3D printing is a relatively new way to mass-produce parts, and that comes with a slight learning curve on the part of both industry (how to make the machines reliable) and you, the buyer. The issue comes down to this: I have heard that a single strand of dental floss will probably not work well pulling a car up a hill. Now, I know what you’re going to say: “crappy dental floss!”, or even “get a smaller car!” But in reality, the floss wasn’t designed to pull a car, any more than the 4CELNK-YR clips are intended to handle all …
Category: 4CELNK-YR No-Waste Cable Clips
4CELNK-YR are a 3D-printed, modern solution to the age-old problem of managing lots of cables.
Design Requirements Round-up
As I went fast through the design process, there were many notes jotted down on sticky-notes, in my normal notebook, the backs of old printouts, in the OneNote pages, and any other place I had at hand when the idea struck me. Going back, I found these items spread throughout, telling me exactly what was wrong with tie-wraps, and exactly what needed to be right about these. Hopefully you’re with me in agreeing that I’ve nailed it. (No mic-dropping; it hurts the mic) In addition to “Cool AND Useful”, they have to… Fit over the tube easily and snugly, without …
4CELNK-YR OR3V makes that rig look SHARP
You Obutto oZone and R3volution users know you live for the gaming! You know it’s awesome to have the rig set up just right. All the wires and cables…just….right. Messy cables are for inferior dweebs, duh! E’rebody knows that. But then, no matter what, eventually, it happens. The pure joy and the ongoing agony of a new toy. A better set of pedals. A righteous backlit gaming keyboard. A new A-10 Thrust controller. Another new screen. Those sweet LFEs you’ve been holding out for. A DRINK COOLER. Yeah, that required period of self-inflicted “character building” delayed-gratification BS is finally over! …
Cables Heavy? Really? Are they?
Since I am definitely getting into the business of supplying people with devices to hold their wire-type thangs, I was wondering: just how much is much? Just how much SHOULD a clip like this expect to hold? Hmmmm…. Okay, I’ve got it. I think normally, if it was a bunch of Cat5 cables, say for a surveillance system, I’d put tie-wraps about every two feet. More than that and the wires start to droop and look not-reall-attached. More, and they often seem over-clamped. So, let’s go with clips spaced every two feet, and those should hold nominally 8 Cat-5e cables. …
flatBack Sticky Stuff!
Anyone remember that Devo song “Freedom From Choice”? Where the song lyrics go something along the lines of “Freedom of choice / Is what we got / Freedom from choice / Is what we want.” That is somewhat the situation we find ourselves in at the moment. Just what should be put between our flatBacks and the places we wish them to stay? “Something sticky!” is the rallying cry from the crowd. Ah, were it so simple. Turns out, we all have a whole bunch of different surfaces. LOTS of surfaces. Hard ones, rubberized one, flat ones, textured ones, painted …
Stock Becomes Inventory!
Well, the day finally arrived, and I started putting together parts stock into packaged units, ready for shipping. Cool! Cheers! Rando
First one sneaks through!
And the winner of “first one to get Paypal to put something in a cart properly” (from the new site) is….”Barry Shellgren”, of Somewhere in Warshington! (Thanks, Barry 😉 ) Well Barry, sure hope you ordered this one! That final verification of buttons to SKU and pricing hasn’t been done quite yet, so I’m not making any guarantees. Hopefully the probability of my mistake is less than that of the doctors I’ve been working with lately, but that’s a different story…. For me, the nice part is that packaging in this form, with the parts and folded instruction sheet inside …
You have a lot of cables? We have a lot of clips!
So you have a LOT of cables, eh? Nah, you ain’t got lots of cables; WE got’s lots of cables! (~8 3C/18AWG SVT power cables per clip, with six clips going the full circumference) 😀. Oh…and you can add and remove wires anytime, easily. with No Tools and No Waste. 4CELNK-YR is on a roll (-ing cart)! Regards, Rando
ANOTHER line? Sheesh…will this never stop?
And then there’s the “EMT series”, for use with the standard sized tubes used for picnic canopies, and similar tubes. That’s a 1″ EMT tube (1.167″ OD), holding easily 8 CAT5e cables, with no retaining bands at all. Yes, that’ll do! Cheers! Rando
Good Clips , but Not NSF-Certified
A little truth-in-advertising is a must here. While I think yes, I’ve crushed the “NSF-style” wire-management, we have to accept that the nooks-and-crannies peculiar to 3D printing, and that they’re mere ABS (not Nylon or HDPE), means I’m almost certain they won’t ever be certified as Food Safe, or even for use in commercial kitchens. To avoid future lawsuits, we definitely want to make that clear, right up until the day they ARE certified for that. So: to be very clear: “4CELNK-YR parts are not NSF-certified for use in commercial kitchens.” Hey, I don’t wanna make anyone sick, just wanna …