Cable chain

Discussion in 'BigBox General Chat' started by Tom De Bie, Jun 2, 2016.

  1. Tom De Bie

    Tom De Bie Well-Known Member

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    Hello everyone,

    Since I'm currently in a low budget mode I going to try and build the printer by own means.
    I'm almost halfway trough printing all the parts, but am now wondering if someone knows if the cable chain, which is moulded by E3D and not printed is available as an STL somewhere?
    If not, would someone be so kind as to provide me with some pictures with measurements of the different cable chains, particularly the start and end pieces?

    Thanks in advance!!

    Tom
     
  2. Dr Jeep

    Dr Jeep Well-Known Member

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    This is pretty close in design (and the ends are the same) I am not near my printer to check the geometry to validate against...I'll check later.
    BTW the only bit E3D had custom moulded was the nut traps, the cable chain is an off the shelf part.
     
  3. Tom De Bie

    Tom De Bie Well-Known Member

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    Could you provide me with a link where I could order one if you have one?

    Thanks ;)
     
  4. Kick2box

    Kick2box Well-Known Member

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  5. Mark_T

    Mark_T Well-Known Member

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    You can also look for 'drag chain' on Amazon
     
  6. Tom De Bie

    Tom De Bie Well-Known Member

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    This is even better. I know what I'm printing tomorrow ;)
     
  7. Tom De Bie

    Tom De Bie Well-Known Member

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    Thank you, but why buy it if I can print it. Isn't that what we tell our wives ;)
     
  8. Colin

    Colin Well-Known Member

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    Print about 10 links first and put them together to make sure they can lay straight. I printed a meters worth but nearly all of them needed to be filed down a bit, they had a little too much around the edges. They curled up just enough to anger me. On the plus side I printed them with glow in the dark filament so they look fantastic!
     
  9. Tom De Bie

    Tom De Bie Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the tip. I read something about that a while ago. I believe this could also be resolved by rotating half the pieces by 180°.
    I'm printing 33 links and the two end pieces. Need two of them, so if the chain is crooked I'll print the next one rotated and print the remaining links (I need about 55 of them for the Z-axis because of the extension) half and half ;)
    [​IMG]
     
    #9 Tom De Bie, Jun 3, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2016
  10. Tom De Bie

    Tom De Bie Well-Known Member

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    After +5 hours the print was finished. Took me about an hour to clean up the pieces and fit them together. The result was quit straight...
    [​IMG]
     
    #10 Tom De Bie, Jun 3, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2016
  11. Colin

    Colin Well-Known Member

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    The image showing them connected isn't showing up for me, I feel like I am invested in the outcome now and need to see how it looks all together.
     
  12. Tom De Bie

    Tom De Bie Well-Known Member

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    I'm sorry...Edited the post. The picture was of the print plate when it was finished. I'll post a picture of the finished cable chain on Monday as it's in a drawer at work ;)
    Also have to say that I broke the final piece when sanding it down, so the chain has a beginning and lots of links, but the end piece is missing
     
  13. Tom De Bie

    Tom De Bie Well-Known Member

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    As promised here's a picture of the finished cable chain ;)
    [​IMG]
     
    Colin and PsyVision like this.
  14. PsyVision

    PsyVision Moderator
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    That looks really good!
     

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