTASTIC! It’s very flexible. More to come as I start to build using it.
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Stepper Motor Cable upgrade to shielded 18awg
Now that the cable is here I measured the actual diameter of the cable to determine the connectors I need to rewire the stepper motors.
The cable insulation is 7.9 to 8mm in diameter so I decided to use GX16 butt joint aviation connectors at the stepper motor. I’ll get about the right amount of compression on the cable jacket to give a secure connection (specified at 6.5mm opening when tightened down).
I originally intended to use GX12 but they would have been too tight. So I ordered the larger GX16-5 (5 pin) butt joint connectors so I can run the 4 wires for the stepper and be able to run the ground wire through the extra pin in case I want to use it in the future.
The other end of the wires uses a Molex connector. After a bunch of research I found the part number of the existing Molex housings used on the stepper cables is 09508043 which should be the polarized version of the 4 pin connector. The pins for that connector that accommodate 18awg wire are Molex part number 08-52-0072. I’ll confirm that they’re the right stuff as they arrive but the aviation connectors have a long lead time (over 30 days). In the interim I’ll reassemble using the stock stepper motor cables to avoid the downtime. The pic below shows the version with more pins but I ordered the 4 pin version.
Today I hope to power up the VFD and start setting parameters. Thank you @Julien for the excellent list you compiled in another thread.
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Drag chains anchored in place with M4 screws and I made a transition piece out of and old piece of steel I had.
Started routing the hoses and cables through the drag chains and dry fit the spindle. Looks really good with the blue lol and it fit really well too. This afternoon I’m going to build the power cable from the VFD to spindle. Using old stepper cables for now.
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Well I got the 19W pump mounted on the rear frame bracket. It was convenient place to put it and will good routing of the hoses. Using “pink” Autozone RV Antifreeze good to -50F.
Best of all: NO LEAKS when I tested it.
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I got it running today with the Shapeoko controlling the spindle speed.
I basically wired it like @Luke suggested except I put a NC Emergency stop switch to replace the FOR to DCM jumper. Push the button and the spindle stops quickly. I think this is a nice improvement
Remainder is the standard
PWM - VI
GND - ACM
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First test cut of the new spindle. I love how quiet it is. I’ll take more pictures detailing the installation after I get the work area cleaned up. All I can say is WOW and I’d wish I’d done it sooner. It’s Vcarving a couple of Beer Taps in the video
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I’m going to post some pictures to complete this thread. Thanks for following along.
Here is the G-Penny 800W Spindle. You can see the 3/8"OD (1/4"ID) coolant tubing. I had to shave the outside of the tubing down with an Xacto knife so it would fit into the compression fittings on the spindle. Notice the 10mm spring clips at the flow gauge; I’m glad I used them
I went with a stainless flow gauge because I thought it was pretty. Coolant is Autozone RV antifreeze. The white cables are for the Laser with is burning a sign as the picture was taken,
The Spindle Power Cable has a big loop in it which spreads out the bend in the cable. The cable I used “just barely fit” inside the connector on the spindle. The spindle is grounded through the cable to the VFD which you can see in the background.
Here is a picture from the back. The stepper cables are too short but long enough to keep any flex away from the connectors. The white cable is for the laser and I connect the laser to the two connector zip tied to the drag chain. The coolant, spindle power, laser cables, stepper cables and limit switch cables all go through the drag chain. The drag chain is a 15x40 and I wish I’d bought a bigger one and one where it opens. I didn’t read the description close enough before buying it. I bought 2 of them so I could take links from one and add it to the other one since the X must be longer on my XL and one chain isn’t enough.
Here you can see the new bracket I made for the drag chain. It’s made from 1/8" aluminum that is tapped for 4mm to hold the drag chain.
Here is the steel plate I used to attach the Y drag chain and manage the cables at the 90 degree bend.
Showing how full the Y drag chain is. I wanted to replace the stepper cables with 18ga and it wouldn’t fit!
The other end of the Y drag chain. I had to invert the Controller Circuit Board to get the stepper cables to fit. They didn’t when I tried with the PCB in it’s original orientation. You can see the Laser Controller mounted to the cover.
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