Looking for cable and wondered what core size I should get for my limits and homing switches and if its ok to run a bundle inside a single shield or if each pair needs a shield. It seems like you guys are using a single 5+ core for this task but wanted to double check.

Nills are you going to go to that store anytime soon? I picked up almost everything I needed, here in Houston, with the exception of the 7 core 20 ga and the 2 core 20 ga... I figured I could use 4 core in place of the 2 core so I am only needing the 7 core cable...

Would you have a stock number for the wire you picked up?

Cable
 

Can someone give there opinion on this wire...
http://www.oselectronics.com/ose_p46.htm
You need to scoll down on the page to see the shielded cable

They are too thin, the "standard" here is 18AWG or 1mm2 wires when using 4.5A motor current.

I read in a previous post from Gerald that he was going to recommend down grading the wire size to 21g when using motors in the 2-3 amp range. My system will be using a 35VDC power supply with the Gecko 540 driver and the PK296A2A-SG7.2 Oriental Motor. Will that wire be to small then?

Steve, it depends. If you google "awg wire current" you'll find some useful pages.
for 22AWG, one table gives 7A as a "chassis wiring" number. However, comparing that to the conservative standards we use for house wiring, you'll see that the "chassis wiring" numbers run about twice the NEC numbers (41 for 12AWG vs 20, ... ). So it appears that 3.5A from the G540 is within range for 22AWG, assuming that the wire is in good shape. However, the wire will be flexed over time, and you won't have a lot of excess safety margin.

Would using a cable with more than 7 cores be a good Idea? I think that 7 cores are all used with the proxies and I would not have a core for the Z height setting or any other low voltage applications...

I found this wire with 12 cores.

Is it worth using more cores?

Without looking at your spec sheet, consider that you have to watch for the allowed bending radius when the cable flexes in the chain.

This wire is rated for a bend radius of 4 x diameter... That's pretty tight :)

If you read carefully, you are going to find that 4 x diameter applies to a static installation......flexed once in its life only.

Then I have a lot more to learn :(

This is the name of the wire...... 20/12cy NuFlex 1000 Shielded Flexible Control Cable

From the applications listed....Control Systems, Machine Tool , Industrial machinery,

Factory automation and drive systems.... I was thinking that it was a cable made for our purpose...

Some thing to note :I was cutting yesterday while contracrors were servicing my shutter door, they did some welding and o boy was I pissed off. Somehow the interference from the welder throwed my project out by 10 mm on the x -axis so yes there is interference on the wires.It happened while they were welding.This morning I had to redo the project and it was perfect.

Steve, if all the reputable cable producers are talking of a bend radius nearer 10 to 20 times diameter, why would an unknown brand be able to offer 4 times?

That's the problem with today's world... Just don't know who to trust... If you read the sellers product information it seems, to the novice like myself, like this stuff is the greatest cable in the world. They cite many different manufacturing specifications and claim to meet them all...

I just did a search for the manufacture and more information... There was none to be found ... So I guess they can claim anything they want if they never have to back it up or can't even be found...

Thanks for the info Gerald :)

The guys wanting to build plasma cutters should note this.

Hennie, I don't know how much screening/shielding you used, but I won't be surprised to hear that all your cables were shielded. Welding interference is severe and it could have gotten into your system via the mains AC power supply.

If it is to good to be true it probably is. One of the guys on another forum thought he was buy all copper monster wire for his speakers. He ended buy steel coated in a copper film. Really low blow.

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=40772

Gerald ,All the wires are shielded what I also pick up is that there is a lot of spikes in the electricity feed to the workshop that also has an effect on the computer and I do pick it up on the cut.I have a pumphouse close to me and 3 of the towns water pumps are there so everytime it starts up there is a spike.

Russell, I think it is hilarious that a bloke went to the cheapest store, and bought unmarked, unbranded cable and now makes a big noise that he was scammed. :D

I think the phrase "You get what you pay for" could be applied to just about any situation. :(

Gerald you should see some of the other topics. But it does show the you get what you pay for.

It is human nature to maximise their $ value & assume too much..., There are real bargain deals out there, but that would come if one dig hard enough & know your stuff deep enough... & have some risk management in place... i.e. be reasy to get scam!
There are no free lunch...

And yet there is also big money to be made in creating high markups in perceived value . . . . . some people will pay over the top prices simply because of brand name or origin. Funny how it tends to be the same people who chase top names, and then go to the other end of the scale and whine at the dollar store. :)

Exactly! :mad:

I am happy with my GWM

Kobus el-cheapo:D

To me, because the wiring seemed to be the most tedious part of my build, i wanted to make sure that the wire that i purchased was from a reputable company and that even if it cost more, the chance of product failure would be lower. Or at least i hope that it will be. I started out looking for good deals in the US on the wire, and i did actually find some but it was either heavier gauge than what was specified, or had more cores than needed ect. Then I could not find one place that had more than a couple of the wires sizes which meant that i would have had to pay multiple shipping costs, in order to get everything i needed. And i did not see any specs on the cheaper wire that i can remember so it seemed in my opinion to be kind of a roll of the dice as to what quality of product i could get by price shopping or if the wire would even meet the specs that Gerald listed. So i bit the bullet and just ordered it all from the company in Germany and paid one shipping fee and it all arrived as ordered, good quality, and I hope that the extra cost will pay off. I guess only time and use of the MM will tell.

Found a source for screened flexible cables in Argentina, now I'm trying to decide which one is the right one:
http://www.marlew.com.ar/english/pro...rcom/index.php

I called the company and they suggested the EC-ARCOMP line based on my brief description of needs, but I'll do my homework comparing their offer with LAPP and other sources listed in this thread.
Datasheet: http://www.marlew.com.ar/files/pdfs_...ples_n23en.pdf

[EDIT] prices in pesos (divide by 4 for US dollars) http://www.electrotucuman.com.ar/car...PUTAC&pagina=1

The one I need EC0408 (18 AWG x 4 + shield) is not listed but one can infer its price from the models above and below, should be around 6 pesos/meter (USD1.5)

help please
 

dear friends.

i have a question i hope im not being stupid asking.


are all the cables sheelded???or just the cables for the 4 motors?.

Cerelak,
You need shielding on your power cables to keep the noise IN and shielding on your signal wires (estop, proxy etc) to keep the noise OUT. :)

Will Cat7 network cable be usable for the motors, when they are 4 wire motors. There are 4 pairs of wires, so the wires will be used one pair pr. wire on the motor. Do you guys think that it will be usable to power the motors?

Cat-7 cable is 23 gauge. That size wire is rated to carry 0.73A (power transmission rating). Two conductors would be able to handle up to about 1.5A if each conductor carried half the load (unlikely).

Sixteen gauge conductors are rated to handle 3.7A. Thirteen gauge wire can handle 7.4A

I have never tried using Cat-x cable for motor wiring, but I could almost bet that it would be too light-weight to do the job reliably.

On my test bench, I usually use 22-gauge cable, but the lengths are never longer than six feet. For test purposes, it works. On a machine, I would use at least 18-gauge and probably 16-gauge if possible.