Extra Fine Bowden Cable?
in Animatronics
Hi guys, quick materials sourcing question. Where can we get super fine bowden cable and housing, preferably by the roll?
Here are a few examples of the gauge range I'm interested in, (which you may find interesting whether or not you have an answer):
It looks like a lot of these cable housings have a wire wrapped outer layer? Then in the second example (the chipmunk) it looks like the cables are maybe running through fine extension springs... Any ideas? I've been making do with the Sullivan Gold-N-Rod #577 (Veryflex), which are fine enough, (1.85mm outer housing/0.8mm cable,) but only come in 36" lengths and could do to be a bit more robust.
Thanks!!
Here are a few examples of the gauge range I'm interested in, (which you may find interesting whether or not you have an answer):
It looks like a lot of these cable housings have a wire wrapped outer layer? Then in the second example (the chipmunk) it looks like the cables are maybe running through fine extension springs... Any ideas? I've been making do with the Sullivan Gold-N-Rod #577 (Veryflex), which are fine enough, (1.85mm outer housing/0.8mm cable,) but only come in 36" lengths and could do to be a bit more robust.
Thanks!!
1
Comments
/Chris
In Richard Landon's tentacle vid he mentioned that he gets cable stuff from Hosmer-Dorrance. Anyone know if they carry anything that fine? When I get a chance I'll give them a call and report my findings.
For cable and housing, I went to http://www.flanderscables.com/
Overall I am really happy with the materials, I went with the 1.2mm 7x7 cable and housing. I ended up stripping off sections of the outer layer to get some extra flexibility in the housing.
Second, I was looking for a similar fix for the "Gold-n-Rod" length issue. I found a possible solution on Ebay. Again, I went with the 1.2mm cable, then I bought the 16S Teflon Tubing . The cable fits wonderfully in this! It's small, and with the thick wall, it's sturdy. It just took a while to get here. About 3 weeks.
Hope this will at least give you some ideas.
Happy building!
P.s. If you wanted a smaller diameter, you can get rolls of small piano wire and get tubing to fit.
I know sites like McMaster Carr have teflon tubing in lots of sizes as well.
/Chris
http://www.bergencable.com/
So I finally found the housing I was originally looking for via Ron Cole's great blog.
It's product #C070 - 0.07OD galvanized steel spring push/pull casing from Sava Carl Stahl Industries. Other sizes are also available, but this is the finest of its kind I've seen.
Here's the link: https://www.savacable.com/pages/prod_04_02.html
They only deal business to business but if you're working as an individual McMaster Carr is able to special order it on your behalf. There is a 50' order minimum @ $7.40 per foot.
In the process I also discovered that you can find some very fine PTFE teflon tubing via Chinese sellers on Ebay, down to under 1mm. It looks like vermicelli noodles and works well with Spiderwire/Fireline. A little harder to secure at the ends than spring housings or something like Gold-N-Rod, but it can be done. It helps to abrade the surface under a microscope.
/Chris