Paracord Sleeving Tips

I have been asked for some tips on how I do sleeving so here we go.

*** My DSLR camera is at home and this old Cannon Powershot takes crappy Macro photos so please forgive the image quality. One day I will try to improve some of the photos.

Step one. Get your stuff together.

Paracord from Vermont's Barre Army Navy. I use 450 Cord
http://shop.vtarmynavy.com/parachute-cord-p1454.aspx

3:1 Heat Shrink from Allied Electronics its only .16 cents per foot! Also pick up these two extraction tools. You will need them if you want to sleeve 4 Pin Molex or Cable Extensions. You are already Paying the shipping anyway...
http://www.alliedelec.com/search/pro...0391#tab=Specs
http://www.alliedelec.com/search/pro...px?SKU=8630510
http://www.alliedelec.com/search/pro...px?SKU=8630530

3/8 inch Heavy Duty Staples (Pick them up at work or school if you can. You aren't going to need many)
http://www.officedepot.com/a/product...ples-38-Heavy/

Use staples to remove pins.


I cut my heatshrink with a razor and make each piece 5/8 inch long.


Cut your sleeving where it will be tight... I made two marks on my desk so that I can continue to get consistent length on each piece of cord.

Pull the guts out of both ends of the sheath. Tie one string around the bumps on your pin (see picture)


Pull all the guts and the wire through together. Slowly. Really its more like pushing the sheath over the pin while holding the other end of the small white cords. If you pull it will snag.


melt the frayed ends just a little... in the pic one is melted and the other not.


Line everything up... and shrink it with a lighter.



Remember I said to melt the frayed ends just a bit. This gives you a ridge under the shrink as an anchor. if you forget this is what will happen.


Ok now you should have something that looks like this. Total length 1 1/8 inch.


Repeat on the other end. Compare your two ends. The end that is closest to your desired length is the end that you put back into the MOBO or GPU Card. The less desirable end you put into the PSU Plug. This way you end up with the most consistency on the visible part.


Repeat over and over and you will end up with something like this.





Other thoughts:

Superglue can come in handy...
Put a twist tie through the empty pin in the plug and twist it off. Leave it there till your done. This way you always have a reference point and you don't accidentally end up with a wire there.

Finding Pin Outs on the net that match you particular plug can be really handy if you have all black wires. This will allow you to remove more than one wire at a time. Just be careful. If you have any doubts about your ability to read pinouts, or you attention to detail is just not that great, Do this one wire at a time.

***I am not responsible if you fry your board because you crossed your wires!***
Edited by Brittain - 7/7/11 at 3:18pm

I will certainly post up pics of the build... Once I get to put it together. I have been deployed to Egypt for the last 7 month. 3 more to go before I head back to the good old USA. During my time here, I have been buying parts and having them shipped home. Can you guess what I'm going to be doing during the 30 days of leave I will get in October?

I had the wires from my PSU shipped over and I sleeved them here. I'm working on a set for my wife's build right now... The pink ones...

I have looked and looked at the Sandy Bridge but I really like the features on that G1 Assassin. Between the Assassin and the Rampage Black Edition. I believe those two boards will be the highest evolution of the 1366 Platform.

Edit... I added the links to the Molex Pin Tools from Allied Electronics. (At the beginning of the first post).

I believe that he was using the glue between the sleeving and the shrink. This was his way of preventing the shrink from pulling out of the sleeving. I showed an example of this in the pictures. I have found that burning the end of the cord just a bit to create a ridge on the end of the cord provides a secure anchor under the shrink. When I have done this, I have had no problem with the sleeving coming loose from under the heatshrink.

I have used a drop of superglue right at the end of the heatshrink (after I shrunk it) just to hold it in place but lately I have not used it much at all. Best, I would think, to try to not use glue, in case you want to remove it later.

Try to make sure you are getting 450 cord and not 550 cord. The small cords inside the sleeving on 450 cord is much easier to work with. I have used and the 550 cord is kinda a pain but still usable.

Dont forget to check out allied electronics for your heatshrink. I cant beat their prices anywhere I have looked. Links at the start of my first post! Good Luck Brother. Post picks here when you get some work done!