Rounding ide cables

[TechDude]

Can anyone tell me how or give me a link to a guide that tells me how to round ata66/100 ide and floppy cables?

[DaHazeMan]

Just use an exacto knife and slice them very carefully between the bumps (wires) and then tie them up.

[Bovon]

I had a nice link to a site that took you step by step thru the whole deal. Either the site is down at the moment, or its gone.
http://www.virualhideout.net/guides/rc/index.shtml

But, its like just described...you take a very sharp knife, razor blade, hobby cutting tool or something simular, and VERY CAREFULLY cut between each of the wires in the cable. Do not damage the wire itself...keep the blade between the wires.

After these have been separated, you can tape, use cable ties or a piece of split loom to hold them into a tight circle.

[thekingofpain]

My simple easy method that ive added many times before is NOT to cut them...let em sit in the sun for 20mins or so and just fold them to the size you like---wrap with ¼" spiralwrap from your autostore---or use baby zipties or simply electrical tape em---no cutting and they come out pretty good...

[Fingers]

HEY GUYS! .... we have our own Cable Rounding How-to Guide (http://www.sysopt.com/articles/cabround/) right here at SysOpt. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Check out the SysOpt Articles and Reviews (http://www.sysopt.com/articles.html) with dedicated sections for:
Motherboards
Performance <-- (Cable Rounding found here)
Graphics & Video
CPU
Upgrading
Chipsets
Networking
Storage
Audio
Operating Systems
Tradeshow Coverage
Memory
Complete PC's

[This message has been edited by Fingers (edited 09-08-2001).]

[Graham]

I'm with thekingofpain, just fold them, each side in about 0.25in, then again to the middle, then fold the whole thing in the middle. It's difficult to describe, but you will end up with a W shape with the two outer edges doubled (five folds).
Hold the whole thing together with spiwrap, or lace it with fine waxed twine like I did, dont use electrical tape, it shrinks and leaves a gooey mess, zippies are not too bad, but the cut ends leave very sharp edges, I have used them to hold the cables in a bunch.

<IMG SRC="http://www.hollies.org/round.jpg" border=0>

Its not as hard as it sounds, and is less dangerous (both to cables and fingers) than cutting.

G

[This message has been edited by Graham (edited 09-08-2001).]

[pdm]

Has anyone tried using heat shrink to wrap around the rounded/folded cables?
I'm thinking of using that, as there's heaps of it here at home, just trying to work out if the heat applied will cause problems with the IDE cable??

Cheers,

Pat.

[jad1097]

I use electrical tape.


Good quality electrical tape will not shrink and fall off. Try some 3M Scotch 33 tape. The cheap "jap wrap" stuff will not stick to anything for long.


"Zippies" (tie wraps) should never be cut they should be pulled and then twisted to create a dull edge. I have a tool for this but a pair of pliers works just fine.

[Dove19983]

Incase anyone wanted to see the site that Bovon was linking to it was http://www.virtual-hideout.net/guides/rc/index.shtml
. Which BTW is a pretty good.

[Graham]

PDM
Heatshrink would be great, providing you dont heat it too much, dont use a flame it will leave a sooty reside and is very difficult to get the shrink even. Use the proper tool if you can, if not persevere with a hair dryer, with care you will be fine.
The only problem I see is, if you get some HS large enough to go over the connectors, then it probably wont shrink down far enough to grip the rounded cable.

G

[NDC]

Don't even need to cut it in to little strands using an exacto knife. Just get a blow dryer and heated up and then fold it in to a round shape and use whatever you need to keep it in that shape. I used electrical tape to round my cables...

Take a look here (http://forums.digitalmntsnow.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=57)

[arjay13]

Not nearly as much fun but rounded cables are available commercially for about $12 ea. Save yourself the time and buy 'em. Just my 2 cents..

[Bovon]

Hey, thanks Dove for the updated link to Virtual Hidout. Wonder why they changed the url?...strange.

[MaxVal]

I'm puzzled as to the wisdom of rounding ATA66/100 ribbons. My understanding is that the reason for the 80 conductors is to provide grounded shield wires between the signal wires. Seems to me that the folding might be OK, but slicing and then balling the wires together would defeat the design intent.
Any test data on this?
MAX