The ribbon cable and the wires for my Bltouch kept breaking. For that reason I decided to install a cable chain on my 3d printer. This prevents the wires from getting damaged, and also makes the printer look much nicer, at least in my opinion :) .
Cable chain:
The parameters of the cable chain are: 10 mm x 20 mm. I bought a 1m long one, but it was a bit too much, luckily you can just remove any chain link from it you don't need.
This is the one I used for this project: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/TXErfolg-Quality-Carrier-Printer-Machine/dp/B087R9LCH3
You can also use the reverse engineered cable chain: https://www.printables.com/model/635521-cable-chain-r28-20x10mm
Heat set inserts:
You will also need some M3 threaded heat set inserts. I used the ones made by ruthex, but any should be good as long as they are at most 6mm in depth and 4mm wide.
These are the ones I used: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/ruthex-Threaded-Insert-RX-M3x5-7-Ultrasonic/dp/B08BCRZZS3
Installing the mod:
- you need a few M3 screws, rather short ones, 6-8mm at most. You can reuse some of the ones from the printer, the holes are designed to accommodate them, (they have a wide indent for the head of the screws).
- The gantry part holding the chain can be screwed onto the metal part on the gantry, behind the board (which the ribbon cable connects to). You can leave on the cover, I decided to remove it, since I have too big of a cable mess there. If you decide to leave it on you might need slightly longer screws however.
- The printer has holes with threads for the ‘connector’ element to be installed. This is what those 4 holes are for. The other 6 are for the two parts of the chain, 3 for each, this is where you need to use heat set inserts.
- The static, not moving part of this build also needs 4 heat set inserts. The printer has holes on both sides of the frame for the endstop switch. This is what I used to mount this. It's a bit finicky to screw those screws in there, but it is doable with some small allen key or a long screwdriver.
- The models also have holes for cable ties so you can secure the cables easily, as you should with cable chains anyway.
A video of the mod in action:
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