Topic: How do you keep your cables straight and from kinking

[Sanjay]

I have two akg active cables and they seem to always want to curl up in their own pattern, besides making it difficult to roll up, seems as though its dangerous to their health as tehre are some rather bothering kinks already.  Does anyone have any suggestions to straighten out these to being straight and easily rollable.  Do you recommend i roll them around something?

[nickgregory]

I know that tim fraley uses a cable turtle:

http://www.organize-everything.com/lacatugr.html

and it seems to work.

For my 4022s, I have then taped with gaffers tape every 12-18" and basically just put it in the bag at the end of the night and straighten out when I get home.

[JackoRoses]

Sometimes you can place them in the sun and let them heat up a bit then do a light pull on them.
I would not pull from the connectors just pull the cable ends.
That sometimes will remove the memory effect.
At least we use to do that to extesnion cords that some noob did not know how to roll up.
Like Tim suggested as well, tape/ziptie, velcro the cables together so they become one..

[Sanjay]

Thanks for the speedy response +T to all.

I saw the over under thread however my problem is the cables are already very badly set into kinks and other unpleasant bends.  So I may try heating them up in the sun and smoothing them out (natural wrinkle releaser  ) Then afterwards I think I should adopt that over under technique. 

[Roving Sign]

You may find that after several over/under wraps some of the kinks will work their way out...

But once the wires become twisted in the insulation - they are very hard to straighten out...

Braided grouds are easier to untwist...the unbraided ones are almost impossible to unkink...

I always cringe when I see dudes packing up...wrapping cables around their elbow and palm...

[Sanjay]

OK i watched the video on loop for a few times and tried it.  Not sure if I understand but here goes.

Loop it once over your palm, then on the second loop goes back the opposite way when I do that it just folds over to one side making the coil lopsided.  Am I missing something?  My video player at work doesn't let me play in slow motion so maybe I need to do that.

[fozzy]

better over under instructions

http://stagecraft.theprices.net/gallery/cablewrap/

edit: forgot the link

[Roving Sign]

Perhaps worth noting...

As you wind - you may find some kinks/loops that get pushed down into the unwound pile...

Flip those over/or rotate the hand with the coil...dont push them out/or down the cable...Take the time to flip the cable - eventually your cable will develop memory...

Also try widing from both ends - for whatever reason my cable seem to wind better from the mic end...

And if you are left handed...you may find your cables have a right handed twist - experiment...

[Sanjay]

So I think I got it, can you tell I am uncordinated with things 

So wrap it once over your open palm just in a regular loop, then the second one you twist the cable with your thumb and fingers away, kinda making a figure 8 and loop that loop around your hand from the other side?

[fozzy]

So I think I got it, can you tell I am uncordinated with things 

So wrap it once over your open palm just in a regular loop, then the second one you twist the cable with your thumb and fingers away, kinda making a figure 8 and loop that loop around your hand from the other side?

did you see the link i posted it is much clearer

[Sanjay]

So I think I got it, can you tell I am uncordinated with things 

So wrap it once over your open palm just in a regular loop, then the second one you twist the cable with your thumb and fingers away, kinda making a figure 8 and loop that loop around your hand from the other side?

did you see the link i posted it is much clearer

yup watched that, seemed like thats what they were doing.  No sound though since i'm at work. 

So over, twist and wrap the loop thats hanging over, over , twist ect ect

[fozzy]

So I think I got it, can you tell I am uncordinated with things 

So wrap it once over your open palm just in a regular loop, then the second one you twist the cable with your thumb and fingers away, kinda making a figure 8 and loop that loop around your hand from the other side?

did you see the link i posted it is much clearer

yup watched that, seemed like thats what they were doing.  No sound though since i'm at work. 

So over, twist and wrap the loop thats hanging over, over , twist ect ect

yea w/o sound its kinda hard but the dude explains it very clearly when you get  a chance to listen.

[Sanjay]

So I think I got it, can you tell I am uncordinated with things 

So wrap it once over your open palm just in a regular loop, then the second one you twist the cable with your thumb and fingers away, kinda making a figure 8 and loop that loop around your hand from the other side?

did you see the link i posted it is much clearer

yup watched that, seemed like thats what they were doing.  No sound though since i'm at work. 

So over, twist and wrap the loop thats hanging over, over , twist ect ect

yea w/o sound its kinda hard but the dude explains it very clearly when you get  a chance to listen.

cool thanks for the link +T

I had my taping gear at work and am reaaally bored so im gonna figure it out here if i can 

[Brian Skalinder]

Thanks for the new video - turns out I've been doing it wrong all along.  Rats. 

[Ed.]

i wrap my mic cable around my hand so it fits in a smaller space in my bag...so does that mean i'm destroying it?

[F.O.Bean]

zip ties!

ive done it to all of my mic cables ive ever owned and will continue to do it forever!

[Sanjay]

zip ties will easily cut into active cables, and softer sheathed cables. trust me

What do you suggest for active cables besides gaffers tape (whcih I still have no clue what it is or where to find it)

[Ed.]

i cut all the zip ties off of my canare's when i heard you say that before moke, but i couldn't stand them flapping around everywhere.  so i put the zip ties back on.  now i have the bumbeez and the techflex stuff seems tuff enuf to handle the zip ties, so i don't feel so guilty.

[JackoRoses]

zip ties will easily cut into active cables, and softer sheathed cables. trust me

13k,.. look out Bean and Tim, I'm gunning for you!

I use velcro on mine, I bought a roll of it at a craft store and just cut strips long enough to go around both cables. It does a good job of keeping them together and it is reusable down the road for the next set of cables.
YMMV

[Roving Sign]

Belden makes some nice velcro cable wraps/ties...got mine at Staples.

[fozzy]

zip ties will easily cut into active cables, and softer sheathed cables. trust me

13k,.. look out Bean and Tim, I'm gunning for you!

I use velcro on mine, I bought a roll of it at a craft store and just cut strips long enough to go around both cables. It does a good job of keeping them together and it is reusable down the road for the next set of cables.
YMMV

i got velcro on my 16 footers, it works very well.  I got gaffers tape on my 50 footers and it is starting to wear away

[Ray76]

zip ties will easily cut into active cables, and softer sheathed cables. trust me

What do you suggest for active cables besides gaffers tape (whcih I still have no clue what it is or where to find it)

thats what you get for buying walmart active cables.

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

If you are able to do the soldering, another solution is to take the connectors off one end of the cables and slide a techflex sleave over both cables. Use shrink tube at each end of the techflex to secure it and prevent fraying.  Leave about 8"-14" tails on each side, then put the connectors back on.   You end up with a two channel snake.

You'll have no issues with tangled wires, no zipties biting into the cable jacket.  easy to handle you just can't run split omnies with them.

[admkrk]

you just can't run split omnies with them

and that's why i untied mine

[F.O.Bean]

i dont have my zip ties THAT tight, but enuf to hold them snugly!

also, anything to organize alot of cables should work, theres that soft tech-flex that is like cloth, but i was afriad it would get wet and run down into my v3 and bring moisture where it wasnt needed!

[johnw]

I'm using canare mini quad and have mine bound together with electrical tape every 6" or so. seems to work ok and is pretty easy to get on/off. May leave residue over time, but the cable is cheap anyway. I keep them plugged into my Minime and then roll the cables into a Crown Royal bag.

zip ties will easily cut into active cables, and softer sheathed cables. trust me

What do you suggest for active cables besides gaffers tape (whcih I still have no clue what it is or where to find it)

[momule]

zip ties will easily cut into active cables, and softer sheathed cables. trust me

What do you suggest for active cables besides gaffers tape (whcih I still have no clue what it is or where to find it)

I picked up a couple of these , http://cableorganizer.com/cable-turtle/
 I dont run actives, but the silver belden cable that I just made is almost the exact same size..
Should work great for actives. And they keep your cables protected while in transit..