Cable Building

Nice! Did you hear shrink between the tips and the Y? How's the flexibility of those two parts of the cable? What heat shrink did you use?

 

Heat shrink on each branch of the Y is continued right down to the split, I used some loctite glue to hold everything nice an tight at the Y.

Heat shrink is LG 3:1, 3/16ths and 3/64ths, it's a perfect fit for 2893, decently flexible but naturally a bit more stiff than the 2893 itself but not overly microphonic.

 

Aside from beads and the relatively pricey y-splitters available for cables, has anyone found a good, cheap, made-for-something-else hard Y-splitter? I've been thinking about making a little mold as the simplest solution.

Also, any advice on the thinnest heat shrink for the twisted pairs up to the phones? What I've been using isn't bad, but one can always get more flexible.

Here's a 6-strand, the most I've done and probably all I can manage with a bulldog clip as my rig.

 

Like this?
http://www.qables.com/shop/diy-parts-wire-connectors/y-splitter-devices

 

Those would be ideal if they weren't also quite ugly. It's been fifteen years since I've made a mold and cast something but I think I'm feeling ready. In college my roommate made pewter casts in the kitchen. HMM.

 

I often just use a piece of glue lined heatshrink, and hold the portion above the spilt closed using needle nose pliers to make the crotch of the splitter. Cheap, understated and after enough practice not too ugly. I have also thought of just buying a plug (from manufacturer to match the cord plug) and stealing the barrel and strain relief, then hooking it up so the strain relief is fixed on the single cable side, and the split comes out of the (now) open top. The neutrik mini-xlr comes to mind, the barrel on that is not huge and the strain relief chokes down pretty tight by just screwing into the barrel.

 

I believe I stole this from someone here a while ago (apologies for not remembering who) but I sacrifice a cheap pen barrel, and cut it's length to desired size, then just use adhesive heatshrink over it. Ends up looking a lot like the Forza pic above

 

What other options are there for sleeving cable other than paracord?

I'm trying to sleeve a canare mini guitar cable gs-4 with the jacket, and even 650 paracord is a little too narrow. I've already tried taking the jacket off but then the shielding frays off when trying to thread through.

Just trying to make a nice looking guitar cable instead of just the plain black jacket.

 

Nylon multifilament from Techflex comes in a ton of sizes, but I think black is the only color they make now. Used to make a nice silvery one. Also, Paracord Planet has a few more sizes including a Para-Max cord that could be big enough. You might shoot them a message to confirm diameters. http://www.paracordplanet.com/paracord/specialty-cord/para-max-cord/

 

Thanks, I've ordered from paracord planet probably 8 times and have never seen that Para max size. Found a size chart buried on their website, at a quarter inch it should be plenty big thanks.
http://www.paracordplanet.com/cord-comparison-chart/


Plan B (or really Plan E at this point) will be techflex

 

I can only say that translucent heatshrink is the way to go. It's affordable and - when done right - looks really good.

 

Building my first RCA interconnect. I would like to have heat shrink tubing covering the whole RCA connector barrel.

Like this:



However, the heat shrink I'm using seems to need a lot of heat to shrink down to the correct size and the RCA barrel gets super hot in the process. It it possible for me to melt the solder in the connector when heating the tubing with a heat gun?

 

It's technically possible, if you go absolutely nuts with your heat settings, but very unlikely. Other things would likely melt first, including your tubing becoming a sticky, broken, mess.

Most heat-shrink activates at about 190F, while normal (leaded) solder melts at almost double that. With the high-shrink-ratio stuff, I tend to run my heat-gun at 350 F (less for 2:1 tubing), which remains below the melting point of the solder and, by the time the air-stream actually hits the tubing is probably at least 50 degrees cooler still.

 

Thanks Torq. I figured it didn't get hot enough but it never hurts to ask someone who knows what they are doing.

 

Finished up these cables last night. These are all Furutech (almost). It's the stranded Furutech 16 AWG Alpha OCC wire, with Furutech Rhodium termination. I used the WBT insulated crimp sleeves however, as they look nicer than Furutech's. Not a drop of solder anywhere. Chris at VH Audio actually loans out the WBT crimping tool to DIYers so you can avoid dropping the 150 bones on that. I haven't quite finished the strain relief, but those wires are clamped down pretty securely at the ends. I found some 6:1 adhesive heatshrink that I will use to finish it off once it arrives. But first, off to the @johnjen science laboratory for some microwaving to see what that does. Hahaha! BTW. The box underneath tbe cables contains some Audio Sensibility cables I had on loan. Great fit and finish, but no synergy with my system. Too warm and veiled.

 

One aspect of any adhesive heat shrink.

Once it's shrunk down, it's on for good.
IOW you'll destroy the cable trying to get it peeled back, if that should ever become necessary.

That is why I never use it for audio cabling.

I have used it in marine applications and in extreme environmental conditions but it is overkill for audio use, at least for me, especially since I tend to 'reconfigure' components all to regularly.

JJ

 

Yeah, I've never used it. I figured 6:1, that's pretty amazing. 3/4" to 1/8". Holy bejebus! I was going to enwrap the collar at the end of the connector and the 16AWG wire going in to finish it off. But if I can't peel it off the connector collar in the future, then forget it. I think I could very safely leave it as is. Perhaps adding some 1/4" Techflex over the wires heatshrunk at the connector end would give it a bit more bulk going in and allow for conventional 3:1 instead. I'll experiment. EDIT: This makes it sound like it can be peeled off without leaving residue.

 

Sometimes it will peal back but if wires and insulation etc are in proximity to the adhesive and it was 'sufficiently' heated, the goo will seep into all of the innerds and bond with them.
It's a major PIA to have to pick it out and usually the wires were mangled by that time anyway.
And it becomes really stiff when the goo solidifies so take that into account as well.

When I was using it for its sealing and impervious nature, and then had to make repairs etc, I'd just cut off ALL of cable it covered rather than have to deal with it.

JJ

 

Anyone ever shorten 4 core RCA cables? I have some Straightwire Symphony II cables that are 1.5m long and I want to bring them down to about 0.5m.

Wanted to see if anyone had any horror stories/warnings/notes before I mangle the cables.