CAT 5e wiring to stepper motors

[Nylocke]

Is 1 strand of CAT 5e cable (24 solid AWG) enough to run a NEMA 17 stepper without the wires overheating? I found that I can run 4 pairs up the extrusions with ease, and I haven't been able to determine if it's thick enough.

[bdjohns1]

Is 1 strand of CAT 5e cable (24 solid AWG) enough to run a NEMA 17 stepper without the wires overheating? I found that I can run 4 pairs up the extrusions with ease, and I haven't been able to determine if it's thick enough.

Should be. The wires coming off the stepper are 26AWG. My stepper extensions are made from some 22/4 phone wire.

[Nylocke]

The ones on my motors are all 22 stranded. Just wanted to make sure I wouldn't accidentally melt through the insulation.

[bvandiepenbos]

I would not recommend using solid wire, it really should be stranded, which most cat5 is not. The bulk stuff I have found for networking is solid.
Most ready made extension cables are stranded however... you could get extension cables and cut off the ends.
Solid wire is more prone to breaking with repeated flexing.

24 awg should be fine to run steppers.


One tip, do not run the stepper motor wires up through same extrusion as the end stop wires, it can cause interference with end stops and some really strange machine behaviors. Trust me I know! ...drove us nuts until we tracked that one down.

[Nylocke]

I have 3 of the 4 pairs from one CAT 5 cable running up the X and all 4 pairs of another 2 cables running up the Y and Z towers.

I want to be able to run 3-4 Ezstruders mounted from the top plate, so I'm wondering if the 8 pairs would be adequate for this purpose. I'm not concerned about the wires breaking from stress of bending, the wires will be stationary most of the time, I'm more worried about not melting the insulation, which appears to be fine.

I was having issues with the Z screw on my ultimaker and I can't order an official one, so I decided to switch to a MAX. I couldn't find another set of wire thin enough to stuff up the extrusions so I went to Home Depot and bought some CAT 5e. I'm not worried about the hotend wires, I'll run those along the silicone tubing.

I didn't get the kit wires because I bought the fasteners and hardware from McMaster, don't have 500 for the convention kit since I put ~900 into the Ultimaker

[Jimustanguitar]

Belden makes an 8 conductor wire (nextgen, I think?) that perfectly fits the extrusions. Maybe jassper will chime in with what to look for.

[bvandiepenbos]

you can cover the slots to create another hidden wire passage. not just up through the middle hole.
like this
http://www.tricklaser.com/T3-Trick-Tslo ... 3-TRIM.htm

you can cut your own strips out of any thin plastic or metal between .025" - .063"

[barry99705]

I would not recommend using solid wire, it really should be stranded, which most cat5 is not. The bulk stuff I have found for networking is solid.
Most ready made extension cables are stranded however... you could get extension cables and cut off the ends.
Solid wire is more prone to breaking with repeated flexing.

24 awg should be fine to run steppers.


One tip, do not run the stepper motor wires up through same extrusion as the end stop wires, it can cause interference with end stops and some really strange machine behaviors. Trust me I know! ...drove us nuts until we tracked that one down.

Correct. The bulk stuff you find is for the runs behind walls and in the ceilings. It will be solid, less signal degradation that way. If you want stranded twisted pair, pick up the jumpers that they sell to connect your computer to the jack in the wall. All jumpers/pigtails are stranded so they bend easier.

[Nylocke]

I'm not planning on letting it bend a bunch, I just wanted to make sure 24 AWG would be thick enough for the current for the extruder motors, which someone said would. If I run into issues ill try something else but I think what I have should be fine. Thank you for the help.