rounding cables

[phungilax]

what is the best way to round some cables. fold em up and tape them or splice them up. Taping would seem much easier and it looks just as effective. I'm deciding if i should mod them myself or just go out and buy some rounded cables. Any suggestions?

[G T i]

You can mod them. First you mark every 5 wire, then cut 1cm, make sure you don't actully cut into the wires. Then slow pull them away. After that all you have to do it wrap them together. For floppy cables its every 3 wires. Or if you don't mind spending the money, you can just buy them.

[bdf24]

I rounded mine without cutting them. Just folded them like a "W" and taped the whole thing with electrical tape. Worked great. And you don't have to worry about slipping and cutting any of the wires. Mines been like that for almost a year with no complications.

[wildbilly2k]

yeah im thinkin bout sutting some extra ones that i have just incase i mess up and tape them but what should i tape them with

[fuzzba11]

Just make sure you find something to wrap it with, first. I wouldn't advise doing the every 5 wires deal, maybe every 3 or so, but mine ended up square, and if you don't have something to bind them with(like electrical tape) they'll look terrible. I ended up buying some rounded ones myself :p

[wildbilly2k]

well i dont have the money to buy rounded cables so I am just going to do my own and see how they look. ill post some picks on htis fourm when i am done

[robjustice]

I folded mine-like a W and then taped them on the advise of Allan Nielsen. That way you dont stand a chance of damaging the cable, the the tape is available in all colors.

[bdf24]

Thats exactly what Mine look like only I used black electrical tape. Much better then dropping cash on new rounded ones in my opinion.

[phungilax]

thanks i'll have to try folding it up like a W and taping. And their is no data corruption?? I'd also like to add, thats a nice water cooling sysytem you got!

[wildbilly2k]

here is a pic of my crappy but workin ide cable

[phungilax]

did you guys ever hear of putting circular plastic tubing around your 4pin power connectors. if anybody has done it yet please tell me how it worked out for you. because that is a project that looks worthwhile doing but i don't wanna put out the money if it actually doens't work. i'm also worried that if it gets too close to some heat source (ex. harddrive) it'll melt the plastic. any advice?

[wildbilly2k]

yeah i have heard of that but i dont know like if it would work that well i mean like ide cables are bulky and get in the way of air but power cables arnt really like that there small and dont take up as much space.

[phungilax]

yeah i currently have mine bundled up with zip ties. it just sounds like a cool mod

[train22]

Originally posted by phungilax
did you guys ever hear of putting circular plastic tubing around your 4pin power connectors. if anybody has done it yet please tell me how it worked out for you. because that is a project that looks worthwhile doing but i don't wanna put out the money if it actually doens't work. i'm also worried that if it gets too close to some heat source (ex. harddrive) it'll melt the plastic. any advice?

yes, there is a very good solution I just thought of, I really did, I feel special, j/k-lol
but anyways what you could do is get a big enough yet not too big tube made of plastic and cut it from the top to botom making it a tube that you can force wires into, know what I mean? When I get a camera I'll take a pic for ya, I just did it on my case and it works really well, I use these tubes made or strong thin palstic with a diameter of 3/4 of an inch, and when you cut it [not into 2 pieces but 1 that can open if you pull it apart and closes as soon as you let go, put in the wires in that and ur all set. If you don't understand tell me I will try to explain it again

[phungilax]

yeah i understand what you mean. did you just take some scissors and slice it down? i think i'm thinking about the same tubing you're using. is it black and has circles around it (i don't know how to explain it). yeah some picture would be cool. where did you pick it up? i heard that you can buy it at lowes, so i'll have to look. are there any other mods that are easy to do but can still increase airflow?

[Patchmaster]

I think what you're talking about for the power cables is heat shrink tubing. You slip the wires through it and use a heat gun to shrink the tubing over the wires. (A very hot hair dryer will work, but it's got to be one of the 1200 or 1500 watt models on the highest setting.) Unfortunately, the size tubing you'd want for the power cables probably won't fit over the connectors.

Just go to Costco or Home Depot and buy one of those 5000 packs of cable ties. Cable tie the wires ever couple inches and clip the tails off the ties. It won't look quite as slick as the heat shrink tubing, but it will be a lot simpler and probably a lot cheaper.

[Spur31]

Originally posted by phungilax
did you guys ever hear of putting circular plastic tubing around your 4pin power connectors. if anybody has done it yet please tell me how it worked out for you. because that is a project that looks worthwhile doing but i don't wanna put out the money if it actually doens't work. i'm also worried that if it gets too close to some heat source (ex. harddrive) it'll melt the plastic. any advice?


You can buy some at Lowes or Home Depot they come in all size
from 1/4"- 1" I have some of each. Now if they only came in different colors:D

[hooziewhatsit]

Just in case you do slip and cut into some wires, just make sure you cover them with some electrical tape. While I was rounding my ata66 cables, I exposed a couple wires. I covered them up, and it's working fine.