MechMate CNC Router Forum

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-   60. Wiring & Cable Management (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=4)
-   -   Short run wires and colours? (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=567)

cncb Fri 11 January 2008 18:03

Short run wires and colours?
 
Searched the forum looked high and low, hadn't seen many threads on wire type or what you are all typically using in wiring both the controller and the motors. In the past on other builds I've used 18-23 gauge awg. from home depot or lowes. I've heard and seen people here using those XLR sp? audio connectors for the motors? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!

Doug_Ford Fri 11 January 2008 18:18

All the information you seek is in this section of the forum:

http://www.mechmate.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=4

cncb Fri 11 January 2008 18:36

of the 8 threads in this forum I hadn't seen any references to what I was seeking specifically.. maybe I missed it? I do see some quite informative info on howto, just no references to suppliers/gauge etc

Doug_Ford Fri 11 January 2008 18:44

Are you talking about the cables?

cncb Fri 11 January 2008 18:50

yeah, in general though, what kind of wire cables MM builders are using to run for the motors in the cable chain and also a general gauge wire to run in the control box, was curious

Doug_Ford Fri 11 January 2008 19:17

The wire size in the control box depends on which components you are trying to connect. The router uses a larger guage wire than the pancake fan which cools the Gecko heat sink. I don't remember exactly what the guages are. You'll need to read all of the posts because that information is spread out all over the place.

As far as cables, see post #19 in this thread http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2

cncb Fri 11 January 2008 19:30

Thanks for the info Doug! I know it varies, Ive seen control boxes with many different gauge wires on this forum. I'm going with a typical setup however, gecko 203vs, pmdx BOB, antek PSU, estop relay & safety disconnect + estops,

Gerald D Fri 11 January 2008 20:58

Brian, very much has been said about the long wires (cables) in the cable chains. The thread title Screened flexible cables - specs & sources should have been clear enough. How could I have made it clearer?

As for the short wires in the control box, they are offcuts from the junk box.

cncb Sat 12 January 2008 03:26

Gerald, thanks the link, thats the info I was looking for, didn't look in the archive :( Appreciate the help!

J.R. Hatcher Sun 13 January 2008 03:55

Nils, I have started to wire my control box also.
In wiring a house you use mostly 12 ga (20 amp) and 14 ga (15 amp) and a little 10 ga (30 amp). A wire is selected according to the amp draw.

The control box is the same. Some wire can be 22 ga, some 18 ga, and some needs to be 12 ga it depends on the amps it needs to supply. Currents (or amps) vary inside the control box from milliamps to probably 20 amps. Select the wire accordingly.

J.R. Hatcher Sun 13 January 2008 04:21

If this has been discused please direct me to it.

Is there a standard color code for wires inside the control box?

sailfl Sun 13 January 2008 04:40

J.R.

Thanks for the input. I am not starting to wire yet but I hope it won't be long. I have a little time before I can start so I am using it to better understand what I need so that when I start hopefully I won't have to ask these questions or make as many mistakes.

I am eager to start.

Gerald D Sun 13 January 2008 04:43

No standard colour code that I am aware of. On the power side, your country would have typical colours for Live(Hot), Neutral, Ground(Earth), Positive, Negative. On the signal side it is common to have all one colour, and to avoid colurs used by the power side.

For sizes (and colours), what goes inside the box is mostly a continuation of what happens outside the box.....
eg. if the motor cables are 18AWG, then use 18AWG from power supply supply to Gecko's.
if external signal cables are pink blue green 21AWG, then use pink blue green 21AWG for the cable extensions to the PMDX.
etc.

sailfl Sun 13 January 2008 04:49

Gerald,

Thanks and that makes sense.

Doug_Ford Sun 13 January 2008 06:45

One of the guys that works for me used to be a radar repairman in the US Air Force and he's given me a lot of guidance during the control box phase. We discussed wire colors once and he said that (in the US), AC circuits use a white wire for the neutral and a black wire for live. In DC circuits, the red wire is the positive wire and the black wire is the negative. Green is always a ground.

Someone please correct me if I'm putting out bad information.

Gerald D Sun 13 January 2008 06:57

Doug, from what I've heard, you are spot on.

In Europe, AC uses brown for live, blue for neutral, green/yellow striped for ground/earth. On the DC side, red positive, black negative (similar USA) is common, except for cars. (German cars: brown=ground/negative)

(Previously Europe used black for AC neutral in fixed wiring, while blue AC neutral was only for flexible cords - there is a little confusion from that. Modern neutral is blue for fixed and flexible wiring)

sailfl Sun 13 January 2008 07:07

Gerald and Doug,

Both of you provided useful information for me and I hope others.

DMS Sun 13 January 2008 07:23

In India Red - Live, Black - Neutral, Green - Earth.

Gerald D Sun 13 January 2008 07:28

Sharma, that is also the historic situation in Britain and South Africa. Because Britain is moving to Euro Standards they are changing to the brown=live and blue=neutral at the moment. India and South Africa will probably follow in 50 years time :)

cncb Sun 13 January 2008 08:01

Wow, came on here this morning and I didn't realized I got a discussion started, thanks for the valuable info. I've got 18ga AWG coming from my 8 wire motors, so I will continue to use the same inside the box. Was only wondering if I should be using different wire for the antek (56v 12a) power supply but it seems gerald has answered my question :)

domino11 Mon 14 January 2008 09:14

In Canada we use black or red for Hot AC and white for the neutral. Ground is either bare copper or green for mains wiring. :)

smreish Mon 14 January 2008 09:37

same here in the states.
Black, red, blue - hot
white - neutral
green - earth/ground

cncb Wed 30 January 2008 19:49

Ended up going with XLR connectors after seeing JR's photos in his personal log. They look very slick. Most of the controller is done and ready to drop in the enclosure. Just need to run the motor cables to the box and wire it in. However, I'm still up in the air with connectors for the power. My setup is a standard US residential 120, 3 prong outlet. I am not running the dust collector and spindle through the controller as some of you are so it isn't as complicated. Many of you use twist locks, very simple and easy to wire, very popular for commercial shops, that's all we use at work to wire machinery (table saws, shapers, planers etc). Anyhow I was thinking of going the same route is a computer in a sense keeping this enclosure almost plug and play, so to speak. AC receptacle case mounted on the bottom with the rest of the connectors and an ac cord to plug into controller and into wall receptacle. Simple, simple stuff. Scanning through the mouser catalog tonight I wanted to search here to see if anyone else had done a similar setup (most are hardwiring). Came back with no results, mentions of it but nothing specific. Maybe I missed a thread, or if anyone knew could point me in the right direction? Looking for an easy non solder type AC inlet recept. if possible, you guys give good tips on the rest of the hardware so I trust your judgment. Thanks in advance! Will post updated photos tomorrow in the personal section.

Doug_Ford Thu 31 January 2008 10:45

Brian,

I'm not sure what you're asking. Do you want to know how guys are supplying power to their computers or to the control box?

Gerald D Thu 31 January 2008 11:38

Brian is looking for something along these lines?

cncb Thu 31 January 2008 15:15

Gerald, precisely. Sorry to be confusing at all. http://www.mouser.com/catalog/632/955.PDF Was looking at AC inlets such as these. Wondered if anyone here was doing the same and if anyone had any info/photos. Just not really into soldered terminals/pins, like screw mount receptacles like the more industrial twist ones that many of you are using but I'm going regular us residential 120. My intentions were to keep this controller as plug and play, xlr connectors and audio connectors for limits and motors etc.

timberlinemd Sat 13 March 2010 13:05

Looking at JR's post #10 and wanting to elaborate... A wire gauge size would be determined by the load that it is expected to carry. For example the main power supply from the building/service to the control box would have to be able to handle the largest possible load(s) (amps/voltage) that the circuit would require. When applying that power to individual loads in the circuit you can reduce the wire gauge by determining the load(s) place on them . I'm not a electrical enginneer, it just seems intuitive to me, so if this wrong thinking then please correct me so I don't injure anyone.


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