As I was thinking about replacing the hotends here I talked about getting plugs and sockets to make all cables pluggable to be able to change: hotends on a dual head heads from dual to pro easily. I now ordered the parts and I received them today and just wanted to get out some pics and facts. Pics first: They are quite light, a plug is about 25g, a socket 27g (@Henry feldman can this be considered 'heavy'?). I ordered the plugs/sockets I need to fit on the case and for the dual. Not for a spare pro as I want to start with making all pluggable but staying with the dual head for the moment and only change the hotends to Volcano. My calculations proved that I need 6 PINs per hotend (heater, fan, PT100) 7 PINs for IR sensor and cooling fans 10 PINs for motors and enstop Using the plugs I linked in the other post, which I have now, I use 2 x 7 PINs for the hotends, 1 x 7 PINS for the IR and fans and 1 x 12 PINs for the rest. First I though of another combination but I wanted to be sure to be able to fit the biggest cables, the heater cables, properly because they have the biggest diameter and the 12 PIN seemed to small for those. That's why I went 2 x 7 PINs for the hotends and not 1 x 12 PINs. So I have to fit 4 plugs/sockets for a complete dual head. As you can see the connectors are not huge but pretty tough. They are made for +500 cycles, that should be more than enough and you screw them together. Unfortunately the contacts have to be soldered, not a problem for me, but maybe for someone else. Unfortunately I can't start because the seller forgot to pack the 12 PIN socket.
I really like the idea of this having easily removable hotends and thus easily replaceable heater cartridges and PT100 sensors. They are some big connectors though! Can't wait to see it done.
@Alex9779 The connectors do appear to be large although their weight is not an issue. I think I would prefer to have a fixed socket with the extruder leads on a free plug. On my current printer (K8200) I use D-type connectors with the socket attached to the Z-carriage and the extruder connections on the flying lead. Some pins are parallel connected for the high current heater connections; not necessary but for cheaper connectors just a precaution. Amphenol connectors are rated at 5A per pin for signal level voltages, so are OK for this task; mine came from China via Ebay but the quality is good. I'll keep watch to see how yours turns out.
I just can't understand why you all talking about the size. I plan to mount the plugs at the top of the spine. For this I wanna design a new top spine part where the sockets sit in. So the connectors are right above them and I still have the cable span across in a sleeve like they are now. I had a look at Jos van der Plas soluation he posted on G+. He cut the cable right on the head, thats possible too but I do want to keep long cables from the components reaching to the back top of the machine... So the size or the weight is not an issue...
Ok yesterday I designed and printed the part to replace the top spine part. Yeah I know there are some extrusion issues but it works...
Oh well there are the same curled holes in it like in the original part. Hard to see on the pictures...
I like it will have to look into doing something similar I am trying to source some different slightly lower profile Molex plugs but this will be a more longer term thing for me. Currently I am just trying to get some consistent printing!
I hadn't thought of putting the connectors on the spine, that's a really clever idea and should look really clean. I was going to go for smaller connectors and the half-assed ziptie method
I looked at a lot of connectors, but the normal connectors are sometime hard to fit and looses like multi row molex. And they are not made for being connected often. Not that I plan to change hotends or heads on a daily basis but I wanted something reliable. If something does not work correct I do not want to have to check every single part of the machine. Yeah someone might say this is over sized but I think it will look pro, not tinkered...
Only the fact that I have to recable the box scares me...Have to remove the base to put all the cables for one connector in one sleeve. That's the best way to do it... If I do it I do it right. I thought about just cutting them, leaving them in the current sleeve but that would not look good in the end...
I'm going to need another PT100 and heater for my volcano anyway so those'll be the ones that get chopped. Just in case...
I would of used something like the Japanese CB Microphone connectors. They come in multiple different poll numbers and are a lot smaller and lighter.
