DIY Cable makers

Minusorange · 15 May 2018 at 21:34

So I want to have a go at making my own cables and I'm wondering if there's any all in one kits you can buy which include the tools for making along with the wire, para cord, connectors, pins and heat shrinks or do I have to go through the laborious process of sourcing everything separately ?

Or if anyone could source to me some decent tools & gear for doing it ?

pastymuncher · 16 May 2018 at 13:19

I don't think there are any kits that have everything you need. There are some that gives you the braided sleeving and correct size heatshrink. It's not too difficult to find everything you need though you have to order from multiple places which can be a pain. I get all my cable from here, the more you buy the more you save it's really lovely stuff to work with and is nice and flexible. I usually get my heatshrink and braid from Ebay as you can pick up a deal that is much cheaper than if you were to buy them anywhere else. Connectors can be a pain to get hold of but again, Ebay is a good place to start. You can pick up a 4 piece cable extraction kit for around a tenner (used to remove the connectors from existing cables). A decent set of crimping pliers are a must. I prefer a ratchet crimper and I got mine from Ebay for around £15 although there are prices varying from £5-50+. You can get a wire stripper cheap enough from a pound shop. If you are going to be doing it a lot then a heatgun will come in handy. Expect to pay anything from £15 and up for a half decent one.

If you are making psu cables make sure you copy exactly the positions of each individual wire from the original cables. Get a couple of wires mixed up and things could go terribly wrong.

Minusorange · 16 May 2018 at 14:54

Cheers for the info, guess I'll get searching for everything I need then but hold off buying until I get a new PSU

Is it possible to do DIY cabling for the Sata data connectors, I haven't found much on this apart from finding ready braided connectors ?

Minusorange · 16 May 2018 at 17:20

Nevermind just found some tips for Sata cables, seems like you can't create your own cable but instead have to just put the braiding over the boring plastic cable ?

pastymuncher · 16 May 2018 at 19:08

You can make your own sata power cables but the only plugs that I can find are the Modsmart ones and they look terrible.

Minusorange · 16 May 2018 at 19:20

pastymuncher said:
You can make your own sata power cables but the only plugs that I can find are the Modsmart ones and they look terrible.

I'm talking about the actual data cable, seems to be the only thing you can't mod as a totally new design as all you can do is take the connector off and shorten length of the cable although to be honest looking at prices, they're dirt cheap even pre braided so may just skip modding those and get premade ones

Going to have to see if it's possible to mod my bitfenix recon too

EsaT · 17 May 2018 at 08:19

Minusorange said:
I'm talking about the actual data cable, seems to be the only thing you can't mod as a totally new design as all you can do is take the connector off and shorten length of the cable although to be honest looking at prices, they're dirt cheap even pre braided so may just skip modding those and get premade ones

Data cables have very specific requirements to maintain signal integrity.

Habakkuk · 17 May 2018 at 16:51

You can get a reel of wire & make your own - it's likely to perform worst, and almost certainty won't perform better.

Cable modding is about the outside appearance/socket colour only.