Creality CR-X Cable Chain

Upon re-arranging my printers, I found the factory cable solution was kind of annoying. The way I arranged my CR-X was to have the cable side against my other printer so I each time I'd use it, the cable could get wrapped around the printer and would sometimes just get in the way.

So I came up with the idea to add a vertical cable chain, getting the cable right out of the way and in my opinion looks a lot neater.

NOTE: I ended up having to print 26 chain links and having to cut the aluminium channel to about 580mm

WARNING: This project will require you to alter the wiring, I doubt there will be any problems but I'm not an electrician to say otherwise.

How I Designed This

133.59mm Between the front he the aluminium channel and the vertical extrusion.

The aluminium channel slips nice and snug into the base bracket.
TIP: Connect a couple cable links before slipping in the channel.

Assembly

After sorting out the extension I then pulled the factory cable in under the printer then plugged the cable in and put electrical tape around the board then poke the other end of the cable through then feed it through the cable chain then once all ran and plugged in, clip on all the clasps, try to flatten out the cables (as seen in the first picture below) then re-attach the cable holding plate then fix the bottom of the printer back on.

To assemble the cable chain you will need to buy a 1 meter length of 20x20mm aluminium channel like this one from Bunnings can follow the reference photos below.

Secure the cable using electrical tape or zip ties.

I found it easier to put the bottom bracket on the aluminium channel and slipped the top bracket on then checked using a tape measure, checking the distance from the aluminium profile to the aluminium channel (or you can probably just eyeball it for level/even spacing). Then put short screws through the bracket into the printer base, I'd advise doing this while you have the printer bottom off so you can see that no cables are going to get pierces by the screw.

You may need to tap (tap + die) the end of the extrusion where the top bracket is screwed into, I found there was no need to secure the aluminium channel to the bracket as it was a snug fit and the force from the cable change was pushing the channel back into the bracket.

I found when fixing the gantry end of the cable chain I found it was easier to assemble the whole chain (without the wiring inside) letting the bracket find itself where it needs to be, or try to match it to the location of the aluminium channel. When figuring out where it needs to be, I marked where to screw with a marker then unscrewed that panel it's attached to then used short screws, then fixed the panel back on.

Top down view of where the cables come out and around into the gantry.

Wiring

In order to use this cable chain you can either unwrap the current cable and separate each stranded wire from the ribbon cable. However I didn't want to so I bought 2 meters from JayCar and a locking female and male IDC plugs and wired them up like an extension.

Upon making the extension I soldered the female connector into a perf board then after a bit of mucking around with a multi-meter making sure the cables are in the correct spot.

NOTE: I'd advice if you do it the same way I did wrap the board in electrical tape like in the photos

WARNING Make sure you know what you're doing before fiddling around with the printers wiring, make sure to use insulation where there are exposed wires, to make the project easier I'd recommend buying a 26 pin male to female IDC cable.