Question on MPCNC orientation and cabling

I am slowly making progress, have my work table built, and this morning’s temperatures were low enough (mid-90’s) that I spent some time in the garage finishing some sanding of the table and torsion box. Still need to attach the torsion box to the roll-around table, and then I can start assembly of the MPCNC.

My question is about where the cabling tends to be, from pictures of others’ builds, it looks like there is always a group of cables/wires in the “front” , which appears to be the X-axis, is that correct? Reason I ask is that I built the roll-around table sized to fit in a section of my garage, and it’s longer than it is wide. So if there is going to be cabling, etc. hanging off one side, I was thinking that I’d orient the MPCNC so that anything hanging off the side will be over the excess width of the table, figure that’ll make it less likely to get snagged on something when I roll the table back into its storage spot.

Or is it arbitrary as to how/where you route the wiring? I built the table longer than needed so I’d have space to put the display and possibly a laptop or whatever.

Thanks!

I assume you are building a Primo. Usually the words “torsion box” are associated with the LowRider. As for wire runs, there is a lot of flexibility. For example, I have my machine setup like you describe with the X axis across the front, and I have my electronics and display in the front. When I upgraded to a Primo, I decided I did not want to fight the cable chain in the front, so I ran the wires the long way. My X1 stepper wires, run through the tubing to the back, are then paired with the X2 wires, both run through the cable chain, and then come back to the front through a rail. This means that my X1 wiring is longer than it needs to be, but I have the front completely free of cable chains. This is extremely helpful in inserting stock, handling oversized stock, inserting the metal plate for laser work, etc.

so that anything hanging off the side will be over the excess width of the table

You don’t need to hang anything off the table if you don’t want to. With a bracket off the truck that tucks under the truck, you can keep your cable chain inside the footprint of the feet, or even completely under the rail. That is what I did for my build.

Yes, I’m building a Primo.

To do what you suggested and run the wires the long way, will I most likely need more wire than what came in the Primo kit? My workspace / cut area is 24 x 22.

I’m guessing that there are numerous ideas for cable chains, etc. online, Thingiverse, Prusa site, etc?

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To do what you suggested and run the wires the long way, will I most likely need more wire than what came in the Primo kit?

For my machine, I needed to extend the wires. I used two of the extension cables that came with the kit to wire up the X1 motor, then I used some 4-pin wire to extend the cable for the Z stepper motor. If you didn’t want to solder the wires, you can purchase an additional extension cable from V1.

I’m guessing that there are numerous ideas for cable chains, etc. online, Thingiverse, Prusa site, etc?

There are many cable chains on Thingiverse and Printables. In addition, this topic references a parametric version of a chain. Personally, I just threw some money at the problem and purchased this chain from Amazon. I needed two of them to cover X and Y. I did something different for Z.