Man cuts his PC cables to a perfectly satisfying length

On a related note, this same guy has a video where he takes about 3 hours to make spaghetti because his first step is to carefully trim each noodle to a specific length.

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Of course, one can always outsource it to cablemod and have them made…

And it’s not just computers and computing equipment where this comes in handy. I’ve put together several rack units for band sound systems over the years, and I’ve always done two things. First, you can get power cables in any length, a foot at a time. Then all the lines that run from board to processors then processors to amps get custom-length cables. They’re not hard to make, and if you think rats-nests in the back of computers are a pain in the butt, rats-nests in the back of PA equipment are even worse.

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And of course M/M cables, F/F cables, adapters, splitters…

You can only really see the infiniband(though it is reasonable reasonably tidy); but I’ve always had a fondness for MareNostrum


"So, this chapel is pretty nice and all; but it needs a little more power…"

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Made-to-fit cables are far and away the biggest difference between prebuilt systems and DIY boxes. With one exception, everything I’ve built has been a rat’s nest inside.

The exception was my homebrew NAS. The case I picked for it was designed to allow the builder to “submarine” long cable runs, so the cables from the onboard SATA ports and the SAS host bus adapter look far neater than anything else I’ve built, and there was also enough room to hide the power cables as well.

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Firstly, as an aside, I still puzzle over what people mean by “satisfy”. Sure, I have read about it, but I suspect that it refers to a fundamentally different way of modelling existence and the world at large.

That said, I often need to make custom cables for various tech projects. Most of the drive towards graphics on circuit boards, inner chassis finish, cable routing, etc has been as a result of the ill-advised practice of putting clear cutouts on computer cases. I would guess that anybody who has ever maintained electronic instrumentation, and/or needed to diagnose household AC troubles, appreciates that high-speed digital switching is a terribly noisy process. Which is why there is greater benefit in keeping computer chassis completely enclosed and electromagnetically shielded.

That’s not to say that a computer (personal or otherwise) can not or should not look meticulous inside. But one should not be able to readily see this work in daily use. At least if clean signals are any sort of consideration.

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That’s some Dexter-level shit right there. I’d be worried about what’s in his basement.

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fap fap fap…

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I’d not heard that, I knew they used natural rubber back in the late 19th and early 20th century, but I’d never heard about milk. Was it some kind of polylactic acid? I didn’t think that was developed until the 30’s or 40’s.

Anyway, I was mostly being weird for comedic effect :-p

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Leak Stereo30

what’s this you say? - i’ve got a Leak 30 in my dining room, but have never looked inside - will do just that when I get home - thx for the tip - fyi it’s connected to a pristine pair of baby Advents, still with their original foam - source is an old iPhone, but still, lovely for dinner music

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I think I like the trick of partially pre-crimping the sockets so they don’t topple off the wire ends while you’re performing the final crimp. It can be frustrating trying to get everything to line up only to have it shift slightly just as you squeeze down on the tool.

That is a sweet rig. Maybe someday I will have the patience (and money) to do water cooling. Although I’d only want that if it was quieter and I suspect it isn’t since it must need a pump, no?

I don’t think the braid is shielding (no reason to shield DC power wires) – it’s probably just nylon which would mean he’s melting that to bond it to the wire and crimp. I’m not sure what the heat shrink does. Maybe that is also part of what gets melted to form the bond or else it’s just a convenient way to control the melting of the nylon?

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That was the effect I was aiming for too :smiley: Using “degrading” to refer to both “shameful” and “disintegrating”.

I came across to references to plastic made from milk when reading a book about the Woomera Rocket Base in Australia. Britain was using it as a test facility for our very own missile programme, and the kangaroos were eating the insulation off the wiring and causing shorts. I guess one doesn’t want short circuits when working on electrically fired missiles.

Looks like it was to contain (and compress) the nylon while it melted, to leave a neat non-fraying end on the braid. You can see a nice ring of solid nylon round the end when he pulls the heatshrink off.

I went from “You’re an idiot, you’re burning your heatshrink” to “ooh, clever” in less than a second.

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Most computer cases have somewhere to hide excess cable, you just have to be creative (and sometimes force it). Usually I use the space behind the right hand side panel and just jam all the cables behind the motherboard.
Or, if you have no hidden space at all, you can make a feature of it, running it up and down in neat lines.
I couldn’t be bothered to custom-make all the cables in my computer, it gets altered far too often.

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