Pre-Sleeving?

[Ironcat]

I saw an idea I liked on either this or another modding site, I don't remember which one it was because this site is the best!

Anyway, you know the big flat grey cables? They took a sharp knife, cut between every 3 or 4 little wires, and then pulled them apart to make spaghetti. Then they bunched up the spaghetti, rolled it tight, and taped it with black electrical tape.

I tried it out on a couple of extra cables I had in the garage, and it worked out great... I think... It seems like they would be much easier to work with, easier to hide, etc...

Has or does anyone do this? Can it hurt, help, hinder, etc? Any pros or cons I should know about before I do this in a real computer?

[simon275]

Yes I have seen this done before with cable ties to hold the bundles instead of tape but tape works fine.

This is safe to do but you need to be careful you A. Dont cut the cables themselver and B. dont damage the cables so the insulation comes away and two bare wires come in contact.

Put a picture up of your results

[Omega]

Casemodgod did it.

I've done it, in fact, i use a blue duct-tape IDE cable for my optical drive.

[jdbnsn]

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f395/jdbnsn/wooden%20mc/scsicable.jpg
I did it on my old project, although I didn't do a very tidy job on the sleeve. You can also shorten the cables by popping the connector loose and moving it closer to the other end (just be real careful to reconnect it with the right wire to the right blade) and then cutting the excess ribbon off. The only thing that would be a problem with separating the wires like you said would be if your exacto blade knicked through the insulation and exposed the wire for something to short, but I guess that kind of goes without saying.

[Zephik]

I HAVE done this and I have posted it in some of the sections here too. Thats pretty much it though, you cut the wires, roll them up, and then either duct or electrical tape them as tight as you can.

CAUTION is advised!!

I went through 2 IDE cables doing this because my knive kept slipping and cutting across the wires. Which destroys the entire cable. It helps MAJORLY if you have perfectly flat cables with very few wrinkles in the cable. You know, something that looks like it was brand new. That minamized cutting the wires alot. But you should still be very very careful. Otherwise... It makes a great poor mans sleeving kit! :up:

Here is a picture, I did it very very fast so it doesnt look as great as it COULD. If you do it right, It looks pretty darn good. But I'm swapping them out eventually so I didnt take my time. ...and yes, My PSU looks like a mexican fiesta :p

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h237/MitaPi/000_0013.jpg

-SF

[jdbnsn]

The blade slippage can be minimized if you start the cut and switch to something edged but very dull to split them.

[Zephik]

The blade slippage can be minimized if you start the cut and switch to something edged but very dull to split them.

Thats actually what I was thinking too. lol

-SF

[luciusad2004]

I actuallly did this to an old cable with my bare hands. I just peeled them apart along the grooves between the wires. For instances were i couldnt just peel i used my nail to "slice" a bit , then peeled the rest of the way down. I never really got around to testing it, but i didnt see any visible damage. I figure i might be able to tear the wires apart but im not as likely to break the cable as i am to slice it with an razor.

I also saw a method were u could just fold along the seams and use some split tubeing to cover the cables. This method seems like it would be the safest as far as not potentially destroying cables.

[Ironcat]

I did this...

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/_ironcat_/IMG_2427.jpg

[ajmilton]

yeah i'd guess that all you really need is a starter split before just manually separating. safer for the cable that way too. plastic's a lot easier to tear like that than copper is :P

good idea though. i might do this in my computer to attempt to make the stupid thing a bit less messy.

[b4i7]

yeah...ive done this.......cept after i taped it...i thought it was kinda ugly...so i put it in som split loom and that made it look a whole lot better

[luciusad2004]

I agree that useing split loom would look alot better. I never covered mine so they r just a big mess of wires right now. If they still work i may consider useing split loom. Thats if i ever use them again. I bought some already rounded, and ill most likely get more with my motherboard whenever i buy it.

[gaz_the_chav]

I have just done this after seeing it here and it turned out great (I used insulation tape around it and it still looks neat. I used the blunt knife thing which you get on fingernail clippers which worked great!

-gaz

[startreking]

You might want to find heat shrink tubing. If you got the skills. Remove the IDE connector then slide the tube on and re-assemble the IDE connector. Take a lighter to the tubing till it shrinks.

[.Maleficus.]

Actually, I just did this today with split-loom. Worked very nice.