Bowden carrier chain to prevent the huge arc above the printer

I know I've seen this somewhere I just can't find it anymore

I want to have the bowden cable stay on a 2D plane above the printer instead or arc-ing way above it so I can enclose the printer without making it a tower. I am rather after AXIOM's way of doing it but my discussion about their way of directing the filament at such steep angles hasn't had much success in sparking interest here in the forums.

So I am after another way to do it and I see cable carriers a possible good way to create a "golden-raio spiral" that would always keep the bowden in the same plane wherever the printhead would drag it.

Has this been explored before? Do you know where to find some details about it?

Thanks.

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RepRap Lander concept on Concept Forge
RepRap Lander concept on RepRap Forums
My Things, mostly experimental stuff

why not go for the flying extruder mod?

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Check my rubbish blog for my prusa i3

up and running
[3dimetech.blogspot.co.uk]

I don't have a Delta, where the height makes sense to interpose a flying extruder while with CoreXY (the printer I am building), any Flying Extruder system would double its height.

I have found int he meantime a picture that shows pretty much what I am after, but I am still curious about any other fellow reprapper that has tried, is using or thinks about this:



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2016 01:32PM by realthor.

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RepRap Lander concept on Concept Forge
RepRap Lander concept on RepRap Forums
My Things, mostly experimental stuff

I'd like to see the curves on that at all four extremes, it doesn't look long enough to me. The radius on entry to the left hotend also doesn't look to be holding up too well. It's a sweet space saving idea, but I'm unconvinced of the long term functionality/reliability.

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JamesK
I'd like to see the curves on that at all four extremes, it doesn't look long enough to me. The radius on entry to the left hotend also doesn't look to be holding up too well. It's a sweet space saving idea, but I'm unconvinced of the long term functionality/reliability.

I am aware that this idea is far from being implemented efficiently, that's why I am asking around while I am doing some experimentation of my own. The image above just proves some basic concept, I can, too, see the problems at the opposite diagonals... . I am, though, looking for the shortest bowden possible (just like everybody else)

This has to be further explored and refined.

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RepRap Lander concept on Concept Forge
RepRap Lander concept on RepRap Forums
My Things, mostly experimental stuff

This is what I've done on my CoreXY printer

It only contains the wiring - the bowden is separate, but has enough spring to keep out of harm's way. The cable chain gives me full movement across the entire bed, only getting a bit tight at Y=0,X=200 (front-right), but still not fully wound up even there. It has a 'slide post' on the right, to lift the chain as it approaches the frame.

I'm still watching and checking though, just in case I get wire sleeving wear or similar.

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David J
This is what I've done on my CoreXY printer
[attachment 74807 P1010537.JPG]
It only contains the wiring - the bowden is separate, but has enough spring to keep out of harm's way. The cable chain gives me full movement across the entire bed, only getting a bit tight at Y=0,X=200 (front-right), but still not fully wound up even there. It has a 'slide post' on the right, to lift the chain as it approaches the frame.

I'm still watching and checking though, just in case I get wire sleeving wear or similar.

Do you have any intention to run the bowden through the carrier chain? And just stick it out from the carrier some links before the hotend so you can have some amount of arc in it? Or it's intended just for cables....

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RepRap Lander concept on Concept Forge
RepRap Lander concept on RepRap Forums
My Things, mostly experimental stuff

Just a thought but how about adding loop to black carrier parts? Top side or outside on the vertical bar. Putting bowden tube through it and releasing it on third black part counted from extruder could give nice loose turns for tube.

I like that carrier. Looks like really venomous snake.