Was sick of worrying about gettting cables snagged,

3D Printing
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Was sick of worrying about gettting cables snagged, so I #3DPrinted this cable chain for my MigBot Prusa i3. The #3DPrint was created in #Autodesk 123D and printed in ABS

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I found and printed that cable chain from thingyverse about 2 years ago. Was 123D around then? (edit) just watched the video, it makes sense now, Agreed nice tutorial.

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Great video thanks

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@Nathan_Walkner I didn’t need the height of the opening to be bigger. Just the width to fit the cables with plugs through. :slight_smile:

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I didn’t understand why either but found the actual tutorial very informative. Thanks I’ve never seen the need to add 123d to my toolkit but it does seem worth learning. Modifying stl files cam be a challenge as I usually convert to a mesh in freecad which may or may not work and then it’s hollow and converting to a solid can also be a pain. I’ve used meshmixer for things like this

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The bending radius is typically calculated at 8 times the OD of the cable for non metalic jackets. A 22 awg single conductor cable is about 1.5 mm so use 12 mm as a minimium bending radius. Use a 20-25 mm drag chain bending radius and you’ll be fine with motor, thermistor and even heater cables.

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Factors that can contribute to wire failure include loading of the chain, the layout and pathing of the chain, quality of the wire and the method of attachment of the wire and /or chain at either end.

In the case of the printer in the videos the reported failed part possibly could be chain path/orientation design related. Vertical orientaion of the chain is not a typical application as it’s possible the loading of the cable in the chain could lead to issues. The chain orientation typically loads the cable horizontally. There are other considerations, here’s a sheet from Igus with basic design tips http://www.igus.com/wpck/6213/The_Cable_Distribution_Rules_You_Need_to_Obey

Use the right parts in the right way and it’s not an issue.

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Mark you didn’t use the part correctly which likely contributed to the failure. That’s hardly a reason to dismiss the use of drag chain particularly when it’s used in many applications with great results. Use the parts correctly and there isn’t an issue. I’ve used a considerable amount of drag chain over the years in operations that are much more demanding than a 3D printer. It’s a great tool, you just need to know how to use it.