GE Fanuc Offers New Rugged Cables for Servo and Spindle Motors

Charlottesville, VA -- GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a unit of GE Enterprise Solutions, announced the availability of new environmental cables for servo and spindle motors. The power cable connectors have been redesigned to be low profile, and the feedback, brake, and fan cables now have molded connectors instead of assembled ones.

GE Fanuc has a comprehensive line of environmental cables specifically designed for use in the rugged environment common to most machine tool applications. The cables cover a wide range of GE Fanuc servo and spindle motors used with GE Fanuc's CNC and Power Mate products. Selecting one of GE Fanuc's environmental cables will help ensure the highest quality cable assemblies are present on the final machine tool. The alternative is to spend time and effort designing an in-house cable, which will consume valuable engineering resources, and slow down time to market.

"The common method to make cables is to use an assembled connector for the connection point to the motor," said Paul Webster, CNC Product Manager for GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms. "The problem with this is that the connectors can leak and deteriorate over time and, in some cases, they can be weak. The new cables use a polyurethane mold that creates the connector out of solid plastic. Molding the cables makes them very robust. They are stronger and hold up better to the harsh environment of a machine tool."

These new environmental cables can be used on older machine tools as well as in newly designed machine tools. They cover a range of motors and amplifiers and will even work with older alpha servo systems. The new low-profile molded power cables are designed for the compact Alpha i series. The shorter connector reduces clearance needed around the motor. New molded feedback and brake/fan cables designed for the Alpha i series improve environmental protection and reduce the connector size. All CNC system ordering tools have been updated to select suitable cables for the system being ordered.

GE Fanuc's environmental cable ordering system allows cables to be selected to fit the application. Options include:

  • Cable length to the nearest meter, from 1 meter to 25 meters
  • Cables over 25 meters available in 5 meter increments in some cases
  • Standard polyurethane jackets for servo motors and feedback devices
  • Oil-resistant 105°C PVC cable jackets for spindle motors
  • Optional shielded power versions for some cables
  • Selectable connector orientation for elbow type connectors
  • Molded polyurethane feedback cables for high environmental protection and mechanical strength
  • New molded power cable designs for the Alpha i series that include low-profile power connectors for reduced motor height.

GE Fanuc's cables are backed by the standard warranty.

About GE Fanuc
GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a joint venture between General Electric and Fanuc Ltd. of Japan, is a high-performance technology company and a global provider of hardware, software, services, expertise, and experience in automation and embedded computing, with products used in virtually every industry, including manufacturing automation, process automation, defense, automotive, telecommunications, healthcare, and aerospace. GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms is a worldwide company headquartered in Charlottesville, VA, and is part of GE Enterprise Solutions.