Has anyone thought about the pros and cons of extending the wires and having a stationary control box that doesn’t move with the gantry?
Thinking about putting a room around the lowrider in my garage and initial thought is to have the control box in the front stationary.
Its surely possible, but that would be a LOT of wires to extend. Would definitely want some cable chain to keep it together and manageable. As long as you make sure all your connections are good I don’t see where there would be any issues. Also make sure your wires can handle the needed current at the length.
If you were actually going to do this I’d start looking at making a termination block. Like maybe the wires in a parallel port have enough connectors and are the right gauge
Agree with the others, it’s possible and I’m pretty sure there’s at least one build thread that has done this. After all, this is the way, with the MPCNC.
I am curious though, for you, the main motivation to do this is:
Depending on the requirements, there are options that might be more suitable than extending all stepper and end stop wires at minimal. However it’s implied that a jackpot controller is not currently being used, and most of the options would require changing the controller. So it’s also a factor of the amount of money you’re willing to throw at the problem.
If it’s control only, then pendant would be an option. However the best documented pendant I’m aware of, is for fluidCNC. Others have made a pendant or joystick in the past, but IMO not as well documented.
Which also has a bit of a screen, but I’m not sure if it has on the screen what’s important to you.
Of course with fluidCNC, control and screen move to a browser, which then allows it outside the enclosure (with the controller inside).
SD card solution, although not recommended, fluidCNC has some success uploading over Wi-Fi depending on user. Although if problematic sneaker-net of the SD card is recommended, so not a guaranteed solution. One person has used a SD card extension, however feel for your use case, not an option.
But depending on your requirements, there are options to achieve your goal, maybe without moving the controller, extending wires, and adding a cable chain. (Even though it might seem I’m trying to sell a controller I personally don’t even own yet.)
Another option to consider is putting the controller inside the envelope of the gantry - then the only cable going in is power and USB if you’re using an external gcode sender.