Need advice on making my own cables/fixing my own gear.

Nate Dort · Post by **Nate Dort** » Thu May 15, 2008 7:09 pm

touched1 wrote:I've been to Harbor Freight. I've bought from Harbor Freight. But man it makes me feel dirty. It's near the lowest form of capitalism. I guess it's no worse than Canal St back in NYC, just without the urban charm. I suppose the conditions the tools at Harbor Freight were made under were no better than the stuff at Home Depot or True Value, they just removed all the window dressing. That's how the one in Portland felt anyway.
End rant.

I hear you, but you can't even find a mic or preamp nowadays that isn't 75% made in China. All the components are made overseas. Probably the PCBs and metalwork. It's just more cleverly disguised.

touched1 · Post by **touched1** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:13 pm

I am happy to report that I made 5 balanced 1/4" to female XLR cables over the weekend to connect to my new patchbay/soundcard.

Thanks again for all the help and encouragement.
I found a couple of videos on youtube that were most helpful on the XLR soldering side. I guessed on the 1/4" side and it all worked out.

The last one took me about a full hour. It was late, I kept screwing up. But Dammit, I was not going to bed until I finished that damn cable!!

Yes. Of course. 2 of the 5 cables I soldered were done incorrectly the first time, forgetting to put parts on BEFORE doing the soldering. I was warned well in advance, but had to make my own mistakes to learn.

I am curious about a few things:

-What solder do you guys like? I bought stuff at the hardware store that specifically referenced audio wires. Is there a brand/guage I should be looking for? The first batch I had was a little thin. I just bought something a little thicker.

-How/where do I find the hard and fast rules on wiring audio cables? XLR seems to be universal, from the 2 videos I watched anyways.... Pin 1 ground, pin 2 red, pin 3, whatever is left. But I want to make some balanced 1/4" cables, and could not find videos on this.

-I have a whirlwind cable tester, for checking things before they are all closed up. I am just going on what a regular XLR or balanced 1/4" cable looks like on the tester ( pin 1, 2, and 3 all lit). Anything I else I should know or be using this for?

In reading my post. It all makes me look incredibly lazy. Feel free to send me to Google for answers. Just thought I might try to learn from the mistakes/wisdom of others first.

Thanks in advance.

Nate Dort · Post by **Nate Dort** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 4:36 pm

touched1 wrote:-What solder do you guys like?

Kester 63/37

touched1 wrote:-How/where do I find the hard and fast rules on wiring audio cables? XLR seems to be universal, from the 2 videos I watched anyways.... Pin 1 ground, pin 2 red, pin 3, whatever is left. But I want to make some balanced 1/4" cables, and could not find videos on this.

Sleeve = shield (Pin 1 on XLR)
Ring = audio - (Pin 3 on XLR)
Tip = audio + (Pin 2 on XLR)

touched1 wrote:-I have a whirlwind cable tester, for checking things before they are all closed up. I am just going on what a regular XLR or balanced 1/4" cable looks like on the tester ( pin 1, 2, and 3 all lit). Anything I else I should know or be using this for?

If it's the same tester I'm thinking of, it will show you if the shell of your XLR connector is connected to Pin 1. Most of the time, you should leave the shell unconnected. If you ever do some mobile recording and you're using gear with different ground references, then you might want to connect the shell in certain instances. Generally, what you're doing is fine; just make your cables point to point and ignore the grounding tab for the shell.

touched1 · Post by **touched1** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 5:10 pm

Thanks for the reply Nate.
Are there any potential problems with the generic stuff I just picked up at the hardware store?
Big roll is 60/40 Tin/Lead with Rosin Flex Core
Small roll is 96/4 Tin/Silver with Rosin Flex Core

I am looking at the 1/4" balanced connectors I bought from Redco
http://www.redco.com/shopexd.asp?id=679

I've no clue how to tell which side is tip and which side is ring. In checking another thread (where you were also kind enough to help another brother out) my assumption that the ground goes to the large curved piece of metal appears to have been correct.
http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopi ... 8078c572da

For the balanced 1/4" to XLR I was putting red on the left of the two parallel tabs on the 1/4" side, and white on the right tab, ground to the lower curved piece.

Could I just use this arrangement for balanced 1/4 to 1/4?
Thanks again for the replies and advice.

touched1 · Post by **touched1** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 5:22 pm

Also, I'm not clear on what "leaving the shell unconnected" means.

Back to the subject of Harbor Freight, I looked at a table vise today at the local ACE Hardware store for $30. I immediately thought of what you said about getting one at Harbor Freight. THen I thought of the HUGE "MADE IN CHINA" on the bottome of the 1/4" connections I got from Redco.

It all comes from the same place..... But no Harbor Freights in the immediate Seattle area. Anyone know of a skeevie dirt-cheap tool place around here?

Nate Dort · Post by **Nate Dort** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 5:59 pm

touched1 wrote:Thanks for the reply Nate.
Are there any potential problems with the generic stuff I just picked up at the hardware store?
Big roll is 60/40 Tin/Lead with Rosin Flex Core
Small roll is 96/4 Tin/Silver with Rosin Flex Core

I am looking at the 1/4" balanced connectors I bought from Redco
http://www.redco.com/shopexd.asp?id=679

I've no clue how to tell which side is tip and which side is ring. In checking another thread (where you were also kind enough to help another brother out) my assumption that the ground goes to the large curved piece of metal appears to have been correct.
http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopi ... 8078c572da

For the balanced 1/4" to XLR I was putting red on the left of the two parallel tabs on the 1/4" side, and white on the right tab, ground to the lower curved piece.

Could I just use this arrangement for balanced 1/4 to 1/4?
Thanks again for the replies and advice.

As long as the solder you're using says something like "for electronics" rather than "for plumbing", you're good-to-go. Plumbing solder is usually

If you're consistent with your connections on each side, and put the shield on the "large curved piece", you'll be fine.

Do you have a multimeter? That would tell you exactly which tab goes where. Put it in ohms mode and see which tab reads 0 to the tip and which reads 0 to the ring.

If you're using neutrik or switchcraft XLRs, you'll see a flat metal tab with a hole in it below the solder cups for the pins. That tab connects to the outer metal shell of the XLR. If you use a small piece of wire and connect that tab to pin 1, you're "grounding the shell".

T-rex · Post by **T-rex** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:57 pm

dubsymmetry wrote:these tutorials helped me a lot:

http://tangentsoft.net/elec/movies/

Thanks so much for posting this. I am definitely going to go through these!

touched1 · Post by **touched1** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:02 pm

Thanks again Nate.
Good to know about the solder. Some of my first, horrible soldering jobs were done with plumbing solder on power supplies and bass guitars. Live and learn.

I do have a multimeter, should've thought about this earlier.

OK, so all good with 1/4" balanced as long as I solder the same way on both ends. I guess insert cables and the like are times when TRS connections would be most important?

I am using Neutrik XLR connectors. Ah, I see the metal tab you are referring to. I'll worry about grounding the shell when it comes up, and just keep grinding out cables in the meantime.

Thanks again Nate for all of your helpful advice.

FYI these are the two videos I referred to when making the cables:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF0G5zfhxfA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvgazaC9t8k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_BTxU9-MOo
(this one was the most helpful particularly with pin wiring)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU
(This one was by far the best!!)

Boogdish · Post by **Boogdish** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:43 am

If you haven't already spent some money a vise, I have a potentially cheaper suggestion. To keep the connector of a cable still, plug it into something. If you don't have any broken equipment handy or things that you trust to leave near you waving a soldering iron, you can get some panel mounted opposite gendered versions of whatever sort of cables your making and mount them on a plank of wood.

touched1 · Post by **touched1** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:02 am

That's a good suggestion Boogdish.
I've got the Radio Shack helping hands, which is fine for holding wire, but not connectors. I have some loose patch points from a patch bay that would be good for holding 1/4" connectors if they were mounted on something.

I'll pick up a cheap vise eventually.

The Scum · Post by **The Scum** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:09 pm

Before you take this:

Sleeve = shield (Pin 1 on XLR)
Ring = audio - (Pin 3 on XLR)
Tip = audio + (Pin 2 on XLR)

as gospel, do a quick web search for "pin 3 hot." The TRS signals are usually the same, but the XLR sometimes hops around.

In short, when you're wiring XLRs, you need to doublecheck how the gear they're going to tie to is wired internally. In the late 70's through about 1993, there was some disagreement about which pin got used how.

Here's be best "what ties to what" reference I know of:
http://rane.com/note110.html

And watch ebay for a vise - I got a Panavise for pennies on the dollar.

touched1 · Post by **touched1** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 10:37 pm

That looks like a great reference Th Scum, thanks for posting that.

Good point too about checking the gear pinouts. I've not paid much attention until now, just bought or had cables built as needed based on the recommendations of manufacturers or leaving it up to the cable builders.

I feel so grown up and self sufficient suddenly. I wish I'd started doing this 20 years ago.

KilledByAlbany · Post by **KilledByAlbany** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 10:28 am

Boogdish wrote:If you haven't already spent some money a vise, I have a potentially cheaper suggestion. To keep the connector of a cable still, plug it into something. If you don't have any broken equipment handy or things that you trust to leave near you waving a soldering iron, you can get some panel mounted opposite gendered versions of whatever sort of cables your making and mount them on a plank of wood.

Definitely give this a shot. When I first started out soldering cables, this method improved my work and speed by 10000%

rwc · Post by **rwc** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 10:47 am

subatomic pieces wrote:and, use a hair dryer to shrink it. If you're just making some cables here and there, and not getting into mass manufacturing electronics, then you probably don't need a heat gun.

I use a lighter.

The Scum wrote:In short, when you're wiring XLRs, you need to doublecheck how the gear they're going to tie to is wired internally. In the late 70's through about 1993, there was some disagreement about which pin got used how.

true that

avatar is a "pin 3 hot" studio

Michael.E · Post by **Michael.E** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:41 pm

I'd recommend a solder fume extractor (as the fumes can be harmful)

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