Cable-Cutting-Machine

Description

Hey guys, the last months i used my spare time for working on my first bigger project. In my work i had to cut hundrets of cables with the same length. This inspired me to build a machine for doing this job. The result can be seen in the photos. It`s a construction based on makerbeam, mixed with 3D-printed parts, and is controlled by an Arduino Uno. You simply insert the correct length and number of cables you want to cut. Now you only have to press start and drink some coffee, while the machine is doing the job for you.
Let me know if you want more details about my project.
I`m really excited what you all think about this creation. :)
Greetings from Germany.

Details

With my project you can cut cables with sizes of 0.75 mm2 up to 2.5 mm2 and i also think that it would handle 4 mm2. The length is mutable from 1 cm to 1 m and you can order up to 100 cables. The accuracy is pretty high, the lentgh varies only about one or two millimeters. I integrated an LCD and a few buttons, where you can set your cable-parameters. When all parameters are set and you press start, the stepper motor will insert the cable from the spool in the wished length. If the cable has reached the right length an slow but powerfull DC-motor will tighten a cable plieres till it's complettly closed. If it's closed it touches an microswitch and the motor runs in the reverse direction till it's open again. This procedure is repeating until the right number is reached. The hole thing is driven by a 12 V powersupply and a DC-DC converter is providing the steppermotor. After all the biggest plus of my machine is the low prize. For most professional Cutting-Machines you pay about 1500€ or even more. For the materials of my selfmade one you only have to pay about 200€.

Files

Cable_Cutting_Machine.fzz

fzz - 242.88 kB - 04/15/2017 at 20:39

Download

Kabelabschneidemaschine_2.0.ino

ino - 15.25 kB - 04/15/2017 at 20:22

Download

Cable_Cutting_Machine_silkTop.gto

gto - 935.16 kB - 04/15/2017 at 20:21

Download

Cable_Cutting_Machine_etch_silk_top.pdf

Adobe Portable Document Format - 685.22 kB - 04/15/2017 at 20:21

Preview

Cable_Cutting_Machine_etch_silk_top_mirror.pdf

Adobe Portable Document Format - 692.23 kB - 04/15/2017 at 20:21

Preview

Components

1 × Arduino UNO

2 × L298N Dual-H-Bridge

2 × microswitch

1 × DC-DC converter 12V/ 5 V

1 × Protoshield for Arduino

Project Logs

Collapse

Internet of cablecutting is getting real (at least a bit)
Kirschner Christoph • 06/03/2017 at 13:25 • 0 comments

The last days I was playing around with Autodesk Fusion 360, to improve the designe of my machine. You can see the result in the picture on top of the log. Currently I`m redesigning most of my 3D-printed parts, because I think small adjustments here can do a lot of diverence. An other part that will be changed, is the DC-motor. I found an other one that has twice the speed and almost the same strength.
My biggest success of the last weeks can be seen in the next picture.
A friend of mine and me finally managed it to programm the sketch for the ESP 8266. Don`t mind the crazy green colour, we were simply to lazy to adjust the hex code of the backgroundcolour. :D
Have a nice weekend and keep going your projects !!! :)
~new step in the right direction~
Kirschner Christoph • 05/30/2017 at 20:09 • 0 comments

The last weeks i didn't post that much but it were quite productive weeks. I updated my layout, send it to Seeed, bought the parts, programmed the ESP and designed a new version of the machine in Autodesk !! :)
The next days I will release new information !! :)
Have a nice week everyone !! :)
~finished PCB ~
Kirschner Christoph • 04/22/2017 at 19:11 • 0 comments

This week was really a successfull one !! :) i etched my PCB and even updated my basic construction !! :)
~pcb~
Kirschner Christoph • 04/21/2017 at 20:38 • 0 comments

Today I etched my very first PCB and I think it's a good result for the first try :) I hope that everything works find !! :)
~ latenight routing ~
Kirschner Christoph • 04/15/2017 at 20:04 • 0 comments

So finally after hours of playing around with the layout, I`m pretty happy with my result.
All parts are now on the right place and even the solder-points seem to work this way.
Tell me if you are missing something !!!
Have a nice day Hackers & Makers !! :)
Fritzing-Layout:
Top of the PCB:
Bottem of the PCB:
~ updated version of my planed pcb~
Kirschner Christoph • 04/14/2017 at 18:19 • 2 comments

After good advices from the communtity i spend some time to improve my designe. I hope it is a little bit better this time, but tell me if not.
[By the way orange is at the bottem and yellow is on the top of the PCB.]
Next week i go to a science-camp called ESFZ, in Erlangen, where I`m able to etch my PCB. Can`t wait to get this thing reality!!
Have a nice weekend !!! :)
~ready for etching?~
Kirschner Christoph • 04/09/2017 at 10:08 • 3 comments

This is the result of my first time I have done layouting. If you have any experiences with this it would be really great to share your knowledge with me!!
Have a nice day!!
~future of this project~
Kirschner Christoph • 04/08/2017 at 13:43 • 0 comments

Here you can see the plan of the board I`m going to produce. Furthermore there will be a hardware-update and some addons.
~new lasercutted labels~
Kirschner Christoph • 03/15/2017 at 11:31 • 0 comments
New Source-Code
Kirschner Christoph • 03/14/2017 at 20:57 • 0 comments

Down there you can see the new code i wrote.
Read more »

View all 16 project logs

Discussions

Capt. Flatus O'Flaherty ☠ wrote 04/17/2017 at 17:32

But wait ..... Does this machine not make you unemployed? :(

Are you sure? yes | no

Kirschner Christoph wrote 04/17/2017 at 18:47

No I don't think so .. :p

Are you sure? yes | no

-= Wolf =- wrote 03/05/2017 at 20:12

AWESOME! i've actually been planning on building an automated cable cutter for a while, as just like you, i have to cut a lot of wires for some sub-assemblies and this would definitely make life easier when cutting wires, quick question, how did you do it to measure the cable when entering the desired lenght?, did you convert the stepper motor steps to distance?

Are you sure? yes | no

Kirschner Christoph wrote 03/06/2017 at 03:35

Yeah this was just how i did it !! :D i simply tested it out ! In my Video the prozess is a bit slower than it's now really :)

Are you sure? yes | no

doug.metzler wrote 03/03/2017 at 16:14

I toyed with a similar project for a while, but I wanted the ability to cut and strip. It consisted of 3 stepper motors and a captured set of wire cutters/strippers. You'd feed the wire in until it reached the cut point, cut the wire, then feed it forward and slide the wire cutters from the cut position to the (appropriate) strip position, clamp, then back-up to perform the strip operation. Then zip to the other end and do the same.

Are you sure? yes | no

overflo wrote 03/03/2017 at 10:54

Please post a video that shows the actual cutting mechanism.

Are you sure? yes | no

Kirschner Christoph wrote 03/03/2017 at 12:45

Tmorrow maybe !! :)

Are you sure? yes | no

Endbots wrote 03/03/2017 at 07:20

Any chance you can upload a video or some more detailed photos of the inside?

Are you sure? yes | no

Kirschner Christoph wrote 03/03/2017 at 07:24

When I'm back home I will do so !! :D

Are you sure? yes | no

Kirschner Christoph wrote 03/02/2017 at 09:50

Indeed the material-costs were much cheeper than the prize for a professional machine. I had to pay about 200€ for all the components and it was great fun to build this. :)

With my project you can cut cables with sizes of 0.75 mm2 up to 2.5 mm2 and i also think that it would handle 4 mm2. The length is mutable from 1 cm to 1 m and you can order up to 100 cables.

New details will be released soon! :)

Thanks for your interest!! ;)

Are you sure? yes | no

davedarko wrote 03/02/2017 at 11:31

there is a reply button below the comment, this way @Stefan-Xp gets notified :)

If you'll ever integrate a wire stripper, you have a customer ;)

Are you sure? yes | no

Kirschner Christoph wrote 03/02/2017 at 11:47

ahh thanks !!

I allready thought about this !

Maybe driving around the cable with a cutting edge works :D

Are you sure? yes | no

Craig Hissett wrote 03/02/2017 at 13:30

I'm sure there's a joke to be had there, about your requesting additional strippers ha ha!

Are you sure? yes | no

Stefan-Xp wrote 03/02/2017 at 22:46

Thank you :) Maybe the Machine is a lot smaller than i first thought. 200€ sounds rather cheap to me.

If you needed less than 60h for planning and construction you are on the beneficial side ;)

BTW: is there a certain reason that you limited the length to 1m? How acurate are your wire lengths?

I'm looking forward for new details ;)

Have a nice Weekend!

Are you sure? yes | no

Kirschner Christoph wrote 03/03/2017 at 07:02

I basicly build it for short cables about 20cm and so i set this 1m-parameter. If you remove the Front you can cut longer cables :)

When I'm back at home, I upload a video or my script I had to write !

Best regards !!

Are you sure? yes | no

Stefan-Xp wrote 03/01/2017 at 21:50

In general it looks great :)

If you needed it for your job, and constructed it in the daytime, it might have been cheaper to buy a machine.

But I'm sure that is not the point. Without any details it is hard to say something constructive about this device.

I would love to see some more details.

Best regards from around the corner, Stefan

Are you sure? yes | no

overflo wrote 03/03/2017 at 10:52

> it might have been cheaper to buy a machine.

I am sure he also earned a lot of XP during this project.
But those numbers are hard to fill into an excel sheet ;)

Good job Christoph, I like it a lot :)

Are you sure? yes | no

Kirschner Christoph wrote 03/03/2017 at 12:48

This machine wasn't really for work, it was more a fun-project with a real use !! :D

Are you sure? yes | no

Cable-Cutting-Machine

Description

Details