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Subject: Re: [motm] Patch cable tips

From: Chris Coady <ccoady1@...>
Date: 2011-03-27

omg thanks so much for this info! you rule.
chris coady


From: mkoapl <mkoapl@...>
To: motm@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sun, March 27, 2011 5:36:04 AM
Subject: [motm] Patch cable tips

 

I saw a great deal on Switchcraft 280 Phone Plugs. $1.59 each at music123.com, free shipping at any quantity.

I had already bought a hundred count of the Pomona 7150 from mouser.com (565-7150). I like them a lot. I am very surprised by the quality for this price ($1.09 each). They are heavy and have a nice flat finish. Switchcraft 280's are bulkier and have a smoother assembly. I think the Pomona 7150's might be quicker to solder and to clamp the strain relief.

I've also had a chance to compare Canare GS-6 and Mogami W2524 bulk cable. The biggest difference is that the Canare shielding is braided and the Mogami shielding is spiral wound. The Mogami has better coverage and the shield is really easy to combine and twist. The Canare shielding has to be combed out; it does so easily, but it is a notably longer job. Both cables have a conductive carbon sleeve under the shield. This comes off really easily from the Canare cable but is really stubborn on the Mogami. My last note is that the Mogami cable is a displeasure to handle. The spiral shield is very noisy and grinds in your hand when jostling the cable. I settled on the Canare cable because i would be handling it frequently. I re-used the Mogami cable for permanent installations. Both cables have a nice, dense, smooth PVC jacket. They seem to be very resistant to kinking and memorizing bends. I like markertek.com for either cable, but ebay might be the place to go for a whole spool.

I use 1/2" 2:1 polyolefin heat shrink for color coding. I only use 2" per termination -- this shows about half an inch. If you use longer than this it makes the cable very stiff and protrusive. Using the 1/2" 2:1 creates a heavy finished sleeve, about 1mm thick. I go under the phone plug, but this size does fit over as well (which is also nice if you forget to get it on before you solder). I used Alpha Wire FIT-221-1/2. I also got a 100' spool of something else from bb-trading.com. Their prices were great but I couldn't afford those quantities for everything.

My previous set of patch cables were always unscrewing on me so I fixed those and finished off all my new ones with a bit of blue threadlocker.