Cable management

[Bogmusic]

In the middle of downsizing I opened the suitcase of doom to address the tangled mess of cables which have melded together to evolve into a single beast. Its a job I had put off for ages but the time had come to extract the cables I need and let go of the rest of them.

After a bit of improvisation I found the best solution to be a box of Velcro (or similar hook and loop strips) with the sticky backing. Just stick the hook strips to the loop strips back to back and cut them into various lengths to suit cable sizes. Then for ID purposes stick paper (I use different colours) to some loop strips so you can label the cable length/type etc. and attach the label to the cable tie.

There are plenty of propriety cable ties out there of course, but I got just under 100 ties out of one box of Velcro.

[Martin Walker]

Good idea Bogmusic!

I also use official cable ties, but they are essentially pre-cut lengths of variously-coloured velcro, which enables me to train various combos of cables down the legs of my keyboard stands with impeccable neatness

Even Amazon sell them in convenient all-black packs of 100 for just £2.99 and free UK delivery.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Approx-100pcs-Velcro-Wire-Cable-Straps---Black/dp/B00H93B7YO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462392611&sr=8-1&keywords=reusable+velcro+cable+ties



Martin

[shufflebeat]

I find those Velcro ties know when I'm in a hurry and huddle together in fear making one big ball of frustration. I now use the elastic loops from Planet Waves but for VFM it's probably a roll of good quality white 'leccy tape wrapped once and stuck sticky to sticky making a little tab which pulls off for easy removal.

[Jumpeyspyder]

Velco strips are very handy for keeping cables under a wooden desk tidy.

Just put a screw through them

[Martin Walker]

I find those Velcro ties know when I'm in a hurry and huddle together in fear making one big ball of frustration.

I currently have a bathroom ceiling pull switch that occasionally doesn't click off correctly. However, I now know how to cure the problem - before I went to Focus Do It All yesterday I stood in the bathroom and said to my wife that I'd measured the switch housing with a view to replacing it, and from then on the switch worked perfectly every time!

It's always worth trying the frighteners on electrical products if you want to cure intermittent faults

Martin

[shufflebeat]

Be very careful, Martin, resentful white goods can have you over a barrel in a matter of hours.

[Martin Walker]

Quite right shufflebeat - and that switch has reverted to being intermittent, so me putting the frighteners on it only proved to be a temporary solution

Martin

[damoore]

It's always worth trying the frighteners on electrical products if you want to cure intermittent faults

Martin

But you have to disable the critical need detector first, and that can be quite tricky.

I knew someone who generated a Murphy field. If he walked up to a piece of gear it would go wrong. I, on the other hand, seem to generate an anti-murphy field. When someone asks me to help solve a problem, whatever it is that was misbehaving suddenly works perfectly. It would mark me as a technical genius except for the unfortunate fact that they can invariably see I didn't do anything.

[Dramatic Hammer]

These are even better as they stay attached to the cable even when uncoiled:
cableties

[Martin Walker]

These are even better as they stay attached to the cable even when uncoiled:
cableties

Nice!! Except that at £6.99 per 100 they are 350% the price of my standard velcro strips

Martin

[shufflebeat]

These are even better as they stay attached to the cable even when uncoiled:
cableties

And, unfortunately, to all the other cables within reach.

[Drew Stephenson]

Only thing about them is that they're not very long either, I've ended up using those re-useable zip-ties for my my longer cables. Bit more expensive and they don't stay attached to the cable but they don't go sticking to each other either

[Hugh Robjohns]

A cable drum is so much easier!

[shufflebeat]

This is true for longer leads but there is a minimum size of cable drum that'll deal with serially joined mic leads, the combined length of a male and female xlr being fairly substantial and them being notoriously unbendy.

[damoore]

I use different colors for different lengths. Basically green for 50', blue for 25' and black for shortees. Saves a lot of thrashing when setting up.

I used to binary code cables with two colors of tape, so I could see which fader to pull, and those were all 25 footers, but it looked like [ ****** ] - er, I mean it was visually unattractive.

I have seen numbers hung on mics and that looks better. Anyone know of a good source for attractive and easy to attach ones?

[shufflebeat]

...I've ended up using those re-useable zip-ties for my my longer cables. Bit more expensive and they don't stay attached to the cable but they don't go sticking to each other either

Also great for anchoring snakes to table legs and grouping cables across stages where appropriate.

[DGL.]

I find those Velcro ties know when I'm in a hurry and huddle together in fear making one big ball of frustration.

I currently have a bathroom ceiling pull switch that occasionally doesn't click off correctly. However, I now know how to cure the problem - before I went to Focus Do It All yesterday I stood in the bathroom and said to my wife that I'd measured the switch housing with a view to replacing it, and from then on the switch worked perfectly every time!

It's always worth trying the frighteners on electrical products if you want to cure intermittent faults

Martin

Went to go to focus do it all?, so it's you who stole my time machine I wan't it back.

For those who don't know focus/focus do it all went bankrupt a few years ago and some of their stores became B&Q.

[ef37a]

A cable drum is so much easier!

+1, I used "KAMAL" stackable drums and if you are going to code the cable use the resistor colour code (the simple 3 colour one. I am too old to learn the new fangled 4 band thing. T,G. for DMM
s!}. Lekkies tape oozes sticky so the tape was covered with clear heat shrink. Thus, 25mtrs is red and green (not going to have a 52mtr wire!) Since the XLRs were mostly of the old tiny screw variety a piece of blue shrink surrounded those.

This also afforded some extra strain relief but was most effective in IDing OUR cables when the BBC/ITA boys had walked off with them!

Don't get the "mated XLRs" problem? If the cables are that short just coil them and use a releasable cable tie?

Dave.

[Martin Walker]

I went to Focus Do It All yesterday

Went to go to focus do it all?, so it's you who stole my time machine I wan't it back.

For those who don't know focus/focus do it all went bankrupt a few years ago and some of their stores became B&Q.

I'm getting old DGL, and can't keep up with all the take-overs!!

Just looked it up on line, and apparently this DIY superstore is now labeled Homebase (but includes an Argos on site)

Martin

[planetnine]

These are even better as they stay attached to the cable even when uncoiled:
cableties

And, unfortunately, to all the other cables within reach.

The idea is that you wrap the hook part of the velcro on the inside. I have crew who haven't mastered this though.

Used to buy the red and green proper Velcro captive wraps for mains and speakon, but they're no better quality than the cheapies now, so stuff them.

I still use LX tape for mic leads, I can put it on faster than velcro...

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