DIY Cable Gallery!!

[RnB180]

Originally Posted by Little J040

I have a few cables under my belt, around 5 or so. My latest is blue techflex, but I've always liked the black w\ white tracer and the RED and black mixed ones. Where do you guys get these? I'm getting all my parts from Parts express Is there other places that sell Techflex in bulk, More than 50' of it?

EDIT: another quick question. When ever I apply the heatshrink to the bases of the connectors, the techflex frays a little. Kind of makes it look a little messy, Im still trying to get really really proffessional looking ones.

Cheers,

Jeff

I pinch the the flex right where the shrink meets it, and my fingers prevent the flex from deviating, the heat is then centralized only on the shrink.

with enough practice, you wont burn your fingers. It just takes experience, and kind of like an art to work with high heat levels and flex

I use an ungar 1095 low temp mode at 790Ø F for shrink over flex.

there are other ways you can tell from someone that is inexperienced with finishing and someone that isn't, while working with heat shrink, some cables will exhibit an uneven misaligned connector compared to wire exiting the barrel, If you want the cable to look as professional as possible, make sure he connector is perfectly aligned with the wire exiting it. when its crooked, its usually due to improper clamp position of the mechanical strain relief.

Heres a trick of the trade to easily remedy this problem, if your connector is crooked after applying the boot, heat the boot up enough to soften the shrink, then take hold of the connector and position it straight with the wire exiting the cable until the shrink cools. once the shrink cools the termination will stay straightened out.

another trick to fix flex that has been deformed due to heat,

heat up and soften the flex, once its heat up, use you fingers and reshape the flex back to its normal diameter, let cool and it will be back to normal.

these are the tricks of the trade that only come with experience

after a few hundred or so terminations you learn a thing or two here and there.

Also things I do to maintain the durability of the cables build, aside from the typlical continuity check and twist and bend check for intermittence,
on a finished cable you should tug on the flex, if the flex gets pulled from the connector, then you need to secure it better

I follow certain practices and some other tricks to lock the flex in place, but I can't give away all my secrets

another rule of thumb,

NEVER misalign the RA connectors, which is the first mistake a cable assembler can make, a cable with RA connectors facing in different directions is a sure definate sign that the assembler doesnt know what he's doing.

the RA connectors should always have the tips facing either > < or ^ ^

If you get an RA cable thats like < ^ or some wierd direction, that guy doesnt know what he's doing with the cable.

[Little J040]

Thank you very much for your in depth insights RnB and others. Much appreciated! I have the same heat gun! Oh and another thing when you say heat up the flex then squeeze it with your fingers back to the way you want it doesnt that burn a little

EDIT: Not quite sure what you meant by RA connectors, How can you get them < ^?

Cheers,

Jeff

[RnB180]

the RA connectors should be faced in a direction in which they are terminated in a mirrored position of each other.

i.e. if you lay the RA(right angle) cable down, and the connector tips are not mirrored in position, then thats bad.

like connector 1 is in the 12 o clock position while connector 2 is in the 3 o clock position.

[Little J040]

Oh gotcha! Thanks RnB

[Sduibek]

Originally Posted by RnB180

I pinch the the flex right where the shrink meets it, ... [snip]

lots of technical stuff ensues, followed by the realization that I will never acquire DIY skills.

*brain explodes*

[VR6ofpain]

hmm, i thought you meant melted when you said frayed. i guess you meant they opened up or Frayed. maybe I should read next time....

[RnB180]

Originally Posted by Sduibek

lots of technical stuff ensues, followed by the realization that I will never acquire DIY skills.

*brain explodes*

Its not very techinical at all, no math or anything LOL.

at lease I can share these tips with a few that may use them. Ive had to trash many many cables before because of mistakes.

other things Ive noticed, when flex is expanded over something that fits tightly under, its heat threshold is higher then flex that is loose fitting on smaller wire.

Dual flexing a cable seriously lowers the flex resistance to heat. do not over shrink dual wall shrink as the glue can start to peel or attract dust to it like a magnet, resulting in an unpleasant finish. When using dual wall, while the shrink is still hot, I press it down firmly with my fingers before cooling,

I use an adjustable soldering iron with a thin conical tip for the small areas, strap on heat sinks to every connector before soldering, the soldering process itself should only take 1 second to finish, in and out. Unless its a ground which has more surface area to heat up, Im usually in an out, with a shiney wet concave joint, in a second or so, you shouldnt ever have to hold the tip on something like a 1/8" connector solder terminal, I just touch it and its done. The shorter amount of time the tip is there, the less time heat is allowed to travel through the connector. Locking hemostats are excellent for handling the tiny wires for mini connectors.

I think I have my my iron set to about 800-850 degrees fahrenheit for the tiny mini connectors :P probably the equivelant to a 40-50 watt iron. a 25-30 watts iron takes too much time to wet a joint, and even then its difficult to get it concave.

avoid cheap bulk flex found on ebay, they are cheap for a reason and far more flamable (from my experience) then standard tech flex.

tech flex is pretty good already.

[VR6ofpain]

Originally Posted by RnB180

avoid cheap bulk flex found on ebay, they are cheap for a reason and far more flamable (from my experience) then standard tech flex.

tech flex is pretty good already.

What is your experience with the softer nylon braiding 'flex' wire covers? I want to get some of these. After doing the recable for my portaPro's (caused me to pick up some KSC35's to do a side by side comparison (same driver/housing), to see what the actual difference in sound quality is. I have one annoyance with the fact that the techflex past the Y sometimes rubs against my shirt and makes noticeble noise, which sometimes gets annoying, if I am moving around at my desk. I figure with the nylon stuff, this wouldnt be an issue.

[RnB180]

Originally Posted by VR6ofpain

What is your experience with the softer nylon braiding 'flex' wire covers? I want to get some of these. After doing the recable for my portaPro's (caused me to pick up some KSC35's to do a side by side comparison (same driver/housing), to see what the actual difference in sound quality is. I have one annoyance with the fact that the techflex past the Y sometimes rubs against my shirt and makes noticeble noise, which sometimes gets annoying, if I am moving around at my desk. I figure with the nylon stuff, this wouldnt be an issue.

never used it for headphone cables, yet. but microphonics is inevitable with any cable using expandable sleeving. Though microphones seems more prevelant in cans like Grado then my akgs and Senns. Adding a bit of dampening between the wire and the flex helps with this IMO.

[VR6ofpain]

Originally Posted by RnB180

never used it for headphone cables, yet. but microphonics is inevitable with any cable using expandable sleeving. Though microphones seems more prevelant in cans like Grado then my akgs and Senns. Adding a bit of dampening between the wire and the flex helps with this IMO.

hmm. Well with the wire opening on the portaPro's there was really no room for extra dampening. I might remove the 'box' again and cut it open a tad, so I can then put shrink tube around the flex, then shove that in the opening.