"Cable Chain Suggestions/Ideas"

[atomarc]

My son and I have a G0704 CNC build in progress. We are at a point to laying out power, coolant and hydraulic (drawbar) lines to the moving 'Z' spindle assembly. I see lots of inexpensive 'cable chain' on Ebay with various sizes to choose from to suit the intended 'fill' we'll put into the track.

What should I be looking for..any caveat's? Any..'been there, done that' helpful hints. The motor wiring and coolant are straightforward, but the small hydraulic hose gets pretty stiff when it's hit with 2000 lbs of pressure. I'm guessing the minimum bend radius of the hydraulic hose is going to be a dictating factor in the selection of the carrier.

Any ideas or thoughts? I'm not tied into this cable chain thing at all if there were some other decent looking solution. The carriers just look so 'cool' it's hard to resist them, right!


Stuart

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[SCzEngrgGroup]

They're all the same except for size. Buy whatever size it takes to carry whatever you want to run through it.

Why do you need to enclose the hydraulic hose? It should be fine on its own. Drag chain is only needed to keep the cables, etc. from getting tangled in other things. A hydraulic hose, if properly anchored at the ends, should be stiff enough to stay out of the way by itself.

Regards,
Ray L.

[atomarc]

They're all the same except for size. Buy whatever size it takes to carry whatever you want to run through it.

Why do you need to enclose the hydraulic hose? It should be fine on its own. Drag chain is only needed to keep the cables, etc. from getting tangled in other things. A hydraulic hose, if properly anchored at the ends, should be stiff enough to stay out of the way by itself.

Regards,
Ray L.

Ray,

I just figured that if all lines onto the the moving spindle housing were arranged together in a carrier that it would be more sensible and well organized...less like Medusa's hair, so to speak, with stuff hanging out all over. Maybe it's OCD on my part.

Stuart

[louieatienza]

Aside from keeping cables untangled, cable chain helps support all lines running through it. They do make some pretty beefy cable chain; on the bright side maybe your hydraulic hose will help reduce the bend radius, which only helps relieve stress on the other lines...

[MikeC8]

I too would probably keep the hydraulic line out of the cable chain. I would be worried about it possibly damaging the other lines due to its stiffness. And I wouldn't be to thrilled about having to replace it down the road, and dragging a oily hydraulic line past my other wires.

[atomarc]

Thanks for those thoughts. I have ordered a length of carrier as it's absolutely dirt cheap and I'll play around with it. Because the the draw bar cylinder pops us a tiny amount to pinch the top hat, it's tough to 'hard line' it to a connection point with the hose. I only envision three lines through the carrier, coolant, spindle motor leads and PDB hose, so the carrier won't be full by any means. I found hydraulic hose with a 1 3/4" bend radius so with the proper fittings on top of the cylinder I may be able to pull this off...we'll see.

Stuart

[Al_The_Man]

Although not quite as 'elegant' some applications have used a festoon system for heavy cables or pneumatic's/hydraulics successfully .
There are industrial suppliers for this
Al.