Printer cabling

MartinNYHC

Hey,

I'm currently building a BLV mgn Cube. All the electronics are located behind the rear panel. I think it would be nice to not connect all the wires coming from the front directly to the electronics but to use some sort of terminals (e.g. cable from front -> terminal -> Duet 3). Would be even nicer if cables would be pluggable. Since I don't have that much experinece I'm looking for good ideas.

Any good ideas are appreciated

Cheers, Martin

Phaedrux

I've heard of people using aviation cables and plugs. I don't know specifics, but maybe that can get you on the trail.

theruttmeister

@MartinNYHC
I'm not 100% sure what you mean by 'terminals'... but.
There are cheap connectors out there that might give you what you want.
Good connectors however are expensive, but it also depends on what you actually want to do.
A core XY machine only really needs 1 major cable run. A multi-conductor (Igus do lots of options specifically for automation/motion) cable, broken out at the Duet with the Molex KK connectors used on the Duet (sadly not on all the connections). You can then have the in-line connectors at the head for motor, fan, heater etc. Molex Mini-fit and Micro-fit are popular.
You will probably spend as much on a decent crimping tool as all the connectors. Although the genuine molex tool is over $300 last I looked. Worth it, if you need to do it for money, otherwise there are knock-off's on amazon closer to $30.
Unless you want to go fully modular (which unless you plan on building a quick-disconnect head is a waste of time IMHO). For that you could use CPC connectors, but then you could be spending over $100 on just the connectors, plus they are quite bulky.

The Duet only has a few screw terminals, so having connectors on your cables is the norm... adding in-line connectors at the duet is possible, but seems more effort than its worth.
(I wish they would get rid of those last few screw terminals though).
Oh, and don't use the 0.1" SL connectors, they are trash.

sebkritikel

@theruttmeister said in Printer cabling:

@MartinNYHC
Oh, and don't use the 0.1" SL connectors, they are trash.

Do you actually mean the SL series, or other, "generic" (clone?) .1" headers? E.g. Mini-PV – (Amphenol – formerly FCI, formerly Berg, formerly DuPont Connector Systems)?

I use them Molex KK, SL, and Micro-Fit 3.0 on my projects, and quite like them all. Honestly, I would rather e3d, other vendors, use SL instead of Mirco-Fit on things like thermistors, fans, etc.

theruttmeister

@sebkritikel
Both.

Mostly because of the clones. They are fine for thermistors, maybe fans... but no-one seems to use the locking version and clones melt far too easily because they are prone to poor connections. Why try and use the genuine ones when you just open yourself to getting dodgy clones in there at some point?
Basically, KK is barely any larger in practical terms, the clones are much less likely to cause problems, plus its a higher rated connector to begin with.

I've used SL a lot. Number one failed connector by a huge margin. In comparison, I've not seen a failed Micro-fit 3.0 (although I'm not a huge fan as they take a lot of force to disconnect. Mini-fit Jr is nicer in that regard).

MartinNYHC

Thanks guys. I'll look into the options and think about it