BUNCH of ?'s before I go out and buy - Page 3

...Except when you forget to put it on first, which you will probably do a time or two.  But I agree with liamstrain.  Get 2:1 heatshrink closer to 1/4" diameter.  You can get 3:1 if you want but I think it's more expensive.  I've never used adhesive heat shrink.  The adhesive variety may be necessary with tech flex, which I've never used either.  Perhaps someone else can confirm this.

Agreed--don't worry about interference.  I was just coming up with reasons for why quad cable is used.  Liamstrain came up with better reasons for using quad cable in that they're more applicable to what you're doing.  Even so, those reasons may not be of any benefit to you.  If not, go with non-quad.  But as I stated earlier, with respect to interference, quad calbe is unlikely to be of any practical benefit with any of the cables that you're likely to make.

grant

You know what?  I/we didn't ask what you wanted to do with the heatshrink.  If you want to put it over the outside of a connector and the outside of the cable as one heat shrunk piece, you may need 3:1.  But it's just common sense; you can figure out what to get based on your intended use.

Non-adhesive stuff doesn't move around.  Of course, this depends on selection of a good size.  If your selected heat shrink size were too large, it wouldn't shrink enough and thus would indeed be "wiggly."  It's just common sense, again.  If using 2:1 heat shrink, 1/2 its starting diameter should be smaller than that to which you wish to shrink it.

Yes.  And each little wire should also be heat shurnk so you may need some 1/8" or 3/16" inch for those too.  Then you need to find a way to provide strain relief.  Your solder connections can't the the sole means of the mechanical connection. Heat shrink isn't sufficient either.  I've done lowly work in this avenue where I doubled the cable back on itself (folded it), tightened a small zip tie around it to provide the mechanical support, then tried (and failed because I didn't have large enough heat shrink) to heat shrink it.  That job got covered in gaffer's tape.  Classy.

I think they might make plastic doohickies to cover your "Y" point. Perhaps they provide strain relief too.  I'd actually love to know this if someone can verify a source for them.

grant

EDIT:  I think I misinterpretted your question quoted above.  I thought you wanted to make a cable that had one cable coming out of the connector and then Yed later, at a cable junction area like this:

          _________

-------<_________

But now I realize that you were asking about simply soldering both directly to the connector.  Both means will work.  The latter can just be harder to do at the connector--soldering more wires in a small space, fitting two cables into the connectors opening.  Tight but possible.

So we could call what you want to make a "V" cable.  I originally was thinking it would look more like a "Y".  But both are possible.

Nah, just "three."  One single cable comes out of the connector.  Then you splice the split or Y further down the cable--away from the connector some desired distance.  In many ways, it's a worse way of doing it since that splice point can be shoddy and susceptible to damage.  But I've owned cables made like that and (as described) have made some too.  The end result looks like a pair of iPod headphones--the cable does at least, conceptually.  Just uglier and bulkier at the splice point.  Does that make sense?  Take a look at these pictures in this thread, it's somewhat applicable: http://www.head-fi.org/t/537117/the-y-split-thread

Or more to the point:

Y-Cable:

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=insert+cable&hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&sa=X&rls=en&biw=1278&bih=705&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=Q6cdppCpEjDdmM:&imgrefurl=http://www.gigcables.com/GC_patch_cables.html&docid=Mt9ktZvxjeFBeM&imgurl=http://www.churchaudiosupply.com/global/images/Y-cableB.jpg&w=239&h=147&ei=6uOoTvPWJ4LH0AGtsYmlDg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=240&vpy=431&dur=443&hovh=117&hovw=191&tx=126&ty=35&sig=101385548301088892887&page=8&tbnh=117&tbnw=191&start=110&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:110

V-Cable:

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=insert+cable&hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&sa=X&rls=en&biw=1278&bih=705&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=qekFLyb7wStKFM:&imgrefurl=http://www.patriotsbuy.com/servlet/the-133/3%27-FT-1-fdsh-4-TRS/Detail&docid=i0ElBgrxUfn0TM&imgurl=http://www.patriotsbuy.com/media/02/a20791812baec256a6f4db_m.JPG&w=300&h=255&ei=6uOoTvPWJ4LH0AGtsYmlDg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=813&vpy=298&dur=261&hovh=204&hovw=240&tx=72&ty=96&sig=101385548301088892887&page=7&tbnh=146&tbnw=175&start=95&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:13,s:95

Note: I've coined this term "V cable" just for illustrative purposes.  We'd still normally call it a Y cable because it functions the same.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kagelou 

oh ok, so I would have a left, right, and ground wire coming out of the connector. I would then split open each of these wires into two, and have each side have one of each split. So the end result would be

(= is a full wire, - is half of the = wire)

 

                               _____________3.5 female

3.5 male========<_____________3.5 female

 

 

Yes.  Except in my mind, ====== and __________ would be exactly the same cables.  The __________ wouldn't be "half" of the ======= cable that you somehow disassembled and split.

Yes and no.  Yes, there will be three wires on each side.  But they won't all be braided.  The ground/common/shield (the one conductor by any of those names) will surround the other two conductors for the cables you quoted above.  The center two will be a twisted pair--essentially braided but with two you can only twist together, not braid.  But you had the right idea in your head nonetheless.

If you can, it might be better to use diagonal cutters, the wire cutting part on a pair of wire strippers (I like them to strip the interior cables while I prefer a simple razor blade for the outside as discussed earlier), or even just the wire cutting portion of a standard needle nose plier.  I've never tried scissors but it might be difficult and damaging to the scissors.  

Small diagonal cutters are very nice to have when making cables.  Once in a while after soldering a connection, you might have one or two stray, unsoldered strands that you'll need to clip away.  Small diagonal cutters make this task easier than any other tool I'm aware of.  I recently built my first cmoy amp and diagonal cutters saved my butt in this way.  In fact, I might go one step further to recommend ultra skinny needle nose pliers if you happen to be at the store to buy diagonal cutters.  I picked up a nice kit with three needle nose pliers and two cutters a few years back at Sears.  It was about $20.

Grant

Each channel, Left and Right, share a common ground. Split the ground from the one TRS and give it to the ground on the other 2 TRS plugs.

The green and the red in the picture would be twisted together. The yellow shield would surround them.  Sometimes the yellow shield has a "drain wire" that can be used to make solder connections (generally easier to solder the drain).  If not, collect up the shield and twist it into one unit for soldering purposes.  

But again, this is just the "Y" way of doing it, not the "V" way.  The V way is electrically equivalent but you just go about assembling it differently.