I use a small flat bladed jewellers screwdriver to unbraid the cable.
Twist the unbraided fanned out wire into a tight/neat single wire,
form the wire into the right shape to make the best join with the
plug, and tin it fully, to keep it neat and stop it fraying within
the plug during use.
Mount some female 1/4" sockets (and xlr if making those too) onto a 1
foot long piece of 4x2 as a 'jig' to hold the plugs while soldering.
I also have a couple of plastic coated tip alligator clips attached
to the 'jig' to hold the wire itself when needed.
Pre-tin the wire and pre-tin the points on the plug where the wire
connects, making sure there is a good solder connection on the plug,
then you don't need as much heat when actually joining the wire to
the plug.
Simon
Canberra
AUSTRALIA
>Don't be a wimp! It only takes 1 minute to unbraid a half inch end of
>a cable using a straight pin. Your patchcords will last a lot longer
>and be less noisy than foil shielded stuff.
>
>Moe
> >>>>>
>> Again, I'm looking for 1 or 2 conductor, flexible, in colors and a
>> drain wire.
>
>A drain wire normally implies a foil shield, which normally implies a
>not particularly flexible cable. A cable with a spiral shield should
>be almost as easy to terminate as cable with a drain wire - cable
>with
>braided shields are obviously a little more work because you have to
>unbraid them. In general - Canare and Mogami both make nice flexible
>cables and are usually available in various colors. Canare cables
>tend to use a braided shield where Mogami uses a spiral shield.
><<<<