CAN Cable

[kingstar]

I'm looking to pickup an EBB36 board for my 250 Trident. When I go to install this, I am also looking to change the tool head to the dragonburner. I am also looking to connect it directly to the Octopus and get rid of the cable chains. What are people using for the can cables? I was thinking I could use some CAT5 cable I already have for the CANH and CANL and then some 18 gauge silicone wire for power. Does that seem correct? Do people just buy some sleeves and glands from there to create their own cable?

[mvdveer]

1 hour ago, kingstar said:

I'm looking to pickup an EBB36 board for my 250 Trident. When I go to install this, I am also looking to change the tool head to the dragonburner. I am also looking to connect it directly to the Octopus and get rid of the cable chains. What are people using for the can cables? I was thinking I could use some CAT5 cable I already have for the CANH and CANL and then some 18 gauge silicone wire for power. Does that seem correct? Do people just buy some sleeves and glands from there to create their own cable?

That will work. I just bought some off Aliexpress as I mostly use mellow boards. 

[GarthSnyder]

The drawback to the CAT5 approach is that you probably need more than one pair for power since the wire gauge tends to be quite narrow. (And varies - surprisingly, the wire gauge doesn't seem to be part of the CAT5 spec.)

The best option I've found is this Chainflex cable from IGUS. It's inexpensive (until you get to shipping ), thin, and lightweight. It's documented as 4 x 20AWG, but in fact all 4 conductors are twisted together. I'm not sure whether this technically satisfies the CAN spec, but it seems to work perfectly. This cable is also flex rated for long-term abuse.

3DO makes a dedicated CAN cable and a CAN+USB cable that I have also tried. Unfortunately, these cables both have thick silicone wrapping, which makes them large and floppy. The CAN cable was constantly getting trapped behind the gantry cable chain because the cable doesn't have enough shape of its own to maintain a proper curve. So, I wouldn't recommend these options.

 

 

[Tom3D]

check out this Cable - CAN and USB in one Cable

https://3do.eu/cables/1039-3do-can-bus-usb-cable-fepsilicone-26awg2p24awg2c20awg2c.html

 

 

[kingstar]

20 minutes ago, Tom3D said:

check out this Cable - CAN and USB in one Cable

https://3do.eu/cables/1039-3do-can-bus-usb-cable-fepsilicone-26awg2p24awg2c20awg2c.html

Is the addition of the USB wires for possible future use or do people actually have a use case for both?

[mvdveer]

1 hour ago, kingstar said:

Is the addition of the USB wires for possible future use or do people actually have a use case for both?

Good question.

I can possible use it in my setup for example - Canbus plus Beacon Probe. (Beacon only does USB). BUT - it seems you would still need to run 24V for Canbus power. 

So whilst a good idea, not the complete solution either.

[GarthSnyder]

6 hours ago, Tom3D said:

check out this Cable - CAN and USB in one Cable

This is the cable I referred to above. Unfortunately, my experience was not so great - it's thick, heavy, and floppy.

My use case was a CAN toolhead board + Beacon3D scanner, but now that Beacon clones are available with CAN I've reverted to plain CAN cabling.

[Dirk]

I use the EBB2209 with RP2040 chip as toolhead board. It comes with a fantastic CAN cable. The github has stls for printing and connecting the cables as such, that you have an umbilical without buying any extras.

For the EBB36, you can still get their cable they deliver with a purchase of their EBB2209 toolhead board (https://aliexpress.com/item/1005006468244127.html) It costs 5 euros. (the whole package I bought for 20 euros during a sale. it is now sale again).

But I can very much recommend this can cable.

The drag of the x/y dragchain has reduced the drag on my toolhead so much that the speed of my printer increased substantially.

When it comes to Beacon, is Cartographer. It comes with optional CAN or USB, and with its own cable. To Europe for 1/3rd of the price. The IDM you can buy on AliExpress seems to be meant for the Chinese market. It comes without a cable, or support. It just has support over the Chinese instant messenger QQ, which is accessible to Chinese only with a landline

The sales people on AliExpress stop reacting to you after you purchase IDM. Ask me how I know I will share my experiences soon.

 

 

[mvdveer]

7 hours ago, Dirk said:

The sales people on AliExpress stop reacting to you after you purchase IDM. Ask me how I know I will share my experiences soon.

I know - joined that club. But just installed two of these to see how they compare with the beacon.

[Dirk]

3 minutes ago, mvdveer said:

how they compare with the beacon.

And? 

[mvdveer]

Just now, Dirk said:

And? 

Will do a post later after some hours of printing. Too soon to tell yet as I only finished the install on the Micron Friday and only ran 3 x 90minute prints on it. Installed on a Trident with Klippain, but still doing some maintenance before starting to print.

But install easy. No extra wires to the electronics as I spliced the can cable into the existing lines and tapped 5V and GND from the probe port on the SHT36.

Will update when I had sufficient time to compare

[chrisalbertson]

On 2/29/2024 at 10:15 AM, kingstar said:

I'm looking to pickup an EBB36 board for my 250 Trident. When I go to install this, I am also looking to change the tool head to the dragonburner. I am also looking to connect it directly to the Octopus and get rid of the cable chains. What are people using for the can cables? I was thinking I could use some CAT5 cable I already have for the CANH and CANL and then some 18 gauge silicone wire for power. Does that seem correct? Do people just buy some sleeves and glands from there to create their own cable?

You can buy an actual "CAN Bus cable" that is double shielded, designed for continuous motion, and to operate at ambient temperatures of 105C.   But it is about $4 per foot.  Look at McMaster Carr, Digikey and other top-tier suppliers.

One option I want to look into is USB-C cable that is rated for notebook PC charging.   This kind of cable can deliver 100W of power and mullti-GHz of data at the same time over one cable that is designed to be flexible.    Monoprice seems to have some that are cheap enough that I could cut one apart and look inside.

(I just hacked a USB cable to power the Pi3 in my printer because the GPIO pins aren't a reliable connection, or maybe the cheap Dupont connectors were the issue.   So I made a JST to micro-USB cable.  (My printer has a row of JST-XH for 5 volt DC distribution)

CAT5 has 4 twisted pairs inside.   You only need one. so it is bigger than you need.    Also the CAT5 lack sheildiing which is always recommended for CAN.

I'd suggest hacking a mouse cable, rather then CAT5.   It will have a twisted pair with shielding. plus the ability to send very low current 5 volts,  And it is smaller then CAT5.

It is not easy to find wires that stand flexing 24x7 in a box heated to 105C and is twisted with the core t shielding.   But for a hobby user, maybe you don't print 24x7 and don't mind replacing he wire every year.   If running 24x7, just spend the $40 for industrial quality CAN cable.

THere are so many things I want to work on.   One is an ESP32 based MCU.   The ESP32 has built-in wireless and costs well under $10.   This solves the cable issue.