Making Cables

[newguy12]

I've just begun to make some cables (1/4 unbalanced and balanced) to wire up my rack and some of my guitar stuff. I was curious, does it really matter that much if I use heat shrink tubing or is it perfectly exceptable to just run the cable into the connector?

[soundguy]

perfectly acceptable to not use heatshrink. I never use heatshrink on cables I know Im going to be using myself.

dave

[@?,*???&?]

They do look quite snappy when you use heatshrink though. For the pennies it cost to do this, like anything else, it forces you to buy the heatgun to do the job.

I have done some freelance wiring and made harnesses for some of the rental companies in Los Angeles and there is certainly a standard expectation from them.

You'll feel real pride when you're holding that new Neutrik/Mogami harness you've just made...

[TapeOpHillary]

oh man, heat shrink is COOL!
you can color code stuff (way geeky), you can also, primarily protect your un-insulated ground wires that may be exposed...
it cleans up the connector as well to prevent from the insulation of the individual conductors getting ripped from cable tugging etc.

anyone ever tried a hairdryer on lowfan/highheat instead of a heat gun?
a lighter works too (held underneath, but it requires a little more skill)

actual heatshrink tubing is sooo cheap.

now, let's talk about teflon/coleflex...

hillary

[mrhawkinson]

anyone ever tried a hairdryer on lowfan/highheat instead of a heat gun?

I just tried my wife's on all its settings... no luck.

-p

[blinkman]

I've done loads of wiring over the years, and I'm a big fan of heatshrink. Done properly it will give you a dramatic increase in durability, and of course the finished appearance is very neat. Not to mention its color coding advantages.

Still, after doing many hundreds of connectors (thousands?), somehow I've never broken down and bought a heat gun. I always just use a candle. Using a flame can be a little dodgy--be careful not to burn the heatshrink, or to overheat it. Move the heatshrink over the flame (not too close!), slowly rolling it to distribute the heat evenly, until the whole thing is...um...shrunk. Take your time, especially at first.

And yes I LOVE "flexo" sleeving for multicore fanouts! Protects the cables and keeps them from tangling. Looks great too. Of course you have to be very careful not to melt it when you're heating the shrink...

-chad

[SeventhCircle]

Heatshrink, yes, do it. I've got a nifty little heat gun intended for something crafty like embossing, which I bought at a crafty chain store called "Michaels". I think it was less than $30, and I use it constantly.

-Tim

[mcijh]

I suggest you DON'T use heat shrink. When the Hi/Lo, or Hi/shld, or Lo/shld short because one loose strand broke free, I'll be able to collect boo-coo bucks from you to resolve your console I/O module/ tape machine problem. Please, save pennies, spend dollars. SS

[leigh]

I'm with Soundguy on this - I don't use heatshrink for my own studio stuff. If you tin the entire exposed ends of your wires, you won't have any strands coming loose, right? I already hate soldering connectors, I just can't see spending the extra time fucking with little pieces of tubing. Perhaps my unprofessional attitude will screw me over one day, but it hasn't been a problem yet (10 yrs).

One exception I'd make is any cables used live. There, heatshrink might prevent a short if someone yanks a connector hard enough to pull a wire loose from its soldered joint.

Leigh

[cdsareplastic]

I'm a soldering iron hack: where's a good place to order bulk cable and connectors for making my own cable? What gauge of cable should I be looking for to make TRS balanced cables and just plain old guitar style cables?

[black mariah]

I generally just use the soldering iron on the heatshrink tubing. A couple of quick passes and it's not going anywhere.