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DIY Power cable - Heat Shrink Sizing question

post #1 of 6
3/13/10 at 3:54pm
Thread Starter 
I am making a DIY power cable with Oyaide ends and a 3/4 inch cable diameter including PVC sleeving. I need to finish it with heat shrink tubing in such a fashion that it overlaps the Oyaide ends and also seals the cable. I know that I should be using a 3:1 ratio for this but I have a few questions about shrink tube.

1) does it stretch? (if I buy 1 inch 3:1 tubing will it fit over my oyaide ends which are obviously larger than one inch?)

2) is it better to use adhesive-lined?

3) where can you get assorted colours online? I have found sources for standard colours (red, black, blue)

Any help/ideas are much appreciated!
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post #2 of 6
3/13/10 at 4:15pm
which connectors are you talking about? (link please?)

It stretches.. kind of... but not that easily.. It should make more sense to put the heatshrink on before the connectors.

I've never heard of adhesive-lined.. but that just sounds messy.. heatshrink grips the cable pretty damn well already.
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post #3 of 6
3/13/10 at 4:24pm
Heat shrink does not stretch without damage, especially not adhesive lined types which tend to have much thicker walls. You're going to need some 4:1 or even larger ratio to do what you want everettjsj2, and that stuff is not cheap and probably won't come in anything other than black.

Have a look at this page - 4:1 Over-expanded Flexible Flame Retardant Polyolefin Tubing - and do the math once you've measured your connectors.
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post #4 of 6
3/13/10 at 6:15pm
n_maher is spot on. you can't stretch heatshrink without damaging it, and certainly not the way you are talking about stretching it. Forget about adhesive lined, especially double walled.

Do you have any room in the plug it self to seal your wires with something like epoxy? then you can use heatshrink to beef up the cord at the plug outlet for strain relief.

4-1 is probably the only way to go. you can also check out wirecare.com as a source for all techflex products including the 4-1 heatshrink.
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post #5 of 6
3/13/10 at 6:17pm
In Chris Venhaus' DIY power cable, he recommends using 1.5" 3:1 heatshrink for the connectors. That's what I bought and plan to use on my upcoming power cable project.
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post #6 of 6
10/6/10 at 11:15am

Great thread and points here. A little older thread but I just wanted to give my 2 cents. You're using different heat shrink tubing depending on your needs, and if you check the PFA properties of Fluorotherm tubing here  http://fluorotherm.com/Properties-PFA.asp you'll find a good match in terms of strength, inertness and UV resistance.  Many would do well with regular 3:1 HST from what I gather.

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