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  #61  
Old Fri 04 July 2008, 06:25
J.R. Hatcher
Just call me: J.R. #4
 
Wilmington, North Carolina
United States of America
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I'm using what sounds like the same wire (bought it off eBay). I liked it so much I bought some more a 2nd time and then went back a 3rd time and bought all the guy had, enough for about 4 machines (Marc, Gene and another for myself). This is very high quality wire. It's has a braided shield, a Mylar foil shield, and a drain wire. It's 18 awg, 4 conductors (1 of the red ones is 6 conductors), each conductor has about 25 very fine wires making it extremely flexible. I have not had any issues with this wire at all.
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File Type: jpg DSCA0587.JPG (14.2 KB, 1609 views)
File Type: jpg DSCA0585.JPG (15.5 KB, 1603 views)
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  #62  
Old Fri 04 July 2008, 21:37
William McGuire
Just call me: Bill
 
Weiser, Idaho
United States of America
Curious...
Does this wire have any identifying names, numbers or marks?
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  #63  
Old Sat 05 July 2008, 04:59
J.R. Hatcher
Just call me: J.R. #4
 
Wilmington, North Carolina
United States of America
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Bill this is the writings on all the wires, it is exactly the same, no variance regardless of wire color. The pictures overlap just a little. All 3 pics are 1 wire.
I did cut up a small piece and 26 small wires make up 1 conductor. I have e-mailed the guy to see if he has gotten any more of this wire.
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File Type: jpg DSCA0589.JPG (15.0 KB, 1609 views)
File Type: jpg DSCA0590.JPG (15.2 KB, 1615 views)

Last edited by J.R. Hatcher; Sat 05 July 2008 at 05:08..
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  #64  
Old Sat 05 July 2008, 20:18
William McGuire
Just call me: Bill
 
Weiser, Idaho
United States of America
I found this company (Northwire) and site for the wire...
http://northwire.com/directFFSpecs.php

I haven't checked their price or availability yet...
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  #65  
Old Sun 06 July 2008, 05:53
Robert M
Just call me: Robert
 
Lac-Brome, Qc
Canada
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Hi guys,
What is your opinion on “IGUS chainflex” wires & cables ?
I’d appreciate some feedback & comments!
Robert.
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  #66  
Old Sun 06 July 2008, 06:40
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
http://www.igus.com/chainflex.asp

Obviously they are professional cables - but are the prices right for you?
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  #67  
Old Sun 06 July 2008, 18:40
domino11
Just call me: Heath
 
Cornwall, Ontario
Canada
IGUS,
make some of the most flexible cables in the world. They quoted on a military job I was doing some engineering work for about 7 years ago. The cable we needed was rather large and needed a small bend radius. They designed a cable that met the criteria flawlessly. Too bad the price was 4 times that of everyone else. If the budget allows, they will be good cables.
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  #68  
Old Tue 08 July 2008, 20:37
liaoh75
Just call me: David
 
Taibao
Taiwan
Hi Again, Sorry about the delay in posting the picture of the wire. I got tied up over the last several days entertaining family from back home. There are 37 strands per core. Can you guys let me know if this looks ok? The shield is copper but not as tightly woven as the one J.R. Hatcher posted. Any comments or suggestions are welcomed.

Thank you
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  #69  
Old Tue 08 July 2008, 23:10
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
That looks good - I don't see any problem with it
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  #70  
Old Thu 10 July 2008, 09:22
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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Gerald, what was the size (gauge) of the cores for the cable between the control box and the VFD (7 core for control signals), I am assuming 0.5 would suffice or would 1.0 be better?
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  #71  
Old Thu 10 July 2008, 09:53
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
1.0mm2 will be no better than 0.5mm2 for the VFD control signals.
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  #72  
Old Sat 12 July 2008, 16:32
woodfish510
Just call me: dave
 
Reading, Pa
United States of America
Quote:
Originally Posted by J.R. Hatcher View Post
I'm using what sounds like the same wire (bought it off eBay). I liked it so much I bought some more a 2nd time and then went back a 3rd time and bought all the guy had, enough for about 4 machines (Marc, Gene and another for myself). This is very high quality wire. It's has a braided shield, a Mylar foil shield, and a drain wire. It's 18 awg, 4 conductors (1 of the red ones is 6 conductors), each conductor has about 25 very fine wires making it extremely flexible. I have not had any issues with this wire at all.
You didn't get it all, because I just got 300 feet from him. And like you I think the wire is great and not expensive. He sent me a small section of wire before I bought it. He has fast shipping as well. It has a small bending radias and should work fine.
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  #73  
Old Mon 14 July 2008, 07:44
domino11
Just call me: Heath
 
Cornwall, Ontario
Canada
JR,
I noticed from some of your pics that your wire is rated for only 30V. Will that be a problem for your motor drives (are you using higher than 30V for your motors?) ? Or maybe just using it for your limit switch stuff?
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  #74  
Old Mon 14 July 2008, 10:52
J.R. Hatcher
Just call me: J.R. #4
 
Wilmington, North Carolina
United States of America
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Heath I saw that too and figured it wasn't actually the volts the wire can carry because of it's size (20 awg, I posted it as 18 ga. but was told by the supplier that it is really 20 ga.). Think about how small a auto spark plug wire is and it carries something like 10,000 - 20,000 + volts and it's not really wire, years ago they were graphite, not sure nowadays. Besides if it is talking about volts I think it's some kind of weird specification that doesn't apply here. I'm running mine @ 70 volts and it's doing fine. When I connected it to the motors I noticed my wire was much larger (theirs looks to be around 24ga. or even smaller). But thanks for the watchful eye anyway.

PS

Copied this from a website for 20 ga. wire: notice the lowest UL rating (600 volts) compared to the CSA rating (150 volts).

Voltage Rating
  • MIL-W-16878E Type B: 600 Volt UL 3265, CSA AWM I A/B FT1: 150 Volt
  • MIL-W-16878E Type C: 1000 Volt UL 3266, CSA CL 1252 XLPE: 300 Volt
  • MIL-W-16878E Type D: 3000 Volt UL 3271, CSA CL 1251 XLPE: 600 Volt
Specifications
  • CSA AWM I A/B FT1
  • CSA CL 1251 XLPE
  • CSA CL 1252 XLPE
  • CSA: 125C, 150, 300, 600 VOLT
  • MIL-W-16878E Types B, C and D
  • MIL-W-16878E: 105C, 600, 1000, 3000 VOLT
  • RoHS Compliant
  • UL
  • UL AWM Style 3265
  • UL AWM Style 3266
  • UL AWM Style 3271
Product Description
  • Conductor: Stranded Tinned Copper
  • Insulation : Radiation Crosslinked Polyolefin (XLPE)
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  #75  
Old Mon 14 July 2008, 11:45
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
I saw that 36V on the cable, but didn't think it meant the voltage limit on the cable's insulation. I can't believe that any cable would have such a low voltage rating.

JR, the voltage rating of the cable has nothing to do with the copper content. It is an indicator of the quality (and thickness) of the insulation.
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  #76  
Old Mon 14 July 2008, 11:47
domino11
Just call me: Heath
 
Cornwall, Ontario
Canada
JR,
I was not worried about the size of the wire , but rather the insulation covering the wire. You can easily pass thousands of volts through a very small wire, the insulation doesnt stop you from doing this, but it does keep it from arcing and shorting to adjacent wires and metal. The wire size limits the amount of current you can pass without the wire melting. If the insulation on the wire is not capable of supporting the voltage you are passing on it, at some time, the insulation will break down and you will have a short circuit. 30V wire will probably not show a problem right away, but might be a time bomb waiting to go off after some use and aging. There was a picture of a chap on the shopbot forum that almost had his garage burn down due to an electrical problem with his cnc. Just wouldnt want it to happen to one of us.
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  #77  
Old Sun 20 July 2008, 02:24
orotemo
Just call me: orotemo
 
Warburg
Israel
Regarding the pause and resume:

Why seven core (mentioned on page one of this discussion) cable for the pause/resume/E-stop ? if I get it right, a MM builder will only need the 5V, GND E-stop, pause, resume, counting 5 distinct cores.

Right or wrong?
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  #78  
Old Sun 20 July 2008, 04:13
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Probe? z-zero plate? Any other device?

Always a good idea to have some spare signal wires already in the screen.
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  #79  
Old Sun 20 July 2008, 06:13
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
...laser power, LED lighting...the list goes on.
Actually, I now wish I used that 9 core I had sitting on the shelf!
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  #80  
Old Mon 21 July 2008, 03:57
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Our Ölflex "classic" cable is available in 2/3/4/5/7/12 cores. This is my thinking for the gantry cabling where a spindle is used. Doesn't show the obvious motors and spindle power cable:


Note the enlarged button box for the 5 cable entries on the left.

If proximity switches are used, the 12V supply will be on the 7-core cable.
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  #81  
Old Mon 21 July 2008, 08:30
orotemo
Just call me: orotemo
 
Warburg
Israel
I will probably change my order to a 12 core cable then. Thanks a lot guys. I'm a quick learner (when people explain to me realllllyy slowwww ).
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  #82  
Old Mon 21 July 2008, 09:18
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Keep an eye on the outside diameter of the cable - if it gets too thick it will not like to flex inside the cable carrier.
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  #83  
Old Tue 22 July 2008, 09:43
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
After a lot of consideration, I have decided to reduce wire gauge (go thinner) for our stepper motor wires. Originally we used 1.0mm2 (18gauge), which was a match to the Gecko's capability of 7 Amp and when we toyed with going to bigger motors in the longer term, which included the possibility of paralleling the coils in some motors.

Since then we have moved away from big, high-current configurations and I cannot realistically see our personal situation going over 3 Amps. Mariss has also written some interesting comments on why stepper motor cables can be really thin. (See post of 08 September 2007 in this thread)

So, we will be ordering 172 meters [564 ft] of 4 core 0.5mm2 [21 gauge] screened cable tomorrow. (R13.92/meter [$0.57/ft]) Ölflex Classic 115CY 4 G 0.5
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  #84  
Old Tue 22 July 2008, 14:06
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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I was wondering why I was taking so long to make up my mind on the final order of my cables, this must be it .

Do you think I will be safe to use the same for my 4.5amp (PK299's) motors or is that pushing the envelope a bit much?

Is that price excluding VAT?

ps: could you give us a breakdown of the cable lengths you are using for each run, all the other lengths on this thread are for "small" 8'x4' machines, I just want to check them against my estimates to make sure I am not buying too much and wasting cash. It might be of benefit to the other SA guys building to our bigger size.

Last edited by Alan_c; Tue 22 July 2008 at 14:28..
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  #85  
Old Tue 22 July 2008, 23:31
hennie
Just call me: Hennie #23
 
Roodepoort JHB
South Africa
Alan what lengths cable chains did you get from RS? I need to order mine also.
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  #86  
Old Tue 22 July 2008, 23:35
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
I think it is technically okay for the 4.5Amp motors. See the post by Mariss referenced above. We shouldn't see warm cables, even when a couple of them are bundled together. My biggest concern on reducing the size is their strength where they enter connecters and terminals, but I think that I have learnt to be careful in that department.

Here is the "calculator" for the lengths. Some of the allowances on the y-car seem far too generous, but we have verified them by actual measurement . . . .
Attached Files
File Type: zip LengthCalcs2.zip (37.3 KB, 297 views)
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  #87  
Old Wed 23 July 2008, 01:42
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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Gerald

Thanks for the calculator, it mostly confirms my estimates.

I see you have changed to a 5 core cable for the "power" to the junction box on the y-car, why the extra core (2 for fan, 2 for thermistor)?

ps: the pdf file in the above zip only shows half the junctionbuttonboxes drawing, B end of gantry is cut off. fixed
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  #88  
Old Wed 23 July 2008, 02:34
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
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Gerald, another question

Cell E14 gives the length of the 220V E-stop (2 core) cable from the 2PB to the Y-car, what about the length of cable from the control box to the 2PB box, how does the signal get back to the box. This may tie up with my query above but surely you need two wires to carry the signal back to the contactor?
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  #89  
Old Wed 23 July 2008, 02:48
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan_c View Post
I see you have changed to a 5 core cable for the "power" to the junction box on the y-car, why the extra core (2 for fan, 2 for thermistor)
It is also the junction for the mains E-Stop.
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  #90  
Old Wed 23 July 2008, 03:06
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Puts the little fan on the wrong side of the e-stop contactor, but still on the right side of the isolator . .

Clipboard01.gif

Plus 2 more cores for the thermistor
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