I have just ordered my 1000mm X-carve and am now ready to start gathering the things I will need for assembly and immediate upgrades. I decided to go about this a little bit differently than most. I have ordered the 1000mm Rail Kit, ACME Lead Screw Kit, NEMA 23 Stepper Motor Kit, 1000mm Drag Chain Kit, and Limit Switch Kit. I will have limited time to work on this in the next few months and am willing to wait for the new X-controller and will continue to research spindles during this time. With that in mind I am hoping to get some answers to the following questions.
What type of wire do I need to buy? Would 18/4 shielded and 18/2 shielded be all I need?
What sizes techflex will I want to use/need?
What size and style taps and screws do I need if I intend to tap the rails and use machine screws instead of the thread cutting screws provided?
Is there anything else I should be looking at doing during this initial assembly phase?
For tapping the Makerslide, i used a 5mm tap. The holes in the MS are 4.2mm which is OK for this size tap. A bit of tapping fluid or even WD40 will help. I used 16mm BHCS as it’s what I had on hand, I wouldn’t go less than 12mm.
For the steppers, I didn’t use shielded cable as the stepper wires were 4 metres long so I just twisted them together. For another CNC router I built, I used a 4 core microphone cable, (26/0.10x4 core + Braided Shield: 128/0.10 tinned copper). If I have any noise issues on the X-Carve then I’ll replace the stepper cables with this stuff. Similar spec cable for the limit/home switches but just a dual core cable.
For a braided sleeve, I used a 10mm diameter and heat shrink to hold the ends of it in place - used the stuff that contains host glue if you can get it.
I plan to do the x-axis stiffening mod at some point but doing it during initial assembly does make sense.
I used security cable — 18/4 shielded for the stepper motors, 18/2 shielded for the spindle, and 22/2 shielded for the homing switches. If I needed a small piece of wire for something, I just pulled one or more conductors out of the shielded wire.
I just re-read your post and caught this brilliant idea. Mic cable is shielded very well, super flexible, and can take a bunch of abuse. I am looking at this and this to use on my X-carve. From your experience would these look to be a good choice? Also how much of each do you need for a typical installation?