Furniture Grade Cable Chain / Cable Carrier

[Tailmaker]

Another wacky idea, originally intended for a special furniture project (that I did not finish...). But I think it will find a use sometimes.

This is a cable chain and normally I would use the proven IGUS cable carriers that are available for little money on eBay. But I wanted to make it prettier and living room compatible.
The elements of this chain are cut from 3/4" marbled walnut (120-deg v-bit for the chamfer, 1/2" ballnose for the bead seats, 1/8" end mill for the holes and cutout and pair-wise glued together. Then sanded and laquered. Then strung up onto two 1/16" steel ropes with 1/2" wood beads as swiveling joints. The steel rope is held taut by two springs.

Machining the 50 elements:


Glued together to make 25 links and 2 end pieces. Also 50 wood beads, all laquered and/or waxed


Starting the string-up:


Chain finished:


Short video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fNcG4J ... e=youtu.be

[highpockets]

Amazing job!!!

Thanks for sharing.

[scottp55]

VERY NICE G. !
And pretty:)
The 2 small holes next to the beads....alignment for the glue up?
Nice job!
scott

[mfirlott]

Wow...impressive. Very, very nice piece of work.

[MTSO]

Great Idea, great finish and great photos. They say a "picture says a thousand words", you've written a book here.
Not a wacky idea at all.

great job

regards

Brian

[Tailmaker]

Thanks guys!

....The 2 small holes next to the beads....alignment for the glue up? ...

Yes, it was the intent to use small 1/8" dowels for gluing alignment. But it turned out they are not necessary. I used a pair of brass rods through the wire rope holes for alignment and pulled the rods after clamping for the next glue up. Worked just fine.

[mtylerfl]

I love your "wacky idea"! It's not that wacky since it's useful! Great work!

[scottp55]

Ah....Makes sense G.
Great looking finish, on beautiful wood...has some depth to it as well....Your Carnauba wax on the beads for lubrication?
Crossed my mind that I would have fired up my double boiler/canning jar method for buttons and heat soaked the suckers with microcrystalline wax...if taken out when hot(150F) and paper towel rubbed...wax runs off, and surplus gets absorbed back into fibers as it cools.
Curious about furniture that would need that...Been trying to figure out where I could use such a critter for myself.
scott

[Phil]

Very well done. With a few modifications it could be used as a back massager.

Phil

[Tailmaker]

Ah....Makes sense G. Great looking finish, on beautiful wood...has some depth to it as well....Your Carnauba wax on the beads for lubrication?.......scott

The wood was one of the chance finds in the Rockler project wood bin. I have never seen similar marbled walnut in the hardwood store. Unfortunately this was the last piece.
I did not use the pasty carnauba this time. Just some off the shelf semi-liquid beeswax/orange oil concoction. It was easier to apply to 50 beads and bead cradles. I think it will do the lube job just fine.

...Curious about furniture that would need that...Been trying to figure out where I could use such a critter for myself. scott

The original idea was a sliding book shelf/stereo equipment rack to hide a murphy bed. The chain was intended for the power and speaker cables. But eventually I bought ready made IKEA book shelves and put them on swivel hinges and casters to hide the bed. But at that point I had already done the CAM for the cable chain and thought I could just as well try it out.

.........With a few modifications it could be used as a back massager. Phil

Good backup plan. Might even be a sellable item

[Tailmaker]

If somebody wants to try, here are the CAM files for the links and end pieces: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lndxu4l0ltslo ... n.zip?dl=0

The beads are from Amazon. Pretty precise in diameter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I18ZJ2W

Wire rope, ferrules and springs from the hardware store. I used a cross-drilled threaded brass insert as an adjustable stopper to tension the springs.

[scottp55]

Thanks for the files G. !!
Yeah, I gotta build another book/display case on the side of my fridge for hard covers/coffee table books like the one in the pic with through tenons. Been meaning to do it ever since I left the space on the end 20 years ago ....It needs to swivel into the hallway, and have up/downlighting for mineral specimen shelves.
Also my computer shelf on machine swings 180*, and never been totally happy with wires just hanging in the breeze
May just have to make 2 of them sometime this decade

Yep, always seems to be like that with wood.
Find a piece you love the figure of, and then not enough to make a big project of, or warp/twist/knots/splits mean you have to wait for an AHA! moment to use it in a one of.

Hope I do as good a job as you when I get a roundtuit.
Thanks for the brain stimulation!
scott

[dwilli9013]

Nice as always Scott. Love the live edge for your puter.

[scottp55]

Yep, Ya gotta love beautiful wood Dwayne:)
(Still have 3 slabs left of that Oregon Big Leaf Maple )