round ide cables

[Hapless]

has anyone had any success making your own round ide cables? is it worth the effort?

 

[zogg]

I've done it...but the store bought kind are much nicer to look at if you are going with a side panel window.

 

[Bglad]

I tried it with an x-acto knife and failed miserably... and I was REALLY careful.

 

[Sundog]

It can be done, and very cheaply I might add.

 

[Hapless]

anyone care to enlighten me on the easiest and safest way to do this?

 

[HomerSapien]

ata-33 cables are easy. Get an exacto knife or a razor blade( i use an exacto blade that looks like a scraper but the blade is only 1cm long), make a little cut, pull the rest apart. Make a cut every 5 or 8 wires. Depends on how thick you want them. Get a zip tie or use electrical tape and wrap em. Or you can use a wire loom from radio shack.

Ata-66 cables, i just fold these. I find that the cables are more flexible when i do them that way. I wouldnt try to cut these unless you are a surgeon or have very steady hands. When i fold these, i just zip tie them, but not as tight as the ties go. Or i just tape.

They dont look bad, but they dont have that nice clean look that $15 have.

Scsi, i have no idea.

 

[scarfase99]

Did my SCSI, Floppy, & LIVE DRIVE Cables today, i'd never done it before, PIECE OF CAKE. they work fine & look decent. Makes workin inside the case much easier

 

[MrThompson]

HomerSapien has the ticket. 10 minutes a cable tops. Hard to believe but Compaq introduced rounded cables in their rack mount servers years ago.

 

[fitzhue]

MrThompson, yeah I noticed that. In an old computer that I bought a while ago when i was just a computer novice, I noticed the ide cables were split and were very neatly taped. This was in their very low end best buy type computers. It was an ata33 cable, so i just used in my main rig for my cdrom...go figure

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

i did mine this weekend. i folded the cable so it made a V with the bottom of the V going towards the connector (V was facing where you would plug it in). then folded the edges down toward the bottom of the V. then wrapped it in electricians tape. not as nice looking as store bought ones but hey, it cost nothing instead of 18$ each.

 

[bswick3]

I bought split loom and coil wrap at Radio Shack - 6' about $6.
Split wires by using thumbnails in middle of run and pulled it apart. I've done over 10 without any problems. I overlay the segments and use electrical tape in a couple locations to hold it while I put the wrap on. Takes about 5 minutes a cable. EASY!

 

[JuicyJ]

The floppy cables are easy to do with a razor blade or exacto knife, but the ATA-66 are almost impossible. The space between the wires is just too small, you can get some pretty cheap rounded cables at Bestbyte, I dunno about the quality though...

 

[MichaelD]

Stay away from the $6 BestByte cables! I got four of them. They are crap. They are FOLDED not rounded and covered in one big old piece of heatshrink tubing. They are about as flexible as a steel pipe. Technically, yes, they do take up a lot less room than a regular IDE cable. The prob is that they don't bend at all. They are good for long, straight runs. Like from an upper-mounted CDR to the mobo. Dont' even think about using them for your HD.

I've got some nice, REAL ROUNDED cables coming from Plycon today. They were $15 apiece. I've been told they are really flexible and much higher quality than the Bestbytes. Heck, WingutPez uses them! They must be good! Have you seen his case? The Epitome of Neatness. I dig it.

 

[aamsel]

Is anyone selling SINGLE rounded floppy cables? I saw the ones at Plycon, but would rather not use a dual floppy cable.
Andrew

 

[Z_Amon]

I found that when I used a knife, I was more likely to slice the insulation. Instead, simply get a push-pin or a thumbtack and push it through. It's dull, and easy to control since you can hold it easily. I'd always stick mine into a board, then just pull a little bit. Once I had a bit of a split, I could finish the rest by hand.

Using this method, I was able to go a lot faster, and I didn't damage the cable at all- it's actually quite easy to even split them every strand if you want.

I've done ATA/33 and 50 pin SCSI cables like this- no 80 conductor cables for me yet!

Z.

 

[Technonut]

<< Is anyone selling SINGLE rounded floppy cables? I saw the ones at Plycon, but would rather not use a dual floppy cable. >>


You can purchase single rounded floppy cables at Sidewinder Computers. Great service, fast Priority Mail shipping.

 

[aamsel]

Thanks:
Can anyone answer any of the following:
1.) Are the Japanese cables at Plycon worth the extra money?
2.) Do the ATA-100 cables work on CD-RW's and CD-ROMS (that are not ATA-100 or ATA-66?)

 

[helloedchen]

make ur own...they really aren't worth the price..your paying for the fancy colors floppy/ata33 are easy, ata66/100 are a little harder. Just go slow.

 

[HomerSapien]

The Japanese silver ones just look really cool. Other than that, i doubt there is any difference.

 

[nicowju]

I did this to my ATA66/100 cables and my floppy cable. Also did it to my 50pin SCSI cable. the 68pin ones look really hard to do, though

 

[aamsel]

Do the ATA-100 cables that are being sold work on CD-RW's and CD-ROMS (that are not ATA-100 or ATA-66?)
Thanks,
Andrew

 

[fitzhue]

Yes ATA100/66 cables are backwards compatible with ATA33 devices

 

[frankroh]

What's the big deal over splicing and shrink-wrapping the IDE cables??? I justed twisted them tight like a rope! Done in 5 seconds!

 

[cyberbarnt]

me and a friend did a diy rounded cable project for our comps. it was suprisingly easy. we used a pocket knife to cut the cables and bought some rubber tubing and zipties from homedepot for real cheap. we just used the knife to make a small cut into the cable every 5 rivets on ata33 and every 8 rivets or so on ata66/100. after we made the small cut, we just pulled it apart and it split it evenly. needless to say the ata33s and floppy cables were much easier, but just make a good first cut on the hard drive cables and pull them apart and you should be fine. dont be afraid to do it yourself, cause even morons like me can get it right, also if you expose the wire, just wrap it with some tape. total project was 5 bucks and reduced cpu temp by 4C.

oh yeah, you can also use plyers to yank off the middle connector if your not using it. it makes the cable more streamline and easier to hide or strap down. just make sure to tape over the exposed wires where the connector was. im no expert, but everything works fine, so i think its okay.