How to remove to ATX power connector pins WITHOUT special tools!

[BCMods]

This guide applies to 20/4 pin motherboard connectors, 4/8 pin CPU power connectors as well as 6/8 pin GPU connectors. It can be used to assist you in sleeving your cables and/or replacing your connectors. I'm not responsible for you breaking your PSU/power connectors and voiding your warranty.

Tools required;

Staples

Patience

Optional extras;

Needle-nose pliers

Flathead screwdriver

Electrical tape

Lighter

Start by taking a few staples. You need to get them separated but due to their size this can be a little tricky. I found the easiest way to do this if you don't have long fingernails is to take the staples, lay them on a scratch resistant surface (I used my mouse mat) and apply pressure with a flathead screwdriver.

Once you have at least 2 staples on their own, bend them out into a right angle.

What you're trying to do with the staple is press the little clips down on the side of the pins (pictured below), releasing them from the connector.

The easiest way to do this is to insert the first staple right in the middle left side of the pin you're trying to remove.

When inserting the staple, you will feel a slight click, which is the little clip being moved.

Once the first staple is inserted, the second should become a lot easier to release the clip due to the added pressure. If you're having trouble with the fist staple, try leaving it in so the space is still restricted, inserting the second staple successfully, then coming back to the first with the second still inserted.

Hopefully, if you've done everything right, the pin should pull free with a reasonable amount of force. ONLY PULL BY THE HEATSHRINK! If your cables are sleeved and you pull on the sleeving, it will slide away from the heatshrink and you'll either wreck it, or have to go through the daunting process of getting the sleeving back into the heatshrink unless you have any more to replace it with.

After a while (it doesn't take long at all once you get the hang of it) you should end up with something like this;

To reinsert your pins into their connectors, simply push them in. Some can be a lot harder than others but a pair of needle-nose pliers should sort out any problems. The two sharp prongs need to be inserted facing the latch that locks your power connector into the female socket. I'm unsure as to whether or not they'll go in the other way around but since that's the way they came out, i'll leave them as they were.

Hopefully your hard work should pay off and you'll end up with something like this (I replaced my 8 pin connectors with 6 because of my new GPU);

A couple of tips

Tape up your unused pins with electrical tape. Even though the extra 2 pins on an 8 pin connector are grounds, you don't want them touching.

If you're having trouble getting a pin to release, try pushing up on the heatshrink on the wire to force it further into the connector.

If you do accidentally pull on your sleeving and end up making it look like this, there is a fix.

Simply bend the heatshrink/end of the sleeving at a 45 degree angle and use a fat-head screwdriver to force the frayed sleeving back into the heatshrink. Once all of the loose ends are back in, push up on the sleeving to get it right up inside of the heatshrink. The use a lighter and wave the flame across the end of the heatrink to seal it up. Try not to set anything on fire...

Hope this helped, feel free to ask any questions :)

[Levent]

nice im planing to sleeve my psu once i have time; they were quite a pain on cheap psu's also nice usage for SG Note :)

[BCMods]

Nice, you shouldn't have any issues so long as you take your time :)

[Wats]

Now I just need staples.

Thanks and naice sleeves.

[TheWookieWarrior]

gotta' love the k90 just sitting in the background :D

[Huntsman]

His mousemat is a Samsung Galaxy Note....

[Windspeed36]

His mousemat is a Samsung Galaxy Note....

Yeah I'm a little curious about that..

[NannerBeans]

His mousemat is a Samsung Galaxy Note....

That just shows how ridiculously large the note is :D

[Ser James Acinonyx of Compactis]

Yes the thred is old. No, I don't care.

I'd just like to say that the tip of adding the first staple to the left side of the pin for some reason helped me out immensely.