Decided to take on a very simple mod project the other day... cable sleeving all the wires from my Enermax PSU. Armed with that great how-to article over at http://www.virtual-hideout.net/guides/cable_sleeving/index.shtml , I got some schweeeet silver cable sleeving and clear heatshrink ready to go. Now the fun part.... taking off the molex connectors. Well those *%^#@! retaining clips are a pain in the ass to bend in! Try as I may, the little buggers just won't cooperate. I even managed to snap off the smallest of my precision screwdrivers in the connector at one point! Bah. Lament of the inept modder. Sorry, just had to vent Anybody that did this successfully have any tips on an easy way to get 'em out? Cuz those little *******s are really ****in me off and I know this is a simple task
that is why I have avoided that preticular mod myself so I can impathize.... perhaps CoolHand, or macroman (cause I know they have done this mod) could give some tips... [edit] :: a guy over at pc extremes used a paperclip to remove them and has a picture, here
Dude you can get a molex pin remover from molex to remove these things. They push right back out and can be reinserted l8ter. Serch around there for "pin removal tool" I have 2 of them but neither are for PC size ones they are for my molexs.
I recently did this. Phire might be the best person to answer....and he is supposed to have an article or something...someday! Anyway, what I did was turn the molex around so that I was looking down the pins and you can just see where the clip is. Then I used a super small screwdriver, but I'm sure a paperclip would work, and pushed it in. Then twist the wire slightly and you can spot the other clip. Should be 2 on each pin. Once you get a couple of them to come out, you'll get the hang of it.
Just done this mod myself - to get the molex's off I just used a 2 mm jeweller's scredriver and carefully bent the tabs in on the pins. If you put the screwdriver in the right place and the tabs are easy to get at IMO. As long as there is a bit of lateral movement in the pins (which there always is) it shouldn't be a problem. I found putting the screwdriver in then twisting it the get the tabs bent was the best option - the tab pressed in using the edge not the flat of the blade. I also cheated and used zip-ties with heatshrink over the top - makes the mod a lot easier if at the expernse of looks a bit. [edit] having looked at the VH article using zip ties looks better than not - you only need a 1" piece of heatshrink so you dont have hardly any of those ugly coloured wires on show [/edit] Hope that helps ya
Yeah, I'd already attempted with those tiny precision screwdrivers. the 2mm one was the one that snapped. Oh well, guess I'll try again tonight, maybe with paperclips instead... just was hoping there was some easy way out of it Thanks guys!
I used tweezers with fine pointed tips to get both pins at once. The tip is good to pull the pins back out also. I've had these tweezers for years but try a hobby shop.
yeah. before i knew how to take them out, i wrapped them around my pliers, and PULLED! came out find, no damage at all. pins were still perfect. wire was a bit bent.. but meh.
Hmm....hydrogen18 inspired me to go looking for a tool to do it.... good ol google.com came up with this site: http://www.happcontrols.com/tools/11030006.htm now the question is....which size pins are the ones in PC molex plugs? (if any of those even ARE the right size....)
I can't say for certain. I was just looking in my handy-dandy jameco catalog, and it looks like the molex connectors for PCs are 0.2". I also looked in jameco for an extraction tool, but all i see is one for 0.093" pins.
I use a jeweller's screwdriver, but a much smaller bit, probably under 1mm so the barb can be pressed into the tube a bit and then picked out for re-assembly. My guide here.
Hey, that's a nice link! $25 may seem absurdly high, but back in my school days I went shopping for that tool and couldn't find it under a hundred bux.
wellllll you didnt hear me say this, but .93 is for the regular 4 pin molex. And I would have to say, sleeving a psu is indeed easier said than done. Im down to 25 min a power supply, but thats still a long time. piccies you say???? SURE!!! 1 more week guys.......
definatly invest in the molex remover tool.. you can pick them up at most electronics shops.. very handy.. -scoob8000
1 more week...BAH! You said six days 3 days ago. It's too late now anyway. I'm already done and don't plan on doing anymore soon.
Phire is a god. heheh. *bows down* It's that first pic you posted....that's the evil connector that was causing me the most grief!! I checked the sizes on my precision screwdrivers.... the smallest one is 0.9mm, which is the ONLY size that will fit in that weird connector (that's also the one that caused me to break the screwdriver). Grrrrr how the hell did you do that?! As for the normal 4 pin molex plugs.... TRIUMPH!!! Yes, I got one of those stupid things off. Easily. I tried using the next size UP in my screwdriver set. Think it's 1.2mm or something. Anyways it only took like 3 minutes to get all 4 pins out. Joy! The rest shouldn't be so bad now. Except for the aforementioned evil plug and its awkward friend that I haven't even tried yet.
