Adding functionality to our CNC project is fun, but every once in a while we need to stop and do some housekeeping. Such was the case for a recent work session: we need to start cleaning up our wiring. The big nest of tangles are starting to impede progress, because time we spent sorting through wires is time not doing cool things.

Real industrial CNC machine usually have a big electronics equipment cabinet in the back, made of folded sheet metal. We won't have that, but we shouldn't leave the Parker ZETA4 stepper motor drivers sitting loosely on the ground, either. A big metal bracket was available and repurposed as home for the beefy X and Y axis motor drivers, the Parker ZETA4.

First a few holes were drilled in the table to fasten the bracket, then mounting patterns for the ZETA4 were drilled in the bracket and tapped for fastening machine screws. There was one minor oversight: the pattern is technically upside down. The most important part of this vertical orientation is so the driver module heat sinks are oriented properly for convection cooling. Mounted upside-down will reverse the air cooling flow, hopefully the direction matters less than the fact air is flowing.

With the two driver modules fastened to the bracket, we can plan wire paths in some semblance of organization. As a bonus of this mounting, the new locations are closer to the rest of the machine giving us more slack in the wire to reach other components.