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BUNCH of ?'s before I go out and buy - Page 2

post #16 of 45
10/21/11 at 4:57am
Thread Starter 

Quote:

Originally Posted by wakibaki View Post

A scalpel is the most versatile tool for wire stripping, it's not the quickest, but it's the last one I'd give up. There's nothing better for co-ax or mains cable.

 

Third hands are overrated. Wind the solder into a little cobra and offer up the workpiece and iron. Learn to hold 3 or 4 things and manoeuvre them at the same time.

 

Wellers are OK but I like an iron that has plenty of reserve power and leaves me to control it. I have a no-name one that claims to be temperature controlled but in reality is just variable power. Components are a lot more robust now than they used to be, it's rare to kill one with a soldering iron, the biggest danger is lifting a pad. Gas irons are good, but not for continuous all-day running.

 

A hot-air gun (deWalt paint stripper) and a toaster oven are pretty good to have, but you can do some things on an electric hotplate or skillet.

 

w

So you strip the individual wires with a scapel?? Or do you mean the outer rubber jacket of a cable?

I have a Olfa art knife, which I suppose I could use in place of a scapel

 

Yea I was thinking of getting a heat gun for the heatshrink, but I thought I would test out my hair dryer first, since it usually tries to burn my head instead of dry it xD
 

 

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post #17 of 45
10/23/11 at 7:52am
Thread Starter 

Can anyone else help with the other questions? xD

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post #18 of 45
10/23/11 at 8:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kagelou View Post

Quote:

So you strip the individual wires with a scapel?? Or do you mean the outer rubber jacket of a cable?
Only strip the outer jacket of the cable, so you have the copper showing that you'll solder on. Don't strip off all of the rubber though!

I have a Olfa art knife, which I suppose I could use in place of a scapel
I googled that, and that should work fine.

 

Yea I was thinking of getting a heat gun for the heatshrink, but I thought I would test out my hair dryer first, since it usually tries to burn my head instead of dry it xD
Try it, but I know mine didn't work, so I had to use a heat gun. Besides, heat guns are much more convenient, and easier to shrink perfectly.

 

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post #19 of 45
10/23/11 at 9:32am
Thread Starter 

Only strip the outer jacket of the cable, so you have the copper showing that you'll solder on. Don't strip off all of the rubber though!

 

Yea, I know that, but I was wondering how you got the thicker outer jacket on something like the Mogami W2893 or Canare L-4E5C off xD

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post #20 of 45
10/23/11 at 5:30pm
You can also use the knife. But for the larger part of the wire, I just use a stripper.
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post #21 of 45
10/23/11 at 7:32pm

 

 

Quote:
Yea, I know that, but I was wondering how you got the thicker outer jacket on something like the Mogami W2893 or Canare L-4E5C off xD

 

Start by using a razor blade and cutting all the way around the perimeter of the exterior dielectric/jacket.  But do not cut all the way through it. I like to mark my starting point with the likes of a grease pencil; it is surprisingly hard to meet up with where you started the cut.  I also like to cut into the cable and just roll it on a table to get around the perimeter.  

 

Like I said, don't cut all the way through yet.  Once you've completed this step, pick up the cable and bend the cable so the cut portion is at the apex of the bend.  It will open up and let you see inside.  Now, slowly use the razor blade to finish cutting until you see the copper shield. Actually, you won't need to cut all the way to the shield.  The dielectric will pull apart after you get very close to having cut all the way through it. 

 

Next, turn the cable about a quarter turn, bend it, and repeat this bending and cutting process until you're all the way through it.  Then just pull the jacket off the end and you will have your exposed inner elements.


Edited by epithet - 10/23/11 at 7:37pm
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post #22 of 45
10/23/11 at 7:53pm

 

Quote:

8. I noticed that some people in the DIY Cable thread used 4 wires for a 3.5mm -> 3.5mm interconnect...You only need three to make the interconnect right? Why would you use 4 wires when all it does is use more material and possibly make the cable less pliable?

9. I also noticed that some people used techflex and others nylon in their interconnects...Is there a reason why they did this when techflex supposedly makes the cable stiff and much more microphonic? (other than looks, they do make the cable look nice haha)

10. Is there any special braid for short interconnects (< 6in) or do you just use the normal litz/round braid?

11. How do you cut just the outer rubber jacket on cables like the Mogami W2893?

12. Is it ok to mix different AWG wires in an interconnect?

 8. Yes--only need three.  Four wires ("quad" cables) provide better protection against Radio Frequency Interferrence. It also, I think, gives a higher impedance.  Then again, two 24 AWG conductors sum to a larger wire gauge, do they not?  I am coming from this as more of a sound engineer and less of an audiophile.  I personally avoid that quad stuff.  Radio Frequency Interferrence won't be a concern for the cables you're likely to make--line level/headphone cables over short distances.  But I'm prepared for others to chime in with other points or even disagreements from the audiophile perspective.  The quad cables are also more difficult to strip, solder, etc.  Note that two of the quad conductors gets soldered to "left" and the other two get soldered to "right" for a "single ended" configuration.

12. Single-ended: the signal and the shield could be different "AWGs".  Balanced: positive and negative really should be the same AWG.  But here too the shield could be different. Headphone cable: same "rules" as for the balanced cable.  Note, however, that for interconnects that go from, say, your CD player, to your crossfeed unit, then to your headphone amp, each unit's interconnects could be different gauges (AWGs) without any particular bad consequence.

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post #23 of 45
10/23/11 at 8:06pm
9. They use nylon filament techflex, if I recall. Regular techflex is microphonic and stiff.
10. Just braid them normally, but it is a bit frustrating when it is so small.
11. Read that post above this one. He tells you. Just cut around the rubber, and pull it off.
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post #24 of 45
10/23/11 at 8:21pm
Thread Starter 

Quote:

Originally Posted by epithet View Post

 

 8. Yes--only need three.  Four wires ("quad" cables) provide better protection against Radio Frequency Interferrence. It also, I think, gives a higher impedance.  Then again, two 24 AWG conductors sum to a larger wire gauge, do they not?  I am coming from this as more of a sound engineer and less of an audiophile.  I personally avoid that quad stuff.  Radio Frequency Interferrence won't be a concern for the cables you're likely to make--line level/headphone cables over short distances.  But I'm prepared for others to chime in with other points or even disagreements from the audiophile perspective.  The quad cables are also more difficult to strip, solder, etc.  Note that two of the quad conductors gets soldered to "left" and the other two get soldered to "right" for a "single ended" configuration.

12. Single-ended: the signal and the shield could be different "AWGs".  Balanced: positive and negative really should be the same AWG.  But here too the shield could be different. Headphone cable: same "rules" as for the balanced cable.  Note, however, that for interconnects that go from, say, your CD player, to your crossfeed unit, then to your headphone amp, each unit's interconnects could be different gauges (AWGs) without any particular bad consequence.

Yea I was wondering why people used 4 wires when all it did was make the cable fatter (maybe more colorful though lol)

hm, guess I'll just use the same AWG to be safe...was just wondering if there were any serious side effects if I were to make a random interconnect with left over wire xD

 

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Magedark View Post

9. They use nylon filament techflex, if I recall. Regular techflex is microphonic and stiff.
10. Just braid them normally, but it is a bit frustrating when it is so small.
11. Read that post above this one. He tells you. Just cut around the rubber, and pull it off.

Yea, there are two main types of techflex people use: Monofilament nylon techflex, which is the stiffer and more microphonic stuff that people just refer to as techflex, and the Multifilament nylon techflex, which is the softer, non-microphonic techflex. The multifilament only comes in black though, so I was just wondering if the color/pattern variations the monofilament offers is worth the side effects =/

 


 

 

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post #25 of 45
10/23/11 at 8:34pm
I never worked with techflex, so you'd have to try it and see, really. But if it matters, why not spray paint the multifilament?
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post #26 of 45
10/23/11 at 8:51pm

re: 8 - for single ended - you could also pick two to be the ground (one for each side, both soldered to the sheath of the trs ground), and just use one each (of the remaining two) for right and left... the additional grounding of one side of the shielding is then optional. 

 

One benefit of this, as I understand it, is you could eventually cut off the TRS, and re-attach a 4 pin XLR/mini-xlr for a quick balanced cable (assuming double entry on the cans, and matching up the correct left/right grounds, of course).

 

(Edit - I see now you were asking about interconnects - so ignore this)


Edited by liamstrain - 10/23/11 at 8:58pm
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post #27 of 45
10/24/11 at 6:25am
Thread Starter 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magedark View Post

I never worked with techflex, so you'd have to try it and see, really. But if it matters, why not spray paint the multifilament?

I might just get a couple of both for my first project and see for myself how bad the microphonics are. I'm most likely going to use Mogami W2893 which is supposedly really flexible to begin with, so hopefully the techflex won't effect it too much. As for microphonics, I'll probably use the techflex for some interconnects and nylon for headphone recables, so shouldn't be too much of an issue...I'll report back once I finish all the cables xD
 

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by liamstrain View Post

re: 8 - for single ended - you could also pick two to be the ground (one for each side, both soldered to the sheath of the trs ground), and just use one each (of the remaining two) for right and left... the additional grounding of one side of the shielding is then optional. 

 

One benefit of this, as I understand it, is you could eventually cut off the TRS, and re-attach a 4 pin XLR/mini-xlr for a quick balanced cable (assuming double entry on the cans, and matching up the correct left/right grounds, of course).

 

(Edit - I see now you were asking about interconnects - so ignore this)


ah, that seems like a good reason to use 4 over 3...do you also think that people use 4 instead of 3 because the litz braid creates less interference than the 3 way braid?

 

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post #28 of 45
10/24/11 at 8:21am

No, ease of going balanced, or cost/convenience of using a well made star-quad cable are the biggest reason. I don't think most people have worried overly about the interference - especially not when using silicon lead wire or something already relatively well shielded.

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post #29 of 45
10/24/11 at 10:46am
Thread Starter 

ok, so it seems that most of my questions are answered, except the adhesive lined heatshrink one xD

Also, are you sure 1/4" heatshrink is best? I doubt that would go over the plug of even a neutrik 3.5mm...

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post #30 of 45
10/24/11 at 10:56am

You slip the heat shrink onto the cable before you solder on the connectors.

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