Author Topic: Practical to make your own custom cable  (Read 1666 times)

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Online Alex EisenhutTopic starter

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Practical to make your own custom cable
« on: October 11, 2019, 12:35:34 am »
Suppose I want a one meter length of cable about 5mm in outer diameter (.2 inches) that contains two thin 50 ohm coaxes and 5 or 6 24AWG wires... Think its possible to shove all that into a piece of 8mm (unshrunk) silicone heat shrink tubing and have it end up being a usefully flexible cable?
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Silicone-Rubber-Heat-Shrink-Tubing-0-8-40mm-Heatshrink-Tube-Black-Gray-Iron-Red/183851311036?var=691506500396
I have no idea what this stuff acts like once shrunk or "recovered" in the heat-shrink tubing vernacular.
Anyone ever try this?
It would be for a Tektronix P6042 current probe, often the probe cable fails.
Hoarder of 8-bit Commodore relics and 1960s Tektronix 500-series stuff. Unconventional interior decorator.
 

Online T3sl4co1l

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Re: Practical to make your own custom cable
« Reply #1 on: October 11, 2019, 12:48:56 am »
Think I'd recommend loom (e.g. the braid stuff) over tubing (spaghetti or shrink)?

Tim
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Online Alex EisenhutTopic starter

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Re: Practical to make your own custom cable
« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2019, 01:00:49 am »
Think I'd recommend loom (e.g. the braid stuff) over tubing (spaghetti or shrink)?

Tim

I've done that before for my experimental Commodore SX-64 keyboard cable. It works, but it was not as flexible as I want this P6042 cable to be.
Hoarder of 8-bit Commodore relics and 1960s Tektronix 500-series stuff. Unconventional interior decorator.
 

Offline edpalmer42

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Re: Practical to make your own custom cable
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2019, 02:22:50 am »
A VGA cable has 3 coaxes and 5 signal lines plus assorted ground returns.  Would that work?

Ed
 

Online Alex EisenhutTopic starter

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Re: Practical to make your own custom cable
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2019, 02:30:06 am »
A VGA cable has 3 coaxes and 5 signal lines plus assorted ground returns.  Would that work?

Ed


Those are 75 ohms and too thick... good idea though.
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Offline tautech

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Re: Practical to make your own custom cable
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2019, 02:32:46 am »
It works, but it was not as flexible as I want this P6042 cable to be.
Is the original cable FUBAR'ed ?

IMHO replacing it with 'some other' coax will bugger up the cable termination impedance matching.

You might want to have a read of Tek's Probe Circuits book P65 on.
http://w140.com/tekwiki/images/6/62/062-1146-00.pdf
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