Cabling, do we really need another featurescript?

billy2

I think so...

link to the more details

I had to cable up a rack of equipment at work and wasn't looking forward to defining the curves & sweeps.

This is a great application for featurescript and after reviewing several existing apps I decided to extend these concepts. I wanted it to be extremely easy & fast because personally I don't like doing cables & cable management. I'm not trying to accomplish a fully defined cable with pinouts & netlist; I'll leave that for someone else. I just want to declare what needs hooking up and show a basic path.

This rack of equipment is Cory Henderson's and I grabbed it from the public domain, thank you Cory. I cabled it up in about 30 minutes.

I have no idea what this thing does but it looks awesome and I just wanted to throw some cables down.

How many cables can you pass through a slot? All cables have a start, end and intermediate points. Below are 6 cables all starting/ending from a block.

Of course, we need to make changes without blowing up the model. Below we change the position of the slot and all the cables update:

This featurescript isn't ready for public consumption yet, but if your working on cabling and would to try this feature, I'd be happy to share it with you. Just private message me your account email and I'll share this document with you.

billy2

Version 2

I've been working on a better looking sweep and trying to make it look more like a cable vs. a noodle. I've been tensing the control points which straightens out the long sections of a cable. This makes routing long lengths of cable look more realistic.

Basic sweep of cable through a slot:

Added a tightening tensor at control point:

Loosening the tensor a bit:

I guess there's more than one way to skin a cat, or in this case, bend a cable:

sebastian_glanzner

@billy2
I also had the problem with the control points.
I got nicer paths by creating multiple segments of splines with a start and end points:

https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/11110/new-featurescript-hose-routing/p1

billy2

@sebastian_glanzner I'm very familiar with your code and hose routing routine. I'm using a lot of your ideas already.

I did want to thank you for creating a well crafted, beautifully documented and easy to follow script. You did a really good job which inspired me to try and build my own. Anyone thinking of building a cable script, use the example above.

In an assembly, I'm trying to pick, pick & pick and make a cable. I don't want to spend a lot of time on it; at least this is my goal.

billy2

Version 3

I've been using Neil Cooke's approach to sweeping a cable which is basically a start, end & intermediate points. But I departed from a standard sweep and added tensors at the intermediate points and then dropped magnitude. Abandoning the start & end magnitude handle, it just didn't look right. I can start & end better.


It's got one adjustment to loosen/tighten the cable.

link to the cable controls

billy2

Version 4 Diameters & Acute Angles

This looks like a lot of equipment I work on. It's amazing how tangled up things get over time.

Diameter loosening allows you to increase the diameter and the cable automatically loosens preventing intersecting geometry. I'm always trying to display a working cable.

This is a 1mm diameter cable:

This is the same path with a 5mm cable:

Acute angle detection loosens the pinch preventing intersecting geometry:

All this is to make a virtual cable look like a real cable.

There is a problem with sweeps and assigning a final directional vector; it's extremely unstable causing 80% of cable failures. I've turned it off because I want my cables to always work. There's a few ideas to clean this up; and there's always room for a another version:

billy2

Everything has cables; right?

billy2

You have to read about this; it's a great presentation:
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/14102/finished-project-animation-3-motor-6-differential-fully-holonomic-mecanum-wheel-arduino-robot#latest

Ok I couldn't resist; cables:

It's not about showing each wire and creating a wiring pinout; it's more about routing the wire bundles during the virtual phase and seeing what's going to happen.

It happens to us all, we have a beautiful design and then someone goes and cables it up. I'm just trying to get an idea of what it'll look like eventually.

NeilCooke

@billy2 have you shared this feature?

billy2

Not yet, it still needs some work and enhancements.

NeilCooke

I’m in desperate need of a good cabling solution, so hurry up! 😂

billy2

@NeilCooke , private message me your login email and I'll share it with you.

billy2

Shoe lace:

steve_shubin

@billy2

VERY NICE !!

Did it take very much set up to get it to do that shoelace thing ?

billy2

It was fairly simple. I just constructed extruded surfaces. This way I could easily pick a top and then a bottom. In total there were 20 picks which were easy to select.

steve_shubin

@billy2

Wow

I like that — A LOT

Theo_R

@billy2
Nice!

billy2

Version 5 Adds gravity & wire gauge.

more cable info

So cables should droop based on gravity and trying to add that look becomes tedious. By calculating the distance between anchor points, you can automatically add the droop caused by gravity.

Telephone wires without gravity:


And now, add gravity to the cable:

It just makes it more realistic.

Thanks Theo for the suggestion, adding wire gauge:

GWS50

This is just what I need too. please can you release a Beta?

billy2

@GWS50 I will share with you, please private message me your login email.

You can also signup at Rusty Shed also. Either way works:



Rusty Shed is more automated and faster.

Theo_R

@billy2
Looking forward to trying out the update!

No_Mans_Land

@billy2
Hey, just wondering if this featurescript is still available? I have signed up using the Rusty Shed website but have not had the script become available to me, though it says I am registered. Would love to test this out if it still exists, thank you!

billy2

@No_Mans_Land

I just sent you a link.

Sorry for the delay, over the years I've changed mail servers and needed to update my email notification address, fixed it. I dropped godaddy mail and went to google workspace, which means nothing about the cable script but I need to update my website which I've done.

There is a cable bug that I've wanted to fix before releasing to this script into the wild, mainly the end of the cable won't be normal to the mate connector plane. Forcing this normality causes instability and a lot of errors. It's fixable, I just need to find the time.

You should have the link by now, PM me your login email and I'll share the cable document with you. Please post some cable images when you have some.

No_Mans_Land

@billy2
Awesome, just got the invite, thank you!

billy2

Please remember to post some cable pictures.

Thanks

miczech

Hello @billy2,

I am not sure why by I cannot signup on your webpage with my onshape e-mail address. Is it still available? Could you share it with me?  

Best regards,
Michal

billy2

please private message your login email and I'll let you in.

You can also follow this link:
https://rustyshed.com/?route=onshape

My website sends my an email when you request access.

david_rubli136

Hi @billy2, amazing stuff, would like to try it, sending you a PM.

billy2

@david_rubli136
I've made it public so I don't need to share it any long. Just look for cable and it should show up.

I'm currently rewriting it to make it more robust and should have it done in the next couple of days. You still load it and use it, after an update, the cable won't change much.

Currently the cables are based on: wire diameter, loosen input and the angle between vectors. It's currently not using the vector length between the mate connectors. The current version works fine with 1mm cable diameters in a 100mm box but it doesn't scale.

I've rewritten it making based on: diameter, loosen, angle & length.

Let me know if you're having trouble finding it. When I update, you'll see a blue update mark. The new version is backwards compatible with the old version, my fingers are crossed through.

billy2

I've updated the cable script. 

I've added a url route to rustyshed.com?fs=cable to help find feature scripts simply.

You can find it there by adding a query string "fs=cable" in the url.

BMW tail piece with cabling:


The old cable script wouldn't route this because the cable lengths were just too short. Re-factoring everything was needing.

Here's the issue, here are a group of cables in a 20mm x 20mm X100mm space:


Here are the same cables in a 6m x 5m x 3m space and there are no errors:


The old version of cable wouldn't do this.

I've started writing up some instruction about the feature's menus and functionality instructions.

NeilCooke

What does this do that my feature does not? Just curious so I can steal your ideas!