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The DIY Cable Thread

#41
Debraid shield when I need too. Also work for cleaning reused jacks / plugs. Stupid little things that I don't use everyday mind you, but I'd get pissy if I didnt have them. SOme of the wire I use has silver wire shielding, real fine braid. I think the wire is $00.80 a foot. I have it in blue and orange. whats real cool is it fits perfectly inside brake lining. Excellent for snakes and studio wiring.
 
#42
I've been making these Canare GS-6 cables with a variety of 1/4" plug styles for years and years. I have a partially completed tutorial photo set done, and will post a link when it is finished. meanwhile, just a few comments:

Opening up the braid is the way to go. Unbraiding a cable like GS-6 is basically ruining what would otherwise be a bombproof and neat connection. Do it right and you get the shielding of a high performance cable and excellent strength/contact at the connector. As for what tool to use, the inexpensive solder tool kits from rat shack are very good. They have a straight and angled probe that works great, plus a few other tools and a wire brush. I have used a lot of different tools, but if I use those probes all the time.

My setup is:
medium quick-grip clamp to hold the connector steady
medium spring clamp to hold cable steady
small hemostat to hold braid in place
rosin core eutectic solder
good soldering iron
solder sucker
solder wick
small flush cutting nipper
small needle nose plier
medium crimper
stripper tool
assorted small drivers

magnifying visor (someday you young guys will get why)

I don't use a lot of shrink, but I keep a variety of sizes handy
clear shrink for applying labels
velcro ties to keep the cables neat
beer!

That setup lets me make anything from miniature 3.5mm stereo cables to 10ga speaker cables. Using clamps to hold everything in place, keeping a clean soldering iron, wetting the iron with solder to speed up heat transfer, having an organized work area, and practice = good cables.
 
#44
scotch said:
Anybody have a good source for heat-shrink tubing that fits the Canare well? It's slightly smaller diameter than most of the other brands...
Click to expand...

Believe it or not, www.heatshrink.com is probably the most comprehensive source for a huge variety of heatshrink products.

I've also bought heatshrink from MCM Electronics, TechFlex (the company that makes the decorative/protective outer weave), MarkerTek, and Sam Ash back when they had a separate Pro Division on Broadway. But www.heatshrink.com kills them all when it comes to selection.

And +1 on the suggestion to use adhesive-lined shrink. I've got some cables where I did inner shrink over just the cold (shield)>sleeve stub, another separate layer of shrink over both hot & cold stubs that also enclosed some of the cable jacket, and then a layer of adhesive-lined shrink over the plug's screw-on housing and the cable jacket. Talk about "strain relief"; a skilled caballero could take down a retreating rhea with this patchcord!
 
#50
I just saw Invalid Link Removed when ordering a couple of other things and grabbed a few. Arrived a couple of days ago. Not bad for a dollar each, pretty solidly made and copper tipped.

P065M04A.jpg
 
#52
For noiseless cables, what works for me is to use twin twisted conductor shielded Microphone cable.

Connect the tip to tip hot wire each end,
then connect the cold wire to the shell both ends,
then connect the braid to the shell on one end only and tape the other end over.
No hum..:hyper:
 
#54
kraigo said:
This is a sincere question: why does the "connect the braid to one end only" work? Why not just connect both wires to the tip and the braid to the sleeve?

KO
Click to expand...

The theory is since i'm using a '2 wire' twisted pair cable,
the twisted conductors are carrying the signal current,
and the outer shield is not carrying any current,
therefore no hum is induced.
The outer braid is then only working as a shield and not passing any unbalanced current (thought it be extremely small).

And also using the twisted pair for the hot & cold signal parts,
there is inherrant balancing and noise rejection.:hyper:


It works very well in electrically noisey environments,
like when there is a lighting system with dimmer packs broadcasting/radiating EMF around the place.
 
#56
Twisted pair cable is a bad choice for high impedance connections. Not just my opinion. I have a friend who did tech work for ESPN and let me run a few experiments with a HP network analyzer that cost more than a BMW 7 series. I had a cable from a guy who was using Canare L4E6S StarQuad mic cable to make instrument cables, one of my Canare GS-6/Neutrik cables, a ProCo cheapie, and a good commercial cable (IIRC it was a Whirlwind), plus a Blue mic cable. The StarQuad response was lumpy at high Z, and it showed the worst capacitance measurements. Use good coax like GS-6 or the Mogami equivalent and you get top notch performance at high impedance, and top notch noise rejection, and none of the handling noise (microphonics) that you can get with twisted pair when you connect it to a high impedance device.
 
#58
I'm putting a board together (just ditched the multi-effects) and have been researching cables. Not sure about lengths yet (still looking for some pedals), but I know I'll need at least 7 cables, and the spacing will be really tight. The George L and Lava solderless kits are just too expensive, especially since they only come with 10 connectors. I've read through all the threads I could find. So some questions...


-somewhere back on this thread someone mentioned a picture tutorial. Is that done?
-anybody have experience with the Lava soldered kit?
-cheapest way to get this done? I think I can spring for the Canare cable. UncleFluffy posted $1 RA plugs. How are those working out? Are they small?
-why do the other connectors (lava, etc) cost so much more?
-i've never soldered cables before, what's all this about the braid?

Thanks for helping out a DIY newb.
 
#59
walker rosewood said:
UncleFluffy posted $1 RA plugs. How are those working out? Are they small?
-why do the other connectors (lava, etc) cost so much more?
Click to expand...

They're not as good as the ones that people usually recommend, but they're pretty good for a dollar. If you're looking for something gig-worthy and you're not experienced with a soldering iron, spend an extra couple of $. If your budget is really tight then these are probably a good choice.

edit: I'm using them for my pedal board. The only weak link is the rivet attaching the tag to the tip connector. If you use these, make sure to put an extra blob of solder there to reinforce that connection.
 
#60


walker rosewood said:
I'm putting a board together (just ditched the multi-effects) and have been researching cables. Not sure about lengths yet (still looking for some pedals), but I know I'll need at least 7 cables, and the spacing will be really tight. The George L and Lava solderless kits are just too expensive, especially since they only come with 10 connectors. I've read through all the threads I could find. So some questions...


-somewhere back on this thread someone mentioned a picture tutorial. Is that done?
-anybody have experience with the Lava soldered kit?
-cheapest way to get this done? I think I can spring for the Canare cable. UncleFluffy posted $1 RA plugs. How are those working out? Are they small?
-why do the other connectors (lava, etc) cost so much more?
-i've never soldered cables before, what's all this about the braid?

Thanks for helping out a DIY newb.
Click to expand...
 

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