sleeving question

[Destonomos]

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=12-999-032&DEPA=0

Thats a good sleeving kit and all but something has been pondering me, since it fits perfectly over the cables to keep them extremly tight, how do u get them on since they arn't hard plastic and don't have a slit up the side of the sleeving? Wouldn't the power connectors to devices stop u from plugging them in?

 

[Nomad]

Sleeving is a huge pain in the ass to me. I tried it a couple of times and was never happy with the results. You have to remove the molex connectors and - for me at least - getting them back in is a problem. At least 1 connector per strand will get bent so that it will no longer stay in the connector when you are trying to push it into an optical drive or something.

I did this little writeup a little while back and have done this kind of sleeving about 12-15 times and heard back from ~50 people that said they did it this way and loved the results.

Just an option.
http://www.overclockers.com/tips1154/

 

[Mickey21]

Sleeving is a huge pain in the ass to me. I tried it a couple of times and was never happy with the results. You have to remove the molex connectors and - for me at least - getting them back in is a problem. At least 1 connector per strand will get bent so that it will no longer stay in the connector when you are trying to push it into an optical drive or something.

I did this little writeup a little while back and have done this kind of sleeving about 12-15 times and heard back from ~50 people that said they did it this way and loved the results.

Just an option.
http://www.overclockers.com/tips1154/

Sleeving is some work, but I wouldnt say it is a pain in the ass... When done correctly, can greatly decrease the rats nest wires look completely. The process shown in the link just doesnt do it for me in neatness. I would reccomend the wire sleeving over any type of tape wrapping. Tape wrapping also makes the cable bundle much more rigid and harder to make tight turns and hide cabling. And if you do manage the tight turns, a lot of times the tape will split (not tear) and expose the wire bundle. I never thought tape wrapped wiring looked anywhere as neat as sleeving can (keyword CAN, I have seem some mediocre use of sleeving). As far as the molex connectors, they should be hard to take off then put back on. And if you find it hard to remove molex connectors, get a molex removal tool. Works wonders on removal. Less than 5 seconds flat easy...

I am actually in the middle of creating a walkthrough on cabling but havent posted it yet (Another site though). If I remember later, I will post the link for you...

 

[JeffS]

A couple of words of advice from someone who has been down the sleeving road a couple of times. First, I thought I knew what I was doing after reading various how-to writups. Boy was I wrong! I also thought that being fairly mechanically inclined, this would be easy... HAH!

Second, real advice:
If one kit will cover your PSU (like they all claim) buy 2!!!
You will run out of something that you need. Depending on what issues you run into, it could
be a certain size sleeving, it could be a particular size of heatshrink, but it will happen. They aren't expensive, and the extra sleeving will allow you to do extras you wouldn't normally concern yourself with such as fans, lights, etc... spare parts are a modders godsend...

When you buy the sleeving, also buy some molex connectors, pins and crimpers.
A better solution would be to buy some wire and some of those self crimping molex plugs that come off the wire at a 90 degree angle.
http://www.pccasegear.com/prod1278.htm
There is probably a better link, but this was the first thing google popped up to show what I mean.

Grab your soldering iron (it's assumed you have one) and go to town. You'll have the advantage of having just the right amount of cable to fit your needs. no need to hide extra loops that you don't want. it will be nicely sleeved, and you'll be all set.

This may seem like a LOT more work than the general description of sleeving, but take it from me. After sleeving my PSU, I discovered that I messed things up and the heatshrink was the wrong size and the sleeves were too short, and it looked like hell. So, cut it all off and start over. Use up all of the right size, and part of the wrong size, and now it looks like crap. Oh, but while doing that I ran out of heatshrink (and burned my fingers in the process) and just left it like that out of lazyness.

Then on my 2nd actually now 3rd round, one kit wasn't enough but I didn't relize that till I was 20 miles from the store, and not in the mood to deal with traffic or the lines at Fry's.

Sleeving looks really cool. Double plus cool if you've got the whole UV thing going and reactive sleeving and/or molex connectors. Set aside an afternoon, but start at 10am
Don't give up when it doesn't work out the first second or third time. Patience and practice will make you an old pro very fast. At the very least it will make you old.

Good luck, and have fun
modding your PSU.

-Jeff