Has anyone else considered drag chains?

Hey everyone- Order #53 here from Minnesota.
I’m excited to use this machine, but I think one of the biggest drawbacks in the design is the lack of cable management. It looks like the z stepper control is a coiled retractile cable, but the router/spindle control and y stepper control cables just hang off the side. I think the design intent was to facillitate a portable machine that assembles easily, but it just doesn’t seem like a robust solution- especially for an enclosure-mounted machine.
I have ordered some 15x40mm drag chain that I plan to use along the x and y axes. Using shielded cable, I hope to be able to run the spindle control, cooling lines, and y/z stepper control all in the drag chains. I plan to make raceways for the chains with aluminum extrusions from the hardware store, and will mount them to the Onefinity with 3D printed parts once the machine is delivered. This of course makes the machine less portable, but I think it more appropriately fits my intended stationary use.
Perhaps the 3D printed raceway mounts can be cleverly designed to be quickly disconnected to preserve portability. Has anyone else thought about this?

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I’m planning on using a bungee cord tied to the ceiling to manage the power cord.

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#71 here near Boston - I have thought about it but decided I would wait until I got it set up before picking the size chain and designing how to mount it. There are a number of cables / hoses to consider. Eventually I will likely add a water cooled spindle and laser.

Yes, this is the first thing I plan to look into after setting the machine up. I love the design of this machine, except for the lack of cable management.

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Continuing the discussion from Has anyone else considered drag chains?:

Really good to have knowledgeable people on here to broaden the horizons of us complete newbie begginers.
No 27 I think from Bournemouth, England

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I was biding my time to let the Onefinity Team announce it, but that was sooo two days ago and who has that kind of patience?? :crazy_face:

Anyway, not sure others visit the regular site 5x a day like I do but on Thursday morning I noticed that the “Shop” section of the website had a baby named… “Accessories

As you will see everything is OUT OF STOCK but (bringing this post back on topic) if you scroll almost to the bottom, you will see the “OneFinity Suckit Vacuum Hose and Router Cable Boom” and BOOM There you have your cable management! Since you will most certainly need a vacuum hose solution anyway… Now you can bundle them together another great solution one the Onefinity Team!!

Additional Shout-out: Thank you @OnefinityCNC for adding the 3D printed files as an option all well. Already have them staged in the printer. :+1: :slight_smile:

Cheers’
Alex

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I installed a drag chain that I bought on amazon and it looks and works great!!

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I did have to extend the length of the wires because of where I have my controller mounted in the cabinet!

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Looks good, man!
My 3D printer is running right now, printing V2 of some brackets I made to mount the chains to to the x and y rails using existing hardware. I’ll put up pics/ share files when I get it fitted Later this week.
I’m making longer cables too out of shielded 18/4 wire, but am waiting for delivery of some molex pins to finish it out. The goal is to make the chains removable and keep the stock cables aside if I ever want to move the machine to cut an inlay on a table/wall/etc.

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Lane that looks really good, what size track did you order? I totally forgot to think ahead when I built my table so I’m going to be limited on the width track I can use. You might want to consider adding some sort of strain relief up near the connectors if not the wires will eventually break at the crimp point in the pins.

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its 15mm x 30mm drag chain that I ordered from Amazon. I don’t think ill have any issue with strain relief because the drag chain is SO light weight.

I installed mine today. Drilled a hole in the side of one of the links, then bolted to the X rail with one of the bolts from the monitor mount. Works like a charm.

I had to use cable extenders, which have the big connectors, and this 15x30 chain was as small as would work. If I was buying now I’d go one size up.

I have a video but don’t see how to upload it.

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what file extension is your video. I’ll add it to the ‘accepted’ list.

.mov

Its large (55MB for 17s), so I can put it on youtube also.

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ah yes, discourse limits the file size. a youtube link would be perfect.

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Video: https://youtu.be/0WHcZOxnux0

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I installed one yesterday a 15mm x 15mm and then had to uninstall it. The direction of my controller required 2’ extension cables for all my wires. The extensions go on the machine side of the wires (I was hoping it was on the controller side) anyway since that double plug is now mid wire the drag chain works great until it hits that ~4" of plugs then it folds odd and causes stress on the plugs.

So unless I cut off the factory plugs and solder all the wires I have to leave it off. I’d rather have them on but worried that the solder joints might give out over time.

@Mark if it is possible to get the extension cabled at the controller side plug vs the machine side (those connectors are also much smaller) it would be a great option.

Nice work though @garrett1812

-Alex

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Agree, extension cables with the smaller connector (controller side) would be better.

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Hey Alex… Yes for sure, Please send an email to Jenn at info@onefinitycnc.com and she’ll get you going. Talk soon…

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