A Cable Sleeve Guide for the Sovol SO-1 Pen Plotter

 

Wire/cable management is an important part of machine design.  The Sovol SO-1 pen plotter has cable sleeves covering the wires, to help organize the wires to the steppers, end stops and servo and make them less likely to wear by rubbing due to friction or getting caught on or pinched by a moving part.  As the Sovol SO-1 was designed, the cable sleeves work ok, but I didn't like that the cable sleeve for the Y axis tends to stick out horizontally to the left.  I designed a cable sleeve guide in Fusion360 that would help keep the Y axis sleeve parallel with the Y axis and the X axis sleeve parallel with the X axis.  I designed it to mount on the Y carriage.  A cable tie attaching the Y axis sleeve to the Y carriage was cut and after installation of the sleeve guide, the Y axis sleeve was subsequently secured to the carriage via the rightward cable tie hole on the Y carriage.  Two thumbs screws on the far side of the Y carriage would be removed and this part installed over the threaded bolts and then the thumbscrews replaced.  The base is only 2mm thick so the thumbscrews still have plenty of thread for fastening.   There are gaps to allow the sleeves to pass into the cable guides.  

Fusion360 rendering of cable sleeve guide for Sovol SO-1 pen plotter

3D Printed Sovol SO-1 cable sleeve guide

Designed for function, but after I looked at images, aesthetically pleasing to me as well

I sliced the stl in cura with tree supports and printed it in PLA with a brim.  I then did some light sanding with 120 grit sandpaper on the surfaces that were touching the bed to round any sharp corners or edges

Cable sleeve guide installed on the Sovol SO-1 pen plotter

With cable sleeves inserted into guides

The cable sleeve guide is an inexpensive solution to help to keep the cable sleeves parallel to the axis of motion without limiting the workpiece dimensions, without putting harmful strain on the wires and adds very little extra weight to the Y carriage.

To help keep the X axis sleeve parallel to the X axis, I later put a cable tie around the sleeve and looped a second cable tie through the first cable tie and around the top of the sleeve guide.

The STL for the Sovol SO-1 cable sleeve guide is available on my google drive here.

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