Cable Management So Good, It's Illegal - DIYson Lamp Build Log #6
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- This build log is a real drag. Find out how I interpreted the ingenious (and legally protected) wiring solution used by the Dyson Lightcycle, and then modified it into my own design. If I can pull this off, I'll be ready to move on to adding some real electronics to this lamp. One major step closer to a V1 release :)
Original parametric drag chain design: www.printables...
Current project files repository and parts list: github.com/ste...
My favorite filament: amzn.to/3j5RVws
Subscribe to the channel: / @stevenbennettmakes
Wow. Thank you to everyone for the thoughtful comments, and welcome to new subscribers! I am overwhelmed with the positive response this project has gotten lately, thank you so much for following along and sharing your ideas and support. I'm so glad to have you as collaborators on this project.
It's been over a month since the last video so I wanted to assure you that the next one is in the works. I've encountered some delays, but I think the final product will be worth the wait. I'll post some process photos for subscribers in the coming days :)
This is a great project and I can't wait to make one myself!
Maybe clock spring in the base that will tension wire?
Steven, amazing project, I love the absolute dedication to not only making a functional design, but revising all design choices in order to keep it as sterile and true to the original 600 USD lamp design. I will start following through soon to start making the lamp.
Quick questions, Is it possible, and sounds good to you, to create a Discord community for this project where other models could be shared and discussed by the community? Also, could you please provide .f3d files for the carriages in the repository?
Yet again, amazing project and thank you!
@@felipegutierrez2193 Thanks Felipe! I've been considering making a Discord server for that exact purpose. Glad to hear you'd find that valuable, I'll keep you posted. Uploading the carriage file now :)
@@StevenBennettMakes a discord server would definitely be cool
My man, this popped up on my recommended and I'm glad I watched! I *SO* appreciate your tenacity and follow-through!
I was about to make a joke about this video being "illuminating" ( heh ) but really... this is fantastic! You've got a new subscriber.
Thanks for posting in your feed CrafsMan! Loving this…
A linear equivalent of a slip ring would be a cleaner way to get power between the arms and the carriage. You'd only need one conductor run down the middle of the slots that face the carriage, then use the aluminium arms themselves as a ground.
Edit: think of the carriage as a slot car, and the extrusion as the track!!
Exactly, using one of those carbon conductor thingies found in a drill
@@ahmadhasan3258 no, I think carbon brushes would leave an unsightly mark on the arm. You would have to use a sprung copper contact.
Excellent thought about using the aluminum as a conductor. It would be tough to have a sliding contact on it though: If the aluminum, was anodized, the surface would be insulating. If it’s non-anodized, anything dragging on it would leave ugly marks over time.
I do like the idea of siding contacts though. You could use some of the nickel strip they use for building battery packs, with some double-sided tape holding it down in the channels of the aluminum, which would also keep it insulated from the surroundings. Then just more nickel or perhaps some beryllium copper for the brushes.
@@DEtchells good point re anodising and oxidation. You could copper plate the aluminium parts. Would provide improved conductivity too.
Thought about same thing. Some time ago even had one lamp that has both wires as the non isolated parts of the casing - found that when accidentally shortcutted them)). Metal bearings work fine for conduct small amount of current (but not fine if it is 200A roller welding machine)). So, there need one complect of electric brushes of some kind to feed this device.
I'm not an attorney, but I don't think it's illegal to DIY replicate patents or describe them? Just can't commercialize right? Google seems to agree w/ that.
Awesome project btw
You may be right! I like to err on the side of caution with this stuff, based on what I can tell it seem like I'm in the clear. Thanks for checking out the project :)
@@StevenBennettMakes I have a CNC mill, wouldn't mind helping make an aluminum version of the Carriage
That would be so cool! I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on whether the thing is machinable at all. Feel free to check out the .step file in the Github repository and see what you think. Let me know if you think you're going to make one and you want any modifications. I'd want to replace the existing heat-press-insert holes with tapped holes and I could make that update for anyone that is willing to machine it.
@@StevenBennettMakes Yeah I checked it out. There is only one major problem, the sharp inside corners on the small hole in the middle, and yeah def would want to just do tapped holes, I use a thread mill. The arms sticking out might make it slightly tricky to hold in a vise for a 2nd op in a 3 axis machine, but I have a 5 axis machine and would use a window method. I haven't studied your vids closely enough to know for sure what each feature is for, but if you give me a STEP and a list of what you want tapped/etc I can give it a go. I'm not a pro, but I think this is w/in my skill level. I'll see if I can DM you my email or something.
The addition of the drag chain in your design absolutely sends this project over the moon for me. I love everything about this aesthetic. Sleek and industrial. It looks like if Kuka Robotics made a lamp. I’m definitely going to add this lamp to my growing future projects list.
The way I immediately thought of a completely different solution. As soon as you describe the problem at the beginning of this video is awesome.
ive been wanting this lamp for years but not willing to dish out $600 for such a simple and basic lamp. I thought since it was so simple there has to be someone on the internet that made it themselves, right?? no. Ive been searching litteraly for years and gave up eventually. I took architecture my previous year of HS and i was like omg that dyson lamp would be so nice to have right now so i really wanted to make my own and i still couldnt find anyone on youtube who made it and was too lazy to design my own. I also recently found an almost perfect 3d printer in the trash and fixed it up so hopefully I can finally follow along and have my own dyson lamp for cheaper lol. It makes me really happy to see you make your own as its surprising how rare it is to see people talking about this lamp now and im excited to follow :)
Hey Omar! Glad to have you following along. I had the same thought going into this project, it's looking more and more likely that we can make an affordable DIY alternative. I've also developed a new-found appreciation for the impressive engineering involved in creating the original Dyson, so I hope that comes through in the videos. I look forward to seeing your version of the DIYson someday :)
Someone already mentioned using a sliding contact with copper tape down below. Alternatively, you could print small spacers to hold 2 bare copper wires separated within the extrusion slot, then use spring loaded graphite to transfer between segments. This is very similar to how brushed motors work
Or you could use a battery powered light
Thank you for bringing us on this journey with you. I loved hearing your thought process, the various decisions you made, your own critique on prior versions, etc. It really highlights how minimal designs, often described as “simple”, can be very complex. What we don’t see as end consumers are all the thousands of hours and decisions that were made by entire teams to make a product come to market…most of which are transparent or quickly overlooked by consumers. Watching your video series gave a glimpse into that process and, speaking for myself at least, was super informative and entertaining.
As consumers of your videos, it’d be easy to ask for more projects like this, just as easy as it would be to first look at the Dyson and say, “Pssh, that’s easy. Anyone can do that!” Your videos themselves are another glimpse at the attention to detail you gave to the b-roll your shot, to the music and level to play it at. Great work!
I hope we get a chance to see how you design, decide and produce other projects in the future, and look forward to the last video in this series. Thanks again!
Wow thank you so much. It's so encouraging to hear that this is your reaction because this is exactly what I'm going for. Hoping to share a few other projects once the DIYson is "complete" :)
@@StevenBennettMakes looking forward to it and thanks again!
As dragchain you should look at Tape measures. They have a very neat curve to them when moved back and forth - see "MPCNC tape measure trick" for more info.
I use them all over my 3d printers and CNC machines
I was skimming the comments to see if this had been suggested yet - good idea!
Or you could have a battery powered light
Thanks to youtube recomendations for making me discover this channel
Very nice lamp design. I may have to make one for myself. One thing I would do different regarding the cable management is instead of using a drag chain, I'd use sticky back copper tape (used in making stained glass windows) inside the grooves of the 2020 extrusion with a layer of Kapton tape between it and the aluminum to act as an insulator. A copper wiper or metal ball bearing would act as the pickup to pass the current along. This should be perfectly safe as we're talking low voltage (12VDC?) anyway. If the 2020 extrusion does not have any anodizing on it then it itself could be used as one side of the circuit.
Awesome idea. I really hope you end up making one, I'd like to see you that solution in practice!
I agree - for a low voltage solution, eliminating the wire altogether seems like the best approach, though i don't immediately know what complications might make it unreasonable. I was thinking the conductors could easily be hidden behind a little cap that only had a thin slot to allow a small strut to reach in and contact the conductors with spring loaded wipers or some other mechanism. That would completely eliminate the possibility of any little fingers getting in there.
I would also like to try building one, but i have a million other woodworking and electronic projects on my list, so this would be pretty low priority.
Dude you should have much more subscribers with your amount of dedication and video quality. Well done, looking forward too the next episode!
Aw thanks for that, and thanks for watching! Working on the next one already :)
Totally agree!
Same here
And he got 1 more ;)
@@Cypher916 Woohoo! Thanks, Oscar :)
I think he said 60 subscribers... You're absolutely right!
Now It's more like 960 - 1 month later... Well done!
Looking forward to getting notified about what's to come in the next episode :ø)
Just binged your channel and I absolutely love it! Regarding wiring from base to vertical profile, I really think you should pursuit to replicate the 360 rotating feature. This could be done by using an off the shelf slip joint or try to make a pcb in the base with two rings with power and then pogo pins on the bottom of the vertical profile and from there to the lamp. Also regarding the flat cables - they looked really awesome. 3d print a jig with two razor blades and you could easily make it fit. You can dye the cable with iDye Poly - it will dye any kind of plastic, I use it a lot. Lastly I really really hope you'll use USB-C powering instead of those old barrel jacks 🙂
You could also try a mechanism that is used for the "retractable USB extension" cables (cable reels on thingiverse), some of them have a well tensioned spring and work very smoothly. You might be able to mod an existing product and reuse the 4-wire USB cable for the original control circuit setup.
I was just about to suggest this, then thought i better read the comments first.
True. I was about to suggest the same. Attaching a miniature, 3d printed version of a cable reel with a 2mm flat ribbon cable, effectively solves the issue of wiring, along with the movement issue for both axis. I haven't 3d modelled anything yet, but def an idea worth chasing ngl. I'd probably use 2, one for each axis. If it could be done using one, I'd be impressed.
Thanks for the suggestion! I definitely considered this early on. Two issues: 1. the "retractable" nature of the reel pulls on the arms because the arm is designed to glide with very little effort (kind of a necessary tradeoff). 2. The cable is much harder to hide when it's reeled vs when it's lying flat in a single layer. Still might be possible, but those are the constraints that stopped me from pursuing this :)
Great project. Well done.
With respect to those legal constraints; I am a tech lawyer, and you absolutely have the right to entirely one-on-one replicate Dyson's design for private use. You simply cannot commercially exploit them, which this video does not intend.
So no worries. Dont let the IP-bullies hold you back from tinkering and creating. This is what we need.
Thanks for sharing your informed opinion, definitely appreciate having some reassurance from an expert :)
You might consider that Dyson used a sliding contact instead of a cable in both the arms and in the base. generally you need a long copper strip and a sliding contact like you would see in a DC brush motor.
I was also going to suggest that, and maybe some capacitors to prevent any "flickering" while moving the arm
Well...thanks for that...here I was living blissfully unaware of that particular dyson thing of beauty...now I need it in my life.
Dude this is brilliant though! So glad the algorithm pointed me towards this!
Steven, first of all, compliments for your work and way you analyse this lamp.
When looking at the dyson, I see a fixed arm on the carriage, sticking out, when the lamp is completely forwarded.
When in the middle or retrackted, this fixed arm disappears behind the moving arm.
If there is a large slot in both the moving and fixed arm,, facing eachother, then you could put your (flat-)cable in it.
This way the cable is hidden and functional.
Maybe if you move your wheels out more, you could attach such a fixed arm.
This fixed arm don't need to be a 20x20-profile but maybe a smaller profile or even a elliptical piece of pipe.
The way your cables are attached now, is a sore blister in your design, a good idea, but a blister.
For the vertical cable, I thought of the following:
* The cable through the centre of the profile to the top of the profile.
* from there, down to the counterweight,
* again up to the top,
* over the toproller,
* into the fixed arm.
This way the cable follows the movement of arm and shortens/lengthens according to the movement of the lamp.
BTW, is it an idea to use the mechanism of the counterweight , also for the up/down armmmechanism?
It would be mucht cleaner then the wheelconstruction.
Good idea, Barrie, I know exactly what you mean with respect to that "fixed arm" used to hide the cable. Might be worth exploring as a way to hide the cables further. If I'm not mistaken this is only a feature of the original CSYS lamp and not the updated Lightcycle where they managed to hide the cable completely in the arm.
Nice idea for the improved vertical cable too, I if I found a suitable flat cable that doubles as a belt I might look into this more, still shopping for that elusive part though :)
Thanks for the thoughtful suggestions and for checking out the project :)
Indeed I looked for the lamp further, after I commented your clip and saw the fixed arm disappear.
Somehow I can imagine that they integrated this in the arm itself.
It could have become a kind of sliding side.
Never the less, with all respect again, it would look better then these chains.
The vertical-arm sollution has been done earlier.
I had an old lamp in the past, which had this idea.
It had a belt, with parallel on it, the cable.
These were seperate, but on the same axles and over the same guideroles.
Nowadays you have these silicon wires, which keep straight.
Maybe with the right tension(-ingsystem), you could keep this apearance clean and doable.
@@StevenBennettMakes in this clip you can see the power to the arm connection. czcams.com/video/arJQ2kgICiM/video.html&ab_channel=Dyson
I've first seen this lamp on Dyson's Milano HQ few years back, I always thought the power was transmitted with brush contacts. I love how your take turned out, cable chains really gave it character.
Yea I worked with powered rails for lights, they're actually quiet dangerous with 120V running on exposed wire then I realized that a fucking battery eliminates wires.
Love the Braun alarm clock on your desk! Great video
Good eye! Thanks for watching :)
I know it might not be exactly the aesthetics you were shooting for compared to the Dyson, but as a guy who builds all sorts of CNCs, I quite love the industrial look! Love your content so far, you deserve more subscribers.
I would recommend using some variant of power rail, at least for the vertical movement of the lamp. The same principle is used in ceiling lamps where you can freely move each individual lamp without breaking contact with the rail.
What a great project and video series👍🏻. Just a thought: we used to have a dining table light with small halogen bulbs in them, but no wires anywhere to be seen. After investigating a bit it turned out that the aluminum casing of the light was actually made out of two parts, insulated with plastic and air in the middle. One side was +, the other side -, thereby deleting the need for wires. This might be a concept to look into for a v2, the number of new challenges would be enormous… but the challenges might be interesting.
Wow very clever! That could totally work in theory, I might not be up to the task personally, but I hope someone picks up this idea and runs with it. This would be a serious upgrade. Thanks for sharing, Kris :)
Sliding electric contacts are well established in electric trains and electric motors. They work remarkably well and reliable. A typical material combination for slip rings is hard brass (CuZn39) in combination with graphite or metal graphite. The graphite acts as a solid lubrificant and makes the motion very smooth. The voltage drop depends on the current density but is typically around 2 - 3 V @ 10 A/cm2 for graphite and 0.1 - 1.5 V @ 10 A/cm2 for metal graphite. I guess with a reasonable contact size this results in an acceptable voltage drop for such a low-voltage (12 - 24 V) application with moderate power requirements (10 - 100 W). To my knowledge, slip rings are also used for operation lamps that require 360° turnability.
I think a sliding electric contact would make a very attractive and simple alternative to the complex cable routing. With a proper implementation, the sliding contact is invisible, compact and as smooth as the wired connection.
Excellent and perfect use of "penultimate" - rarely done, great job! Oh also, the chain and carriage is awesome too! 😂
I honestly wouldve expected just a bunch of slip rings and stuff. Dyson's solution is way more elegant than what I came up with xd
Once again, thanks to the all mighty algorithm leading me to this one. Exited for the next part already :)
Nice lamp. I love it. So simple but not. I love these tiny dragchains. But you could consider just 2 copper strips inside the extrusions with a glider. Just this magnetic coupler is patented ;)
I'm sure people have probably mentioned this, but what about like a linear slip ring conductor? Kind of like an electric train that gets its power from the tracks. You could fit two conductor strips down inside the channel on the aluminum and have like a leaf spring looking thing contact it (I'm not sure how else to describe it lol). I'm not sure how reliable it would be, but if it's properly tensioned and smooth, I think it could work pretty well.
I had a similar thought… two conductive wires embedded in the bottom channel of the lateral arm, exposed at the side facing out, and carbon motor brushes used to make contact. Conductive wire would be solid core, copper or aluminum, and the abrasiveness of the brushes would hopefully remove any accumulated corrosion or dirt whenever the arm is slid in/out.
I'm very dissapointed with the rail carrier wire management, but that probably was inevitable. Although, very hyped for progress of the project. Glad youtube recommended this - new subscriber. This kind of projects is the main reason why I love youtube:D
Nice!
You might get the drag chains to be neater by attaching the end links parallel to the motion, spread apart by the diameter of the drag chain minimum curve. So you get the chain forming a nice "U" rather than it being like "P" as you have it now.
Hey Steven, I work in a semiconductor fab where we have Automated Material Handling System (AMHS) Monorail cars in the overhead of the factory that pick up and transport the wafers to various points all over the fab using the transportation system. These cars are fully automated and are individually powered by what I believe to be some sort of "sliding power connection" strip or track. They may even be inductive? Perhaps you could rethink your design from using wires over to a miniature sliding connector style setup? No wires to get all fouled up! Just a thought
"I can't believe I have 60 subscribers, that's so cool" Duuude. I'm sitting here barely 2 and a half months after you published this video and you already have almost 9k. Keep it up and this channel is definitely going places. Congrats!
A suggestion for Version 2:
Use a stack of electrical tape and copper tape (or any other stack of insulator and conductor) in the same channel als the v-roller is rolling on top of. A sliding contact, a small conductive roller or a conductive leave spring, could than contact this strip hiding all wires all together.
Thanks for this great video, you helped me with a totally unrelated problem I've been trying to solve. I look forward to seeing your other videos.
The algorithm sent me here and I'm not mad. Subbing now, love your work!
Awesome, brother. 10/10 for tenacious attention to detail. I think I would have abandoned hope after studying Dyson's patent and realizing the scope of the challenge. So, congratulations!
I had a similar idea for a modified hevo design I'm making, and when you described the issues in the first part of the video i hoped you'd go for cable chains.
A good way of keeping cable chains really tidy is to have a dynamic constraint at the half way mark between the chain and it's end or full length, that way it sits flush with the installation instead of out in these big loops.
As a few others have said, I think there are maybe a few other alternatives you should explore. I have loved watching you not compromise on the solutions to these problems, and this one seems a little bit compromising. I think this might be one to keep on the whiteboard and think about a bit more because there has to be another way to have it all hidden as in the dyson design! I know your comments section would be happy to think about this more with you!
Agreed! Let's see if we can improve it :)
Omg I've been loving this lamp for so many years and always dreamed of building one myself! What a nice thing to see you make it become reality
You actually can very easily buy the 3d printer parts and buy a battery powered light
Print in-place drag chain - what an awesome idea!
😎
Loving the video series so far! Have you considered running the power through a couple of copper strips inside the extrusion grooves (Insulated on the side touching the aluminium, and hidden inside the grooves edges), with a couple of L shaped graphite brushes acting as pickups fixed to the carriage. If this could be implemented for the horizontal and vertical axes then you would eliminate the need for cables/drag chains.
Wild idea: use the aluminum extrusions as the ground wire, route a thick wire for the +12 volts of the LED and a thin wire (or 2) for power to tiny controller board. The controller board reads the buttons and communicates wirelessly with the main controller located in the base
I think I've come up with an idea that might work. Remember those gimmicky sprung reels that would roll a cable up? Something like that. On the horizontal axis, you have the pill-shaped end, you could hide one here, route the cable through the top of the extrusion, enter the reel, exit through the bottom and intersect via the carriage. As for the vertical rail, go up through the carriage, around the belt, and hide the second reel within the counterweight, then drop the cable to the base.
there's also a potential alternative design to the counterweight that moves the design back to a 20x20 extrusion. Hide the wheels within the weight itself. All the weight needs to do is slide, and now with the wire tensioning mechanism, it could hold itself to the rail without issue. Have the belt/cable hookup at the top on the underside so that it can still hide within the rail, then the top wheel hidden within the counterweight, then the inlet for the wire, which then goes through a center reel, then the wire outlet, then the bottom wheel. And if you're really worried about keeping the counterweight flush, ad a second belt to the loop that goes through a bottom pulley within a square housing, the wiring could slip through this housing and into the slipring for the base. Of course this takes up space, just leave enough open room to funnel some lead shot into.
If you can get the reel design correct to where it works properly, this could be a very clean setup.
Your series has been fantastic, and it has taught me a ton. You made it entertaining to watch your design take shape, and at this point, I am convinced it is going to be a marvel!
Aw thank you! Glad you're liking the series
Really good cable management. Tried and tested chains. It's just so bad that I got a heavy spoiler from later videos. But I tend to like this desing just because of the "It just works" aspect
this is pretty cool! I'd absollutely love to see and build the final product
You can do a similar solution using the same principle as a track light rail system. Basically they put a plastic insert with a solid copper wire running along the length of the aluminium extrusion and a slider that keeps in contact with the wires. I think its pretty common in store lighting fixtures as it makes it easy to reposition the lights whenever they change the store layout
Hi, new to this channel but maybe I have a possible solution for the cable situation:
Check how the band for the counter weight is moving and kept in place by going from one side to the other of the aluminum profile. No matter how you adjust the lamp, the length of the band in one side is "compensated" on the other side (if short in one side, the other is longer.
You can make the same for the cable. From the lamp (in one extreme of the horizontal aluminum profile) to the opposite extreme of the profile (maybe a pulley is needed) then going to the lower channel of the profile, then going into the vertical profile, going all the way up and (with another pulley at the top of the vertical profile) you send the cable to the base.
2 channels of the vertical profile are used by the band, but the sides are still available for the cable.
You just need to nail the total length of the cable (easier routing from the lamp to the base and leaving additional length at the base) and a way to make the transition from horizontal to vertical, just like in you did in this video.
Also, congratulations on the drag chain, it looks awesome.
Can't wait for more videos!
Amazing job, great job on figuring an alternative solution. My first thought when you described your issue was the old slot car tracks for applying power. But I like your solution better, the dragon cables are pretty cool. Another light control option is use and esp32, and control over Bluetooth or wifi.
yo man! i believe in u, go copy those patents n make us pirates proud !!! ARRRrrrrrrrr
Hi Steven, just found your channel and love the DIYson project and watched all parts available so far. I love that you went back and to go to a 20x20 rather than the 20x40 rail.I like the effort you've gone through to design the drag chains and even "print-in-place" large sections, but asthetically it doesn't work and yous knows it ;-)
Instead of looking for a flat cable, I would suggets using "Copper Tape". this comes in self adhesive rolls in the right size.
Belt, Copper tape, Insulating tape, another layer of copper tape and then a final black layer ;-)
Keep up the great work and videos.
Use a guide wheel at the back of the arm and the top of the stand that the drag chains and cable will wrap over and back, you'd need to make the cable longer, but it'll keep the drag chains "tensioned" and neat, without them springing out and creating unsightly loops. The use of end rollers will keep the drag chain straight with a nice uniform U bend only where it needs to
Thanks for the video, no need for cables you can use tow aluminum profile in parallel and electrically isolated from each other so u can passe power to the lamp with the top and bottom metallic bearing the same thing u can use it with the vertical beam.
The Crafsman sent me here. Glad I stopped by :)
It's always good to stumble across gold.
first time viewer here. and first time viewing that lamp too lol. my take on making a lamp like that would be using the metal frame as neutral. One Flat strip isolated running the length of the all axis very likely in the roller(one of them if not a special isolated one) and just do wireless communication between base, midjoint and light tip. so just turn the rails into power rails and split the componenets in site, with wireless communication between then. lol
lol, you said 60 subs. your at 2k when I'm watching this. Going to watch part 2. this looks like a great project.
I have a suggestion; I wonder if you can build a hidden spool for a wire on the center carriage. A hidden cable to drive the spool ( dont know if a spring loaded spool will work since it might offer an extra net force for your static carriage).
Use thin 4 cable wire and by using a Power delivery USB type C to carry higher voltage at lower Current (like running at 24V), you might need to run a small buck converter to drop it to your voltage. And I suggest you start on your own custom circuit board (hire an electronics student as a side project). At least a custom PCB for the power and switching side while still using an off the shelf micro controller board.
Oh yeah, you should have 6 million subs. ❤
🤩
You can use the thin and flexible kind of cable that pneumatic auto switches use (Example: SMC's D-M9PL sensor), and use T slot cover on the front or back slot so that the wire is trapped inside the slot and can't be seen, then make the cable go all the way to the opposite side of the horizontal arm and then turn towards the lamp, and cover the cable with baby powder or oil so that it slides and folds through the slot as you move the arm back and forth.
You could even change the wheels to metal ones and use the extrusion to carry the ground, to use a cable with one less wire.
congratulations, you've been chosen by the all-seeing algorithm
This is a very cool project and i love your carefully considered and systematic design approach.
Thank you very much!
I am looking forward to the release of the final project. I love the spirit of the development and the not $600 bill at the end.
This is still too expensive a battery powered light almost requires almost no 3d printing
A flexible circuit would easily serve as both belt and wiring. But you could use both belt and flexible circuit.
Another way to bring power is using slip-ring technology. Basically wipers ride on a power rail. Multiple wipers minimize noise.
Cheap miniature tape measures can make for a pretty good drag chain with a pretty tight bend radius.
amazing project!! I love it. to answer your questions according to me :
1 - May be you should consider using way smaller section cables for data than for power. This might go through the drag chains non?
2 - Why your dragchain head isn't flat for the horizontal one? it shouldn't be vertical?
3 - to join vertical cables to horizontal cables why don't you put a breakout board on the carriage?
good luck for your project. seems very promising.
I also just had this recommend and watched all the parts. I think you could improve the drainchain a lot by altering the end pieces. If you mount them parallel to the axis you want to run the drag chain in, the chain will not stick out quite as far and will also run in a parallel fashion.
I had the same thought, you could probably reduce the circumference of where the drag chain turns 180 degrees by doing that.
These are the exact type of engineering videos I want to start making (already started). Really like your design and the way you presented your ideas and work. Earned a sub
A way to get power and data from the base to the lamp would be to have the wheels be electrically conductive and have one be +, one - and the last data. The two wheels on the same side would have their conductive strip offset, and that side of the metal rod would have a double strip running the length.
Then you send data serially using a type of one wire protocol, and have a much more active LED head with a power converter, and a microprocessor controlling all aspects of the light, which is slaved (through a concentric ring connector for 360 degree motion) to a master controller in the base (which you could program using bluetooth or USB). It would eliminate all the wires, bypass the Dyson patent, and possibly be much cleaner...
I can’t believe you only had 60 subscribers when this came out! Great work, and looking forward to seeing whatever projects you take on next.
perfect timing, i am building my own yeelight candela… as the original one does not have wifi and is quite a bunch more expensive. There are some unique things about that lamp that I really like (like the aluminium grid around the light bulb which I am replacing with a shrimp fish tank filter haha)
Sounds very interesting, are you documenting this somewhere? I think many people like the Candela's look but are not happy with their price.
I keep thinking that if the wire were looped around the end of the arm, back to the post so the total wire length never changes as the arm moves back and forth it would be better, and more invisible. But there are probably practical reasons for not doing that. That scad model is a great link thanks for that.
I really wish youtube comments supported doodles because my limited imagination can't quite picture this haha. Can you elaborate?
@@StevenBennettMakes Imagine a drag chain that runs from the LED, to the far end of the horizontal arm and then back to the gantry. but very thin, like a belt.
This is also the first concept that came to my mind thinking about methods of transmitting power and signals along the rails.
I had this thought too initially but I don't think it solves the problem. If you're running the cable over the far end of the arm (opposite end from the LED) then that distance remains the same, regardless of the arm's position.
Check out Core XY printers - think of the LED as the print head. Not a bad idea really, but would have to change a bunch of the build.
wow amazing, subscribed!!
Can't wait to build this
It is totally legal to recreate a patent, and to explain it. That's kinda what the patent is for. What you can't do is claim ownership of it, or supply it as a product or component. (not a lawyer, but have been involved in multiple patents)
Patents are free to use for private use. In fact, that's the explicit point of them.
And you can describe them if you want to. Even if you really shouldn't have to, as that should be done fully in the patent application itself.
Great content and quality videography. I look forward to watching your channel grow.
Dude this is soo cool ! the cable management is so nicely done, i have struggled with adding cables that hide away for my drawer lights and insted of wires i have went about with another aproach. You can too add that to this. so for my drawer lights i have passed electricity through the linear rails of the drawer, and the only wires were the wires powering the rails and the wires powering the light from the other end of it. For a similar mechanism you can add exposed copper wire or stip on the sides of the aluminium extrustion and then the sliding arm can have rolling connections on to the stips and add stips on the top sliding arm and connect to the led inside the led enclosure
Wow that is really clever. I wish I had the skills to pull that off, it sounds like that could definitely work here and be a super clean solution. Do you know if there are off-the-shelf components for doing something like this?
@@StevenBennettMakes I'm sure you can use any conductive strip that has good conductance of electricity. Also you add two seperate stips on both the sides for power and ground (The part connecting to the aluminium sould be insulated). For getting power from these two strips you can use something that will roll nicely on a flat surface. The best bet is to use the Bearing with 3d Printed body so that only the sides of the bearing roll on the gap of the Aluminium and the bearing touches the conductive strip.
You can get the ground and power from the screw connecting the Bearing.
also you can use aluminium stip as a conductive material. Or a thin strip of any sheet will do.
This is a really cool concept, and would make the power delivery significantly more discrete. I'll keep looking into this and consider it for a future upgrade :) Thanks for sharing!
You could use a brush contact method. The metal structure is the ground and pcb to fit the channel with a centered contact with a brush contact from a drill available a the local hardware store.
This looks absolutely great! My initial thought was that they were using an accordion-style flat flex cable inside the arms with a metal sleeve pulley covering it, but using the metal sleeve pulley as the actual cable is brilliant too.
If your flat cable is slightly too wide for the channel, why not slightly widen the channel or trim the edges off the cable? It could easily be spraypainted black at that point (or simply covered with a black strip) to achieve that final look
Fantastic progress, I hope to be able to contribute to this project someday. Meanwhile may I suggest using measuring tape as a cable support, when you cut it in let's say 1 meter strip and then bend it gently 180 degrees it forms two straight sections with nice bend. It can easily support a few cables and it would keep cables orthogonal to the rest of the lamp. Voron builds use this technique in place of some drag chains. Great work and enjoy the process.
amazing job on the videos, i’ve been thinking about trying this myself
Wheels can be made of conductive material. And you have 2 groves on each side... You don't need cables at all, just flat bars inside groves. Or some kind of clips with pogo pin contacts.
I’m late to the party, but noticed a design point: the cable doesn’t need to move relative to the plate that holds the rollers.
That means you can have two separate cables: one that connects the vertical axis to the plate, and one that connects the horizontal axis to the plate. Then you just need wiring in the plate that hooks the two axial cables together. That gives you the freedom to put connectors on the plate in locations that will be the most convenient for each axis.
Also, in case no one has mentioned it: put a slip ring at the rotary joint at the base. That will give you unlimited rotation without having to worry about a cable getting twisted up.
Nice. I was thinking of some kind of conductor rails the whole time. Brushes and rails hidden inside the grooves on both sides, so the live is on one side and neutral on the other.
I would love to do this, just need to find an affordable or (preferably) off-the-shelf solution. I can't seem to find any. Any suggestions?
@@StevenBennettMakes What about brushes used for brushed motors? They probably make all sizes of those. Add some capacitors to make the circuit resilient to potential disconnections/hiccups from moving the lamp around
@@StevenBennettMakes I'm absolutely not sure... but I found a pretty small rail. Paulmann URail 97683 High voltage mounting rail.
But the brushes might be a bit of a challenge.
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Keep going 😊
Awesome work, i can't wait to see how your custom PCB will turnout.
Aha, good catch :) Stay tuned!
Try to align mounting axes of two drag chains. You may have to add an extension to the connection plate for that - upwards above the roller where you added a custom spacer with a channel. A single horizontal link should look simpler and more intentional.
Alternatively, you might be able to find more space for it if you modify the connection plate so that two wheels that are outside the square arrangement are on the top and on the back.
Hello, awesome Project. And excatly the thing a needed, I'm searching for a new Desktop light now for quite a while and never found something that I found good. And on the other hand I have two V slot Rails and I never did a Project with them. One thing I would suggest: try to rotate the end of the dragchain by 90 degree, then it should be a little bit flater. Have a look at the Voron 3D Printer and the toolhead, there it is done this way.
So I'd like to build on my previous reply with some actual hardware suggestions since that makes the idea more apparent.
Since we only need a DC supply and DC return line, we only need two contacts. Ball bearing roller contacts meant for connectivity on moving components exist! Mill-Max 7949-0-15-20-09-14-11-0 ball-bearing contact on mouser seems appropriate for this application. They are small enough that two of them could be fit inside the V slot extrusion with room to create a housing around them with 3d printing. They have a press fit knurling and solder cups to attach wires. You would need a total of 4 of these contacts, two to go from the vertical axis to the carriage, and two to go from the carriage to the horizontal axis. Both sets of pins would be mounted to the carriage. They are internally spring loaded so we don't have to do much of that work ourselves. Another poster had suggested using copper tape, and that would work perfectly with these bearing contacts, you'd need to carefully attach them so they are perfectly straight (or 3d-print a guide to install the tape into, which would probably be easier) this would allow for perfectly hidden connectivity!
Also, if you mount the two pins offset equally X/Y this means that you van simply have two opposing pins to bring contact from one axis to the other, since the pin that is higher and to the right will be on the top/right contact strip and the lower and left will be on the bottom/left contact strip always. This would come with the caveat that all electronics would need to be housed in the head extension of the lamp, which I know youve expressed you are opposed to due to thermal and space constraints. It may be possible to add more contacts this way, but will get increasingly more complicated, though keeping them in a diagonal line will allow for simple interfacing between the two axis.
Thank you so much for the specific hardware recommendations, that is incredibly helpful. Already added those ball bearing contacts to my list. Your concept is really well thought out and pretty much in alignment with an idea I've been chewing on lately. Thanks for the thoughtfulness and detail. Stay tuned :)
Hey Steven, with the open wire problem: You could put the wire inside the T groove from the aluminium profiles and make a pulley attached to a spring on the end of the profile which is attached to the cable. Print some T groove covers and there you go, hidden cable management
I'm wondering if you can use copper tape to bring power the light head. You can put the copper tape inside the aluminium profile and use a sort of magnetic contact to bring the electricity. You can 3d print a profile to fit inside the profile. The 3d print profile must have two side, one magnetic and one with copper tape.
Wow, this is really a great light lamp stand for the lab desk or computer/drawing desk.
Wow, amazing! You have hooked I need to see more! Thanks for sharing. I would really like to make this sometime so when all is said and done I will be willing to buy the stl files etc...
Have you thought about electrifying the extrusions themselves? Then you only need to worry about a single connection, which makes infinite spinning easy.
Great walkthrough of your project! Not sure if this has been mentioned in a previous comment but if you are only running power through the long wires then a sliding contact system might be cleaner than the drag chains; this could be similar to 12V track lighting rails.
You might also think about using a slip ring contact at the base to allow 360 degree rotation of the vertical section.
Great Video (and awesome lamp project) maybe someone already suggest it, but I would have mounted the last drag chain segment (the one connecting it to the carriage) pointing down into the aluminum extrusion, so that the chain lays flat on itself, with only a bow at the end (it needs to be a bit longer than the extrusion for this to work)
I was thinking a slip ring kind of connection and a coiling assembly for the wire. But Dragchain sounds so much cooler.
I really enjoy watching you iterate and bring forward a project! Super cool!