i dont think vinyl dye would hurt anyhting either and i have half a can of black lying around... its gonna be a while (im to cheap to buy the molex pin remover AND pay for shipping so i have to wait for a friend to buy from xoxide so i can piggyback on his order) but i will keep you all posted when im done
If you're dying the wires so that they're all black, make sure to figure out some other way to differentiate which one is the 12V line and which is the 5V line, lest you pop 'em back into the Molex connectors in the wrong order.
dont worry i plan on marking the wires with making tape while dyeing and double checking with a multimeter when the whole project is finished... dont wanna fry anything
how do you sleeve the cables when they have more than one molex on a line though? do you have to cut it or is there another way?
I think if you take it apart and braid from the inside out, then sleeve it as well, it'll give you a nice clean look as well as the nicer flexibility that you would have with a braided wire. Just my opinion though.
I popped a Molex connector off a PSU I have lying around and tried it. I found this link useful: http://www.virtue.to/articles/braiding.html since I'm a boy and we don't know jack about braiding. It's tough to keep the wires tight, at least for my inexperienced hands. I found that it was helpful to attach the wires together near the PSU with a cable tie, and work my way down slowly, pulling the braid tight as I went. I used a small alligator clip to hold the braid tight as I progressed down the cable, too. Looks nice. Any other tips?
hmm, I'm not sure if either of us understand eachother, what I mean can be explained using this shockingly bad diagram: ````````````````````` MOLEX's----------------| ```````````````````````````` \````````````` \ |----------|```````````````````\``````````````\ |```PSU```|``````````````````|----|````````|----| |----------|---------------------|----|---------|----| `````````````````````````````````````^ ````````````````````````/--------------/ ```````````````````````| the problem is, I can braid this bit fine, by just taking off the end molex, but the wire from the first molex to the psu is unsleevable without cutting, due to it splitting off to form the second molex. phew, that was hard, but does anyone have a solution, as I don't have any suitale heatshrink. Though I suspect I may be told to go out and get some. (Ignore the "`"'s: they are to keep the "diagram" looking right.)
Hazchem- You don't need to cut anything. Remove the second Molex connector and fold the pins flat against the cables -- I usually wrap them in a little bit of kitchen clear wrap to help the sleeving and shrink tubing slide over them. It's easiest to do if you haven't already sleeved the section of wire that you're pointing out. Remove both connectors, fold down the pins of the second connector against the wire (so that they point along the wire towards the PSU), then start sliding the sleeving over the outer connector's pins, working it along until it clears the second connector's pins. I'll try to post some pics when I get home this afternoon.
You can also get it at about any car parts shop like Auto Zone or Napa. I have also see it at Ace Hardware.
yeah I can see your logic, but how do I then have access to the first molex? would I have to cut the sleeving and slide them out? thanks for the help, I may try this and see how it goes.
Sorry, should have specified: You'll use two lengths of sleeving -- one length goes from the PSU to the first Molex connector, and the other goes from the first Molex connector to the second Molex connector. As such, you'll also need 4 bits of heat-shrink tubing, a piece to seal each end of both lengths of sleeving. If you have 3 connectors on one cable, then you'll need three lengths of sleeving and 6 pieces of heat-shrink. Follow me? It's really easy, man, don't worry about it. I figured out how to do it for the first time two weeks ago within 5 minutes.
gaaah, still not following, I understand how to braid and all, but as the second molex is split off, If I were to sleeve it It would cover both lines, unless I sleeved it from the power supply end, which I suppose I could do if I discharge the power supply caps and take off the cover etc. it just seems like a little too much effort, being 15 I am unnaturally lazy.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean? You ARE NOT trying to sleeve one cable from the PSU all the way to the end of the cable, just want to make sure that's clear.
think about as two seperate sections rather than one long section, immagine the molex connectors as the beginning and end of the wire. to sleeve it you must measure a peice of sleeving equal to the distance between the powersuply body and the first molex then a SEPERATE peice from the other side of the first molex to the second one.. does that help clear anything up?
yeah I understand, but I want to sleeve both sections and have access to both the molex's, oiks this is confusing.
