Cable braiding tutorial

Plenty of places to buy braiding, heatshrink and other cable modding materials and tools. Hope it is OK to post these links :-

http://www.e22.biz/Index.aspx

http://www.cablemodders.com/

http://www.shakmods.com/

Cable-Modders stuff is easily found on eBay.

MDPCX although expensive was the ultimate place for this stuff but their promised few month's holiday break has now run to over 6 months.

If you want paracord instead of braiding Amazon and eBay again are good places to look.

Tools for certain types of pin extraction get very poor review from users and DIY solutions are considered as good if not better.

One thing I would suggest is that with braiding you buy the densest weave type you can find. Unless the underlying cable is the same or similar colour to the braid it will modify the hue surprisingly significantly. The denser the weave and the better the braid to cable diameter fit the less the hue will change.

Professional hot knives are expensive and the DIY solutions suggested like using electricians side-cutters then melting the end with a BBQ-Lighter are often unsatisfactory.

Best way I found to cut braid is to use a thin-ish but stiff straight edged kitchen knife heated for 30 - 45 secs seconds over a gas cooker ring (to just off red). On a flat, heat resistent surface (I use a wooden block) very quickly cut/melt though the braid and you'll get a good clean edge with no fly-aways and a very slight lip for the heatshrink, if used, to hold on to.

If there are any fly-aways they're easily melted back by holding the flat side of the still hot knife a few millimetres off but make sure than you don't take too long or the end of the braid sleeving may seal itself together.

For heatshrinking if you have a hot gun then that will be OK but I've had my best, cleanest looking results using a BBQ-Lighter. You can do a much more accurate job in directing the heat and as long as you keep the flame moving neither the braid or underlying cable insulation will scald or melt.
 
fallenangle said:
Plenty of places to buy braiding, heatshrink and other cable modding materials and tools. Hope it is OK to post these links :-

http://www.e22.biz/Index.aspx

http://www.cablemodders.com/

http://www.shakmods.com/

Cable-Modders stuff is easily found on eBay.

MDPCX although expensive was the ultimate place for this stuff but their promised few month's holiday break has now run to over 6 months.

If you want paracord instead of braiding Amazon and eBay again are good places to look.

Tools for certain types of pin extraction get very poor review from users and DIY solutions are considered as good if not better.

One thing I would suggest is that with braiding you buy the densest weave type you can find. Unless the underlying cable is the same or similar colour to the braid it will modify the hue surprisingly significantly. The denser the weave and the better the braid to cable diameter fit the less the hue will change.

Professional hot knives are expensive and the DIY solutions suggested like using electricians side-cutters then melting the end with a BBQ-Lighter are often unsatisfactory.

Best way I found to cut braid is to use a thin-ish but stiff straight edged kitchen knife heated for 30 - 45 secs seconds over a gas cooker ring (to just off red). On a flat, heat resistent surface (I use a wooden block) very quickly cut/melt though the braid and you'll get a good clean edge with no fly-aways and a very slight lip for the heatshrink, if used, to hold on to.

If there are any fly-aways they're easily melted back by holding the flat side of the still hot knife a few millimetres off but make sure than you don't take too long or the end of the braid sleeving may seal itself together.

For heatshrinking if you have a hot gun then that will be OK but I've had my best, cleanest looking results using a BBQ-Lighter. You can do a much more accurate job in directing the heat and as long as you keep the flame moving neither the braid or underlying cable insulation will scald or melt.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's great thanks.

I've seen lots of the shakmods stuff on the massive second hand place online. We've got a hot knife thing, and I've got plenty experience with hestshrink.

I will have a proper look at the links and stuff tomorrow when I'm on my PC, kinda hard on my iPad. It didn't realise it was so easy, to do so. Has such a big impact on a build too.

Now to buy some bits and bobs, then I'm assuming many frustrating hours!

Again, thanks for your post. It was very helpful :)
 
Just went reading through some old posts, and decided to go with the 550 Paracord used by someone else. Can't be bad, 100ft for a fiver!

Also got the other bits needed to, come to just under £20, can't complain at all, now the wait :(

Also, my PCI-E cables have a split for an extra 8pin within the same connector. I can see this being a bit of a problem when braiding them, anyone else overcome this?
 
Awesome guide, i've just purchased 10m of white, black and magic-b of MDPC-X from a store online looking forward to sleeving my PSU cables to make cable management easier!
 
Would that source for MDPC-X sleeving be in Iceland (of all places) perchance?

Only just found that myself, wish I had when I was buying sleeving last year from MDPC-X just before they shut down. Didn't buy enough for what I eventually wanted and I spent a great deal extra trying to find colour matched dense weave braiding from somewhere else.

Never did and ended up buying a whole lot more from one of the places I mentioned earlier and having to redo several of the cables I'd originally done with MDPC-X braid.

That's a good tip too: always buy more than you think you're going to need.
 
there is a huge amount of competitor posting going on in this thread.

I suggest some of you newer members go and read the forum rules.
 
If that is refering to me then I'd be quite happy for you to delete or edit my posts. I did question whether it was OK to provide those links.

Your forum, your rules and I'm happy to comply. However I thought that most of them were not to retailers selling similar products, with maybe the odd small exception, as regards this particular cable braiding matter, that OCUK also supply. I wouldn't have posted them if I believed otherwise.

If OCUK do have such stuff it would be helpful if some links to your own related products were provided.
 
Well braiding cables is bloody impossible! My PSU is so retarded! It's got two wires going into each hole so it's a pain to get the bloody things out! I'm too tired to carry on tonight i'll get angry with it and break it!
 
Does someone want to braid my cables? I will buy the bits and post beer :D

I could probably do it myself but i am so paranoid about not having a PSU tester to test it after ive done it and i dont want to have to buy one.
 
Musty Pie said:
Does someone want to braid my cables? I will buy the bits and post beer :D

I could probably do it myself but i am so paranoid about not having a PSU tester to test it after ive done it and i dont want to have to buy one.
Click to expand...

Just buy extenders? it's much easier. There are also companies you can send them off too. I read it in a recent build thread.
 
It's not hard to do once you figure out how to get the pins out.

I have done one of mine, and tbh i got bored half way through so i just rushed it, but it certainly looks much better. I didn't really do any measuring, i just cut and hoped for the best!
 
That massive online second hand place is where i got all my stuff. I used 550 paracord. I think 100ft was £5. I got given some proper braided plastic stuff from a company i got my power extenders from and it was terrible. the paracord looks much better.
 
I'm trying to sleeve my Cooler Master V850 however whenever I try to push the tool in one end goes outside the connecter but the other goes inside the connecter and thus I am unable to push the pins in and be able to pull out the cable. Any recommendations?
 
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