Not a weird question, honestly, but is there a way to induce more ‘flexibillity’ in the drag chains, please?
For some reason, the one on my XXL’s Y1 extrusion will not stay flat, like a tank track, but loops up, like a balloon.
Thanks
The looping up is good, since it reduces the strain on, and flexing of the wires.
I suppose one could replace the wiring with something more flexible, but that’s a lot of effort/expense for aesthetics.
Thanks, @WillAdams
The thing is, it doesn’t do it with the drag chain on the X axis - including the fact that the router cable is, erm, routed along it? though
The other thing which will influence this is how many links there are in the drag chain — remove links until the drag chain movement is constrained as you wish?
Post a photo?
As requested!
It probably doesn’t look too bad in the photo and, to be fair, it’s only a bit worse than the drag chain on the X axis, but one of the first issues I had after building this was the propensity for the drag chain to fall off the axis and get trapped under the support bracket.
I think the drag chain falling off was caused by narrow support brackets. Perhaps they should have been manufactured slightly wider and with a retaining lip on the outer edge? Just a thought.
I’ll see how it goes.
Thanks again, @WillAdams
Are you sure it’s not just an issue with not having enough cable length inside the drag chain? It doesn’t look like it’s maxed out flexibility wise.
I can’t quite tell if this is an equivalent image, but this is one that I have in my machine. I guess they must have made a change at some point in the last year though because I don’t have the little brackets that you do, my drag chain sits right on the extrusion.
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Hmm, I’d have thought too long a cable would have caused that?
I’ll have a play and see what I can do about it. Strange yours runs on the extrusion, though. It would make sense to do that, as it provides a lot more support than two 15mm long brackets!
I think yours does look a bit lower than mine, though.
Thanks, Dan
You’re right - the other thing I’ve had to play around with before (on other drag chain projects) is radial position of thicker/stiffer cables versus the finer ones to optimize the bend radius and minimize stress.
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Is there a cable chain kit available for the standard size Shapeoko? Or is this only for the XL & XXL?
Not from Carbide 3D — the cable runs are short and efficient enough that it’s not needed.
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