HI, and welcome to my very first guide showing you how to sleeve your very own computer cables. There are tones of guides on line that show you various ways of doing is. But this is the way I like to do it and gives you pretty good results. In this guide I will be covering two things, 1. Fabricating your custom length cable and 2. Sleeving them. If you have no desire to create your own cables or there are already at a suitable length the guide should still be easy enough to follow. (Hopefully) To begin with I will cover the main things you will need. 1. Flush Wire Cutters 2. MDPC Sleeving 3. Heat Shrink 4. Wire (I use 18 Gauge, 16 should work just as well) 5. ATX Pin Remover 6. ATX Pins 7. MDPC Crimping Tool 8. Wire Stripers 9. Metal/Engineers Ruler 10. Scissors (or a second pair of Wire Cutter) 11. Lighter 12. Heat Gun With Adjustable Temp 13. Razor Blades Step 1. Cut your desired amount of wires to your required length required with one of the pairs of your wire cutters. Step 2. Tape your ruler down to your work surface to secure it in place to ensure an exact measurement for every wire you cut. Step 3. Holding your wire firmly alongside the edge of the ruler making sure it is flush against the end, make a nick in the insulation of the wire at the 5mm mark. (you might find it easier to tape the wire alongside the ruler if you want perfection)
Step 4. Using your wire stripers. remove the insulation from the mark you have just made in the previous step.
Step 5. Now here is the tricky part. So I am going to try and show you the easiest way I find to crimp the pins onto the end of the wire. Taking one of you pins, hold it between the 18-22 AWG section jaws., gently squeeze the handles to you hear one click. This should now hold the pin in place.
If you continue to squeeze the handles for another two clicks you will expand the wings on the pin enough so you can insert your wire in between.
Continue to squeeze the handles to crimp the pin on to the end of the cable.
Success!!!!
Now it is just the case of repeating these five steps until you have the required amount. Next we are going to want to start sleeving the cables you have just finished making. There are two main methods of doing this 1. With Heat Shrink or 2. Shrink less (Without Heat Shrink) today I will be showing you how to do it with as I think it gives you a better look than without. The first thing you are going to want to do is cut a piece of sleeving the same length as the cable you have just made. The easiest way to do this is by pinching the heat shrink against the wire, leaving about a 2 millimetre gap before the pin starts.
Holding the sleeve in the same place between you right thumb and index finger, pinching the wire and the sleeving together with the left. slide your hand down the wire making sure to keep it nice and tight.
When you get to the other end, cut the sleeving with a pair of your flush cutters making sure to leave the same 2 mil gap you did the other end.
It is a good idea to melt the end of your sleeve after you have made any cuts to prevent it from fraying, this can be done by applying a little heat to the sleeve with your lighter, just enough to you can see in bubble ever so slightly.
Next thing we need to do is get the sleeve over the wire. If you wish you can tape the pins with masking tape if you are worried about them snagging, but really it is only necessary when you are working with paracord. To get your sleeve over the wire, you need to expand and contract it in a snake like motion up the wire. 1. Push the sleeving over the fist pin as far as you can
2. Then holding the wire firmly in place with your right hand, compress the sleeving over the pin until you can grab it with your left hand.
3. Then let go of the sleeve you are holding with your right hand.
Repeat these steps until you can see enough of the pin the other end to pull it through.
If you are having a bit of trouble getting it through, heat the end of the sleeving up ever so slightly with your lighter until you can pull it through.
Don't worry if the sleeve is looking a bit on the short side, we still need to stretch it again before we put the heat shrink on. We are now going to start adding the heat shrink onto the ends of our wire. Now If you are shopping from MDPC and certain other stores, you can buy your heat shrink in pre-cut 15mm pieces, however this is usually more expensive and you get less than what you would if you bought in a single 1 meter piece This is what this simple tool is for. To cut 15mm pieces of heat shrink quickly and easily every time. :) I may post a guide depending on the interest, it is simple enough to make though.
Once you have got your heat shrink prepared make sure you have your heat gun ready, and reposition the sleeve on the wire till its two mil away from the pin, just like you did when you was measuring it.
Whilst holding the sleeve in place get a piece of your heat shrink and slide on to the wire. It is vital that the sleeve doesn't move at this point or else you won't get a flush fit against the Molex connector.
Start to shrink it, until there is some resistance when you try and move it up the wire. Or until you can start to see the sleeve show through.
You now need to position on the pin, using the second set of wings as a guide continue to shrink it over those second set of wings. (See image above)
And, Presto!
If you are having trouble getting the wire to fit into the connector you can try heating it up with your heat gun, if it doesn't go after that unfortunately you are going to have to redo the heat shrink and re-position the sleeve
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