[DIY] Power Cable Guide Arm for Drawer - 3D Print

Charging a laptop and devices in a moving camper van is an unnerving experience in uncontrolled sliding, banging and flipping.

So in our Ford Transit camper van a drawer was dedicated to holding devices in place with foam, and powering them via a swiveling power arm that provides 110v and USB power.

Initially, I was planning on using a cable management arm from a server rack but the small space behind the van's drawer called for a custom solution. So a 3D printed swiveling cable guide was designed.

There are many ways to skin that cat though, from using aluminum profile to ready-made docking drawer solutions. Some examples are listed at the end of this post.

The Fusion360 parametric CAD model and 3D printing files are on Github

Happy printing to all !

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Design

Principle:

Also got inspiration from this model posted by Meltinplastic:

The design is straightforward and symmetrical. So, printing 2 sets of base+arm results in a complete solution.

When in the drawer-closed position, the base's long guiding walls prevent the arm from sagging, and ensure that the base's pivot is not stressed by road vibrations and by the weight of the arm + cables.

It was printed in ABS to resist hot summer temps, with the following settings:

• 45° orientation to fit on a 250 x 250mm bed plate
• 0.4mm nozzle, 0.2 layer height, 0.42 line width
  
• 5 walls, 1.4mm thick top & bottom
• 20% Grid infill
• spacers printed with 4mm outside brim
  
• chamber pre-heating for 30' until it reached 50°C, assisted by a heating printer lid
• 1 hour of cooldown at the end before opening the door, to reduce warping
  

 Installation

The bases are screwed into the back of the cabinet and of the drawer.

Two 55mm M6 (2.25"-1/4") bolts form the base pivots, while one 45mm M6 (~2") bolt is used for the middle pivot. Secured with lock nuts.

The bolts could be replaced by simple 3D printed pins with a flanged head. Would be more than adequate in non-transport applications for instance.

The spacers reduce chafing, and the risk of a short-circuit, by preventing the cables from being in direct contact with the bolts.

The cables can either be routed around the mid pivot's bolt (not shown), or in front of it (like in next pic). This needs to be decided before tightening the zip ties to ensure that there is enough slack in the cables throughout the arm's motion.

The cables are generously secured in place with zip ties (spacers not shown in the pics):

Checking that the arm is long enough to fully remove the drawer:

The 110v / USB outlet is a recessed low profile power strip

Alternatives

Aluminum profiles. Example from kws103 on instructables:

Server rack cable management arms:

Ready-made docking drawer arm:

Or just wing it with multi-outlet extensions 😂