DIY Cable Questions and Comments Thread

[Arty McGhee]

  Making my very first cable ever for my HE-560 with 2 separate 2.5mm cup connectors and I need to figure out the various sizes of heat shrink to purchase for:

• 2x 2.5mm connectors?
• Y-split over 4-braid to 2x 2-braid
• ¼" Connector
• 3.5mm connector?
• Braided Paracord over 26awg to connector

 
I believe I'll need very small diameter for the connectors to isolate within the connectors after soldering, but what size and where do I get clear?
 
For the stuff that can be seen outside the connectors, what diameters? 2:1 or 3:1?
 
The options exploring at http://www.avoutlet.com are massive! (except I cannot find clear there)

this is pretty much all i use these days
its 3:1 so it will go down to 1/8" and its adhesive
so it holds everything together like hotglue
 
http://www.markertek.com/product/mac-11630/dual-wall-heat-shrink-tubing-8-piece-pack-3-8-inch-x-6-inch-clear

 

[mikesale]

  this is pretty much all i use these days
its 3:1 so it will go down to 1/8" and its adhesive
so it holds everything together like hotglue
 
http://www.markertek.com/product/mac-11630/dual-wall-heat-shrink-tubing-8-piece-pack-3-8-inch-x-6-inch-clear

Thank you! Other then cable-over-connector, for which it seems ideal, where do you use this where on cables? For Y splitter? Over soldered wire on the connector? 

 

[Allanmarcus]

  Making my very first cable ever for my HE-560 with 2 separate 2.5mm cup connectors and I need to figure out the various sizes of heat shrink to purchase for:

• 2x 2.5mm connectors?
• Y-split over 4-braid to 2x 2-braid
• ¼" Connector
• 3.5mm connector?
• Braided Paracord over 26awg to connector

 
I believe I'll need very small diameter for the connectors to isolate within the connectors after soldering, but what size and where do I get clear?
 
For the stuff that can be seen outside the connectors, what diameters? 2:1 or 3:1?
 
The options exploring at http://www.avoutlet.com are massive! (except I cannot find clear there)

there are numerous heat shrink kits on amazon for <$15. I find that I tend to use the larger pieces much more than the small ones. 2:1 is good for most work, but occasionally you want 3:1. I'm not sure when to use adhesive heat shrink yet, as I have never used it.
 
3:1 can be a bit pricey. I purchase a few 3 foot lengths from eBay, and a few assorted black and colored kits from amazon. 

 

[rmoody]

  Thank you! Other then cable-over-connector, for which it seems ideal, where do you use this where on cables? For Y splitter? Over soldered wire on the connector? 

For my Y I used some 5:1 heat shrink with adhesive I got at Home Depot. Get it shrunk down and while it's' still warm, take needle nose pliers and press between the cables leading to the headphones. Comes out nicely. See:
 

 

[PETEREK]

Thank you! Other then cable-over-connector, for which it seems ideal, where do you use this where on cables? For Y splitter? Over soldered wire on the connector? 

For anyone wondering how to make splitters like the one below, get some siphoning tube (I'm not totally sure on the diameter, 3/16" or 1/4" depending on whether they measure from the ID or OD), push the sleeves into each end of a 1-1.5" piece of that siphoning tube, then insert the tip of your hot glue gun inside an opening and fill it with hot glue. Afterwards use some 3/8" heat shrink tubing over the top of it and make sure that heat shrink tube is about 1/4" longer than the siphoning tube. Heat it. If you want to get real fancy, put some clear heat shrink over that.
 
BOOM.
 

 

[rmoody]

  For anyone wondering how to make splitters like the one below, get some siphoning tube (I'm not totally sure on the diameter, 3/16" or 1/4" depending on whether they measure from the ID or OD), push the sleeves into each end of a 1-1.5" piece of that siphoning tube, then insert the tip of your hot glue gun inside an opening and fill it with hot glue. Afterwards use some 3/8" heat shrink tubing over the top of it and make sure that heat shrink tube is about 1/4" longer than the siphoning tube. Heat it. If you want to get real fancy, put some clear heat shrink over that.
 
BOOM.
 

 
Looks nice!

 

[PETEREK]

 

  For anyone wondering how to make splitters like the one below, get some siphoning tube (I'm not totally sure on the diameter, 3/16" or 1/4" depending on whether they measure from the ID or OD), push the sleeves into each end of a 1-1.5" piece of that siphoning tube, then insert the tip of your hot glue gun inside an opening and fill it with hot glue. Afterwards use some 3/8" heat shrink tubing over the top of it and make sure that heat shrink tube is about 1/4" longer than the siphoning tube. Heat it. If you want to get real fancy, put some clear heat shrink over that.
 
BOOM.
 
 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

 
Looks nice!

Thanks. Just trying to help others achieve the same thing. It's much simpler than it might seem when you first see it, and I'm exposing that.

 

[mikesale]

  For anyone wondering how to make splitters like the one below, get some siphoning tube (I'm not totally sure on the diameter, 3/16" or 1/4" depending on whether they measure from the ID or OD), push the sleeves into each end of a 1-1.5" piece of that siphoning tube, then insert the tip of your hot glue gun inside an opening and fill it with hot glue. Afterwards use some 3/8" heat shrink tubing over the top of it and make sure that heat shrink tube is about 1/4" longer than the siphoning tube. Heat it. If you want to get real fancy, put some clear heat shrink over that.
 
BOOM.
 

A thing of beauty! and my "must try" list.

 

[mikesale]

  Thanks. Just trying to help others achieve the same thing. It's much simpler than it might seem when you first see it, and I'm exposing that.

Looking to put something together like this and wondering what you mean when you refer to "siphoning tube"? I'm just thinking of something hard to semi-hard slightly larger in in diameter then the two braids to the cups that you slip over the Y, then use the glue with the heat shrink to hold it in place. Anything more specific then that?
 
Short version: What would one google to get back "siphoning tube" relevant to this solution?

 

[Eudis]

Hey guys, finished my successful 2.5mm mod on my THX00.
 
Well I initially started with dual 3.5mm, but then converted it to a 2.5mm.
 


 
And the cable I made and used (dual 2.5mm to L 3.5mm, makes for a great portable cable too):

imgur ablum of the cable: https://imgur.com/a/GCxjH

For those wanting to perform the mod and feel confident doing so here are some brief and vague steps:

• Disassemble the cups. First you twist off the pads. You unscrew the inner screws (in the holes where the cup mounts go) and removed the wooded cups. Second you screw off the drivers off the housing. The are the outer screws.
  
• You desolder the wires off the drivers. Please note there will be a red marker on the + side and the - will be bare like so. Then you untie the knot and pull out the cable. Then you pull out the grommet.
  
• This is where gets tricky. You need a rotary tool with a triangular shaped grinder tip. You need to carefully grind the hold to fit the 2.5mm/3.5mm thread. It need about .5mm of widening to fit the thread, so be extra careful.
  
• Solder on your jack to the driver, on the ones I used, the gold pin was the middle ring (Right +) so I used the short none gold pin to find L + since I used mono connectors. The long is ground. Remember red marker is + and the other is ground.
  
• Look at this picture. Grind at your driver baffle exactly like I did. Please note that was when I did the 3.5mm jack, the 2.5mm jack is literally the same.
  
• Put the 3.5mm in and thread it tightly. Make sure the long pin is facing upwards. Then fit your driver back in and screw it to the housing. There's stand offs where the drivers will slot into. Once your done it'll look like this
  
• Now line up your wooden cups to the headphones. There are two indentations that line up with the swivel points inside the cups. Make not of where the 2.5mm/3.5mm jack lines up and use a rotary tool to grind a round indentation like so
  
• Line the wooden cups back up and screw them in place. And boom you're done.
  

This initially took me about.....3-4 hours doing it blindly (figuring things out). I'm confident I can do it in 1-3 hours next time.

 

 

(The blue words are hyperlinks to imgur pictures. I copied this from a post I made elsewhere haha)

 

[Allanmarcus]

I find soldering onto connector to be a hassle something, especially with hard to clamp connectors like 4 pin XLR. I was thinking of building a small, but heavy, box with male and female connector attached to the box. Then when it's time to solder them, I just plug them into the box and they will be help in place really well. Nothing attached on the other end of the connectors inside the box; the box is just there has a receptacle to hold the actual connector in place which soldering. The added benefit is that the "helping hands" can be used to hold the wire, and then I have two human hands left for the solder and iron. 
 
Anyone try this or have a better solution?

 

[bluesaint]

I recently ordered some 8 core OCC silver, copper combo cable. Those who has something similar, can you share how do you pair the core's for soldering to headphone and connector end?
 
I'm going to use these cables to do the following:
 
1.) re-wire headphone cables from cans to 4 pin XLR: How to pair the cores to the XLR connector?
2.) create 4 pin XLR to TRS: How to pair the cores to the 1/4 TRS connector?
3.) re-wire driver wires on meze classic 99
 

 

[Eudis]

I recently ordered some 8 core OCC silver, copper combo cable. Those who has something similar, can you share how do you pair the core's for soldering to headphone and connector end?

I'm going to use these cables to do the following:

1.) re-wire headphone cables from cans to 4 pin XLR: How to pair the cores to the XLR connector?

2.) create 4 pin XLR to TRS: How to pair the cores to the 1/4 TRS connector?
3.) re-wire driver wires on meze classic 99

1. Start with soldering the wire to the trrs. There's 8 wires in that braid so pair two wires to each conductor pin.

2. Get a multimeter and find which wire matches rings of the trrs and match it up with the proper pin on the xlr following its proper pin out schema

 

[rmoody]

  Hey guys, finished my successful 2.5mm mod on my THX00.
 
Well I initially started with dual 3.5mm, but then converted it to a 2.5mm.
 


 
And the cable I made and used (dual 2.5mm to L 3.5mm, makes for a great portable cable too):

imgur ablum of the cable: https://imgur.com/a/GCxjH

For those wanting to perform the mod and feel confident doing so here are some brief and vague steps:

• Disassemble the cups. First you twist off the pads. You unscrew the inner screws (in the holes where the cup mounts go) and removed the wooded cups. Second you screw off the drivers off the housing. The are the outer screws.
  
• You desolder the wires off the drivers. Please note there will be a red marker on the + side and the - will be bare like so. Then you untie the knot and pull out the cable. Then you pull out the grommet.
  
• This is where gets tricky. You need a rotary tool with a triangular shaped grinder tip. You need to carefully grind the hold to fit the 2.5mm/3.5mm thread. It need about .5mm of widening to fit the thread, so be extra careful.
  
• Solder on your jack to the driver, on the ones I used, the gold pin was the middle ring (Right +) so I used the short none gold pin to find L + since I used mono connectors. The long is ground. Remember red marker is + and the other is ground.
  
• Look at this picture. Grind at your driver baffle exactly like I did. Please note that was when I did the 3.5mm jack, the 2.5mm jack is literally the same.
  
• Put the 3.5mm in and thread it tightly. Make sure the long pin is facing upwards. Then fit your driver back in and screw it to the housing. There's stand offs where the drivers will slot into. Once your done it'll look like this
  
• Now line up your wooden cups to the headphones. There are two indentations that line up with the swivel points inside the cups. Make not of where the 2.5mm/3.5mm jack lines up and use a rotary tool to grind a round indentation like so
  
• Line the wooden cups back up and screw them in place. And boom you're done.
  

This initially took me about.....3-4 hours doing it blindly (figuring things out). I'm confident I can do it in 1-3 hours next time.

 

 

(The blue words are hyperlinks to imgur pictures. I copied this from a post I made elsewhere haha)

 
Looks nice.
 
What is that right angle plug that you used?

 

[Eudis]

It's from plussoundaudio. It's under diy.

I'm not liking it. I overmeasured the amount of heatshrink and it spins around too much plugged into my phone. I'm going to re-terminate to a strait 3.5mm plug.