DIY cable wrap
I think this should win some sort of award for the most mundane web page in existence…
I am responsible for the PA system in my church. One of the biggest time-wasters when setting up is getting the cables sorted, which can often mean untangling them.
There are numerous types of solution available to hold cable coils together neatly: two of the most common solutions are re-useable cable ties and straps made of hook and loop fasteners (see why I shouldn’t call it velcro, and am forced to call it HLF instead). Both have their disadvantages: the ties and HLF wraps not fixed to the cable are prone to get lost or not replaced once removed; HLF wraps that are designed to stay fixed to the cable slide around and can look messy.
In addition, the pre-made solutions can be very expensive: Maplin want nearly a fiver for six little coloured HLF straps with Belkin written on them.
Let’s DIY!
Here’s a significantly cheaper and more convenient solution. This is what we’re going to make, not to scale, with lengths suitable for normal cable coiled up to about ten times:
Ingredients
To make eight wraps, you need:
- 1m of sew-on HLF tape, 10mm width: I used VELCRO ® brand tape from Hobbycraft in Basildon. Make sure you get 1m of both hooks and loops, unless you can find the amazing new development that is hooks and loops in the same tape!
- A paper hole punch capable of punching about four sheets of paper at once.
- Some suitable adhesive. I used cyanoacrylate (Superglue).
- A ruler.
- A stout pair of scissors.
- Eight small-ish cable ties.
Preparation
I’m going to use the term active face when referring to the hooks or loops side of the HLF tape, and back face when referring to, erm, the other side.
- Cut four 22cm lengths of hooks, and four of loops.
- Cut the remaining 12cm of each length into four 3cm rectangles.
- Use the hole-punch to punch a hole about 4cm from one end of each of the 22cm lengths.
- Pair the long and short strips up into opposite types: long hooks to short loops and vice versa.
- For each pair, place the short length active face down onto a worksurface. Spread a thin layer of adhesive onto the back surface. This assumes you are using cyanoacrylate adhesive. Read your adhesive’s instructions!
- Pick up the corresponding long length, and press the back surface of the non-hole end onto the adhesive-covered short length. Press firmly and hold for a few seconds. Don’t superglue your fingers to the tape…
- Allow to dry as needed; repeat for all the other strips.
Application
You now need to wrap the “hole end” of the wrap around the cable as far as the hole with the active face facing outward, then use a cable tie through the hole to fix it firmly to the cable.
You may want to put a tiny dab of cyanoacrylate on the cable before doing this—this will stop the tape slipping out from under the cable tie.
For cables that are connected a specific way around, think about to which end you want the dangly bit of tape attached. For example, I have fixed the wraps to the male end of our XLR microphone cables, so that the wraps are hidden by the multicore box rather than dangling by the microphone.
Keywords: microphone cable tidy wrap velcro VELCRO hook and loop fastener lead tie tidies PA cables bind strips