DIY Cable Questions and Comments Thread

[SVTong]

Has anyone ever bought from Audiocrast out of China before?  I thought this looked pretty interesting:

http://www.audiocrast.com/product_disp.php?p_id=1043&weblan=e

 

[Paladin79]

  Has anyone ever bought from Audiocrast out of China before?  I thought this looked pretty interesting:

http://www.audiocrast.com/product_disp.php?p_id=1043&weblan=e

not me, I am not a big fan of Chinese connectors and tend to buy certified occ wire. 

 

[heliosphann]

Wanting to start working on some cables, re-terminating, etc.               
 
Any good guides/videos that I can check out? Thx.

 

[Paladin79]

Wanting to start working on some cables, re-terminating, etc.               

Any good guides/videos that I can check out? Thx.

You can always start by reading through this thread. I can help some, I have run a company for over ten years which has built most any type cable you can imagine. I think early on in this thread, good sources are mentioned. There are also some experienced people here who would answer specific questions.Soon I hope to show my home shop and the tools I use, after four decades in electronics; that might help some.

 

[rmoody]

You can always start by reading through this thread. I can help some, I have run a company for over ten years which has built most any type cable you can imagine. I think early on in this thread, good sources are mentioned. There are also some experienced people here who would answer specific questions.Soon I hope to show my home shop and the tools I use after four decades in electronics; that might help some.

Ohh, electroporn, awesome! Going to make me want that new soldering iron.

 

[Paladin79]

We were just talking soldering irons but it you only solder a couple hours a week there are plenty of inexpensive irons out there. My people turn theirs on at 9 AM and off at 5:30 PM so we use Wellers and Panavise vises, Lindstrom tools, and Kester solder. For home use you can use Cooper tools and helping hands and a device Allanmarcus just posted.

Because of your location I can help you with a distributor in Louisville whom I believe will sell to end users. They carry a large line of tools, connectors, and wire. They have sales every now and then on partial spools that a person can buy very reasonably. They do carry Hakko irons and I got one of those models for under $100 but Parts Express carries some inexpensive models. Markertek is another good source for tools, wire and connectors.

Wanting to start working on some cables, re-terminating, etc.               


 


Any good guides/videos that I can check out? Thx.

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[Paladin79]

  Wanting to start working on some cables, re-terminating, etc.               
 
Any good guides/videos that I can check out? Thx.

Sorry I misread your location, since you live in Indy, I run a business 15 minutes south of there and if you wanted to stop in some time I could personally show you most anything associated with cable building. Technique, equipment,connectors, wire- whatever. I could even give you a few samples to play around with at home.You can private message me if you want to stop in some time. I just happened to find a bunch of 1/4 inch stereo male connectors that I can give you to practice with. They are cheap ones we would not use but they would be great for practice.
 

 

[heliosphann]

  Sorry I misread your location, since you live in Indy, I run a business 15 minutes south of there and if you wanted to stop in some time I could personally show you most anything associated with cable building. Technique, equipment,connectors, wire- whatever. I could even give you a few samples to play around with at home.You can private message me if you want to stop in some time. I just happened to find a bunch of 1/4 inch stereo male connectors that I can give you to practice with. They are cheap ones we would not use but they would be great for practice.
 

Thanks, I'll send you a PM.

 

[Paladin79]

I just received a bunch of paracord including some micro cord that is really tiny, 1.18 mm. Kind of small to do a lot with unless you have bare wire and a lot of that is solid and not what i would normally use for headphone cables.
 
They seem pretty close in size but I do like the flexibility of the type 1 paracord compared to the four internal strand 275.
 
Anyway if you make it down and you have certain headphones that you own we may well be able to build a working cable for your existing setup and allow you to do a lot of the work. Things like RCA interconnects and 3.5 mm aux cables are pretty handy to have as well.

 

[Paladin79]

I found it is possible to get some high quality 24 and 26 awg single conductor wire made at a reasonable price.I have one more quote outstanding and then I should be able to proceed and lay my hands on several thousand feet of it for a fraction of what it costs to cut apart existing cables.There is a 6 to 12 week wait time depending on the source but at least I know now that it is doable.

 

[SVTong]

That's awesome - keep us posted!

 

[Paladin79]

  That's awesome - keep us posted!

It does not resolve shipping to canada since I am in the states lol. You could always drive down here, wrap a couple hundred feet around your waist and try not to go through any metal detectors on your way back, um wait that might not be legal.

 

[SVTong]

  It does not resolve shipping to canada since I am in the states lol. You could always drive down here, wrap a couple hundred feet around your waist and try not to go through any metal detectors on your way back, um wait that might not be legal.

Well, if it's noticeably cheaper than the other options, then it should more than offset the import duties.  Hopefully.

 

[Paladin79]

  Well, if it's noticeably cheaper than the other options, then it should more than offset the import duties.  Hopefully.

If your only choice is say buying Mogami star quad from the states or buying one conductor wire and using four of them, it is much cheaper. The weight is less as well so shipping costs should be lower as well. There is also the weight of the french braid they use on some of the star quad.

 

[jlily82]

I have successfully soldered a new straight 3.5 connection on my IEM's. Thanks to eveyone in this thread for their help, especially Paladin79