Guide: Cable Sleeving

cipher_nemo · 21-September-06, 03:12 PM

I know most of us have done plenty of sleeving, and we've had posts on different tips and tricks regarding it, but I don't see a single guide about it for visitors new to modding. Since I'm doing a lot of sleeving on my current project, I thought I'd document the process via two methods:

Sleeving by removing the plastic pin connector
Sleeving by splicing the wires

If I miss anything or you have your own tips to add, please post! Its always a plus to have threads dedicated to specific PC modding aspects.

Cable Sleeving
(using woven nylon wire loom)

For these two methods, I'll be using the wire from two cold cathod lights.

Items needed:

Cable sleeving (aka: sleeving, wire sleeving, woven loom, nylon loom, etc.)
Heat-shrink tubing for electrical connections
Scissors and/or diamond-edge cutters (snips)
(for 1st method): Pin removal tool(s)
(for 2nd method): Wire-stripper
Heat-source (lighter, heat gun, butane min-torch, etc., but avoid using napalm flame-throwers)

Method 1: removing connectors to add sleeving.

Remove pins from the plastic connector. Use either specialized pin removal tools, Jeweler's standard screw drivers (really small screw drivers), or alternate methods such as: ATX pin removal guide.
Select your sleeving size. This is roughly the same size as your wire when the woven loom is at its smallest diameter. It will expand, so test its maximum expansion around cylinder-shaped objects. You want to get a good balance between form and function. If it's too loose, it won't grip the wires very well, but if its too tight, it won't look very good because of sleeving's woven nylon gap size. Of course, if its too tight, if will be tough to work with.
Cut the sleeving to length. With the woven loom at its smallest diameter, cut it almost as long as the length of the wire. When it expands, it will shorten a bit, giving you room at the ends to use heat-shrink tubing.
Seal the ends with a heat source. A lighter or a heat gun will work fine, but make sure both ends are treated. If you skip this step, you'll end up with some frayed ends that will require even longer heat-shrink tubing to hide it. Sealing the ends will also prevent the sleeving from coming undone if you handle it a lot. For smaller diameter woven loom, make sure you don't melt the ends too much or you'll melt the woven strands together, blocking off the end.
If necessary, tape the wire ends. This prevents snagging of the woven loom if its a tight fit. Scotch tape or Painter's tape seems to work fine (scotch tape is easier to remove, but painter's tape is better for ATX connectors with lots of wires). Avoid duct tape or electrical tape as they will leave nasty, sticky residues.
Add the woven loom. Gently ease the sleeving over the end of your wires to start, then 'inch-worm' the sleeving along. Example: do this by firmly holding the sleeving on the left side. With your other hand, grip sleeving on the right side and push it to the left to create a 'bubble' in the sleeving. Release your grip on the left side and the sleeving will push its way to the left. This is using the sleeving's own potential energy of the curved nylon to move it over your wire(s). Pulling on the sleeving only makes its grip tighter.

Continued once this post is approved...

cipher_nemo · 22-September-06, 11:23 AM

Continued...

Add the two heat-shrink ends. Cut the heat shrink tubing to desired length so that it covers 1/4 to 1/2 an inch of sleeving on each end, without leaving too much wire exposed. An inch or more should be fine if your sleeving length is correct. Whatever looks best is fine as long as it covers enough sleeving to get a good grip on it.

.
.
Re-attach the plastic connector. Make sure the small pieces of metal on the back of each pin connector are still able to keep itself in place inside the plastic connector.

.
.
Use a heat source to activate the heat-shrink tubing. Make sure you don't apply any heat to the woven loom that isn't covered by the heat-shrink tubing, as it will easily melt and create a hole. If you're sleeving cables before deciding where they'll run inside your PC, activate the heat-shrink tubing with the cable as straight as possible. If you know exactly how the cable will be run, you can apply heat to the tubing while it is bent in any position and it will take that form with some limitations.

Sn0wMan · 22-September-06, 11:32 AM

Very nice guide.

I would like to see you do a ATX connector, though. Keep up the good work.

cipher_nemo · 22-September-06, 11:53 AM

Method 2: splicing wire to add sleeving.

Cut the wires to length desired. Be sure to account for the shortened length of the stripped ends.

.
.
Select your sleeving size (same as method 1).
.
Cut the sleeving to length (same as method 1).
.
Seal the ends with a heat source (same as method 1).
.
If necessary, tape the wire ends (same as method 1).
.
Add the woven loom (same as method 1).

.
.
Add the two heat-shrink ends (same as method 1).

.
.
Push back the woven loom and hold in place. I use a regular twisty wire tie since it holds well, is easy to remove, and I have plenty laying around. This will give you room to work with the spliced ends (sorry for the fuzzy pic... I took 5 pics of each shot, all in this one were out of focus).

.
.
Strip the ends of each wire. 1/2 an inch should be fine -- later you'll want to tightly twist the ends together to make a good electrical connection. There should be enough exposed wire to get several twists, but not too much as we'll need to cover its length with a piece of heat-shrink tubing.
.
Add the two heat-shrink ends (or one for each connection). These should be of a smaller diameter than the heat-shrink you're using for the woven loom, but large enough to slip over the ends once they're twisted together.

.
.
Twist the corresponding ends together. When twisting ends past the first, adjust your connections so the wire lengths are as identical as possible. The last thing you want is a multiple-wire cable with one or more wires bulging out, longer than the rest. I've twisted one only part way in the pic.

.
.
Once connected, bend the exposed ends inward. It will look best if you bend towards the wire with the smallest diameter. Or, bend it away from the side with the heat-shrink tubing to avoid snagging wire inside the tubing.
.
Slide the heat-shrink tubing over the twisted connections and activate it with your heat source. Make the ends as straight as possible if you don't have your cable runs planned out in advance.

.
.
Remove the twisty and test the sleeving length. If you have extra (as I did when I mis-judged the length), just push it up on one end to get a 'bubble', then carefully snip around the cable with scissors or a diamond-edge cutter. Seal the new end with your heat source.

.
.
Move the heat-shrink tubing to the ends and activate it (same as method 1).

cipher_nemo · 28-September-06, 01:39 PM

I discovered an easy way to increase the usefullness of my smaller heat shrink tubing: expanding it with needle-nose pliers. This was crucial to one cable I was making when I accidently trapped a heat shrink tube that was too small for the job.

It seems it can be expanded at least one size larger or more and still shrink down to its designed size when heated. I took some shots to show this...

Guide: Cable Sleeving-jls_3rd_sleeving1.jpg

These two pieces are sold of the same size, but one is stretched...

Guide: Cable Sleeving-jls_3rd_sleeving2.jpg

Has anyone else discovered this too?

Sn0wMan · 28-September-06, 01:48 PM

Your last post is probably the most usefull part of your whole guide, IMO. When I was doing a lot of sleeving I was getting very frustrated with the sizes not being big enough. Now I don't have to worry about it.

I would give you +rep if I could.

cipher_nemo · 28-September-06, 02:45 PM

thx bro... yeah, np on the rep, I tried to give you more for your current project, but according to pcApex, I guess I have to "spread it around" first, lol.

21-September-06, 03:12 PM		#1 (permalink)
cipher_nemo Apex Master Tech Apprentice	Guide: Cable Sleeving I know most of us have done plenty of sleeving, and we've had posts on different tips and tricks regarding it, but I don't see a single guide about it for visitors new to modding. Since I'm doing a lot of sleeving on my current project, I thought I'd document the process via two methods: Sleeving by removing the plastic pin connector Sleeving by splicing the wires If I miss anything or you have your own tips to add, please post! Its always a plus to have threads dedicated to specific PC modding aspects. Cable Sleeving (using woven nylon wire loom) For these two methods, I'll be using the wire from two cold cathod lights. Items needed: Cable sleeving (aka: sleeving, wire sleeving, woven loom, nylon loom, etc.) Heat-shrink tubing for electrical connections Scissors and/or diamond-edge cutters (snips) (for 1st method): Pin removal tool(s) (for 2nd method): Wire-stripper Heat-source (lighter, heat gun, butane min-torch, etc., but avoid using napalm flame-throwers) Method 1: removing connectors to add sleeving. Remove pins from the plastic connector. Use either specialized pin removal tools, Jeweler's standard screw drivers (really small screw drivers), or alternate methods such as: ATX pin removal guide. Select your sleeving size. This is roughly the same size as your wire when the woven loom is at its smallest diameter. It will expand, so test its maximum expansion around cylinder-shaped objects. You want to get a good balance between form and function. If it's too loose, it won't grip the wires very well, but if its too tight, it won't look very good because of sleeving's woven nylon gap size. Of course, if its too tight, if will be tough to work with. Cut the sleeving to length. With the woven loom at its smallest diameter, cut it almost as long as the length of the wire. When it expands, it will shorten a bit, giving you room at the ends to use heat-shrink tubing. Seal the ends with a heat source. A lighter or a heat gun will work fine, but make sure both ends are treated. If you skip this step, you'll end up with some frayed ends that will require even longer heat-shrink tubing to hide it. Sealing the ends will also prevent the sleeving from coming undone if you handle it a lot. For smaller diameter woven loom, make sure you don't melt the ends too much or you'll melt the woven strands together, blocking off the end. If necessary, tape the wire ends. This prevents snagging of the woven loom if its a tight fit. Scotch tape or Painter's tape seems to work fine (scotch tape is easier to remove, but painter's tape is better for ATX connectors with lots of wires). Avoid duct tape or electrical tape as they will leave nasty, sticky residues. Add the woven loom. Gently ease the sleeving over the end of your wires to start, then 'inch-worm' the sleeving along. Example: do this by firmly holding the sleeving on the left side. With your other hand, grip sleeving on the right side and push it to the left to create a 'bubble' in the sleeving. Release your grip on the left side and the sleeving will push its way to the left. This is using the sleeving's own potential energy of the curved nylon to move it over your wire(s). Pulling on the sleeving only makes its grip tighter. Continued once this post is approved... Last edited by cipher_nemo; 22-September-06 at 12:39 PM..

22-September-06, 11:23 AM		#2 (permalink)
cipher_nemo Apex Master Tech Apprentice	Re: Guide: Cable Sleeving Continued... Add the two heat-shrink ends. Cut the heat shrink tubing to desired length so that it covers 1/4 to 1/2 an inch of sleeving on each end, without leaving too much wire exposed. An inch or more should be fine if your sleeving length is correct. Whatever looks best is fine as long as it covers enough sleeving to get a good grip on it. . . Re-attach the plastic connector. Make sure the small pieces of metal on the back of each pin connector are still able to keep itself in place inside the plastic connector. . . Use a heat source to activate the heat-shrink tubing. Make sure you don't apply any heat to the woven loom that isn't covered by the heat-shrink tubing, as it will easily melt and create a hole. If you're sleeving cables before deciding where they'll run inside your PC, activate the heat-shrink tubing with the cable as straight as possible. If you know exactly how the cable will be run, you can apply heat to the tubing while it is bent in any position and it will take that form with some limitations. Last edited by cipher_nemo; 22-September-06 at 12:40 PM..

22-September-06, 11:32 AM		#3 (permalink)
Sn0wMan Apex Tech Demi-God	Re: Guide: Cable Sleeving Very nice guide. I would like to see you do a ATX connector, though. Keep up the good work.

22-September-06, 11:53 AM		#4 (permalink)
cipher_nemo Apex Master Tech Apprentice	Guide: Cable Sleeving Method 2: splicing wire to add sleeving. Cut the wires to length desired. Be sure to account for the shortened length of the stripped ends. . . Select your sleeving size (same as method 1). . Cut the sleeving to length (same as method 1). . Seal the ends with a heat source (same as method 1). . If necessary, tape the wire ends (same as method 1). . Add the woven loom (same as method 1). . . Add the two heat-shrink ends (same as method 1). . . Push back the woven loom and hold in place. I use a regular twisty wire tie since it holds well, is easy to remove, and I have plenty laying around. This will give you room to work with the spliced ends (sorry for the fuzzy pic... I took 5 pics of each shot, all in this one were out of focus). . . Strip the ends of each wire. 1/2 an inch should be fine -- later you'll want to tightly twist the ends together to make a good electrical connection. There should be enough exposed wire to get several twists, but not too much as we'll need to cover its length with a piece of heat-shrink tubing. . Add the two heat-shrink ends (or one for each connection). These should be of a smaller diameter than the heat-shrink you're using for the woven loom, but large enough to slip over the ends once they're twisted together. . . Twist the corresponding ends together. When twisting ends past the first, adjust your connections so the wire lengths are as identical as possible. The last thing you want is a multiple-wire cable with one or more wires bulging out, longer than the rest. I've twisted one only part way in the pic. . . Once connected, bend the exposed ends inward. It will look best if you bend towards the wire with the smallest diameter. Or, bend it away from the side with the heat-shrink tubing to avoid snagging wire inside the tubing. . Slide the heat-shrink tubing over the twisted connections and activate it with your heat source. Make the ends as straight as possible if you don't have your cable runs planned out in advance. . . Remove the twisty and test the sleeving length. If you have extra (as I did when I mis-judged the length), just push it up on one end to get a 'bubble', then carefully snip around the cable with scissors or a diamond-edge cutter. Seal the new end with your heat source. . . Move the heat-shrink tubing to the ends and activate it (same as method 1). Last edited by cipher_nemo; 22-September-06 at 12:41 PM..

28-September-06, 01:39 PM		#5 (permalink)
cipher_nemo Apex Master Tech Apprentice	Re: Guide: Cable Sleeving I discovered an easy way to increase the usefullness of my smaller heat shrink tubing: expanding it with needle-nose pliers. This was crucial to one cable I was making when I accidently trapped a heat shrink tube that was too small for the job. It seems it can be expanded at least one size larger or more and still shrink down to its designed size when heated. I took some shots to show this... These two pieces are sold of the same size, but one is stretched... Has anyone else discovered this too?

28-September-06, 01:48 PM		#6 (permalink)
Sn0wMan Apex Tech Demi-God	Re: Guide: Cable Sleeving Your last post is probably the most usefull part of your whole guide, IMO. When I was doing a lot of sleeving I was getting very frustrated with the sizes not being big enough. Now I don't have to worry about it. I would give you +rep if I could.

28-September-06, 02:45 PM		#7 (permalink)
cipher_nemo Apex Master Tech Apprentice	Re: Guide: Cable Sleeving thx bro... yeah, np on the rep, I tried to give you more for your current project, but according to pcApex, I guess I have to "spread it around" first, lol.

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