Rounded SCSI cables?

[BladeRunner 0]

My case has quite good air flow.

I guess it should have with 6 case fans, an Enermax PS and the like.

However, when I look at the air flow I can see one potential problem - the SCSI cable.

I have rounded ATA-100 & Floppy cables, they tuck away nicely but that damn SCSI cable, running top to bottom in my case connecting the card and three SCSI devices - it really can't be helping.

So, couple of options:

Does anybody know of anywhere in the UK that sells rounded internal SCSI cables?

Needs to have 4 connectors on, nicely spaced etc.

The other option is to round my own SCSI cable.

Now, with an ATA-100 cable, ever second wire is a grounding wire to stop cross-talk etc.

Yet they have managed to make them rounded, effectively removing all that shielding - I know they work because I use them.

I really don't know what the internal mechanics behind internal SCSI cables is, so can anybody see any potential problems with stripping them down and 'rounding' them?

 

Tar

[Azreal 0]

I stipped down and rounded my SCSI cables and had no problems

[BladeRunner 0]

Thanks for your reply.

I'm just interested now as to how you went about rounding your SCSI cable off.

At how many wire intervals did you strip the ribbon down?

Every 2 wires, every 5 etc.

I've sourced some tubing to make it all look neat afterwards, just interested as to how you went about stripping it down.

Cheers.

[Ge0ph 0]

If you don't want to build your own you can get some here.

 

http://www.plycon.com

[Bursar 0]

Plycon are a good site, but they're US based. BladeRunner was after a UK site.

[Ge0ph 0]

Yes, but they do ship world wide.

[BladeRunner 0]

Yer, cheers for the link.

Unfortunately the $49 for worldwide shipping doesn't make it worth while.

I'm going to do a practice 'butchering of a SCSI cable' this afternoon and if that works I'll attack my long / expensive cable.

I just can't find a single UK based company who sell them, I know we are usually behind our US cousins - but for something so simple I'm really suprised.

[Azreal 0]

On my 50 Pin SCSI cable with 8 connectors I cut every strand and used Spiral Wrap and on my Ultra wide cale I cut every 5 and used a sixe smaller spiral wrap. Hope this info helps

[BladeRunner 0]

Cut every strand!

*Looks down at the cable, all seven connectors, all that length & cries*

 

Cheers for the info, me thinks this could be a long job.

[Bursar 0]

I emailed you a URL with a UK company that sells rounded SCSI cables. Not sure if they have the right number of connectors, but you could call and find out...

 

http://www.kustom.co.uk/

[BladeRunner 0]

Thank you Bursar, I'll go take a look.

Just for that, I'll get your CV handed in(once you've got it printed out that is!) and get you a job at my place!!

[Bursar 0]

Oh yeah, knew there was something else I was meant to do

[TomAL 0]

Bursar: where abouts in cambridge are you? i am also in cambridge.

[BladeRunner 0]

Wahayy!!

The Cambridge posse

I'm in Longstanton, about 3 miles outside of town centre.

[TomAL 0]

Well i Live in Mepal near Ely.

 

Tom

[TomAL 0]

work in cambirdge though :-( mad ques in the morning.

 

Tom

[Bursar 0]

Tell me about the queues!

 

I live in St Ives, but work on Huntingdon Road, near the BeefEater pub.

 

The A14 is a nightmare in the morning. Hoorah for a motorbike!

 

We'll have to arrange a lunch time meet up!

[three 0]

here's my attempt at rounded scsi cable..haven't tested it out yet, but it should work. i cut every 2 strands.

ide cables are next, since it didn't seem that difficult and a good way to kill time (at work )

[BladeRunner 0]

Looking good!!

I took the plunge about three nights ago.

I took me SCSI cable with 7 connectors on and cut every single strand.

After many, many hours and with blisters on fingers it was fully butchered.

Bound the thing up similar to the above picture, I just used electrical tape.

It's been in my system for about 2 days now and hasn't caused a single problem.

[three 0]

you do know that you don't have to cut the strands all the way thru right? all you need is to cut a small area so that there is an opening, then pull them apart by hand

 

i rounded the cable in less than 5 minutes...oh and i put some electral tape on the plastic thingy, makes it look nicer, gotta buy more colors though, only have red and black

[BladeRunner 0]

On yer, I know about the small cut and then strip.

I started by cutting the whole thing along and then it suddenly dawned on me! :-)

My SCSI cable is like a metre long, and with 7 connectors it's about 300 seperate cut and strip.

Anyway, it's done now, no longer restricts air-flow, looks great and saved me some £35 to boot!!

[Cynan 0]

Hmm. I've read this before but.. how about rounding ATA66/100 floppy cables? isn't the idea of the extra 40 wires to reduce crosstalk? and so if you round them, doesn't it screw that up?

 

I'm thinking about doing it though. I've heard ppl have done it and they work fine. Also gonna do my SCSI cable later tonight.

 

Not sure how to bind the wires together though.. I think I'll opt for using wire ties along the cable. I have a box full, multi-coloured too. Ah its gonna be grand..

 

--Cynan.

[BladeRunner 0]

I too wasn't sure about rounded ATA-100 cables.

As you said, the whole idea of the 40 grounding cables is to reduce cross-talk and effectively you are removing this protection.

I actually went out and bought rounded ATA-100 and floppy cables (about £7 each) and they work excellently.

The only reason I went for the DIY SCSI cable was because:

 

A. Couldn't find anywhere in the UK that sold them

B. I did eventually find one, but they quoted my near enough £40 for the length and number of connections I wanted (SCSI cables are always so damn expensive).

 

If companies can round off and sell ATA-100 cables I can see no reason why you couldn't DIY them - I just decided to not risk it.

Data storage I find important, loosing my SCSI sub-system (DVD-ROM, CD-RW & Internal ZIP) I didn't think was quite so.

[Cynan 0]

Where did you get your IDE cables from? Standard lenght won't be any good to me. I need something longer.

 

I have an IDE cable running from the base of my full tower, near enought right to the top! Some other devices that use them only require one connector, so rather then having a 2nd connector that I don't use, I'd prefer 1-1 cables if I can find them.

 

All the rounded cables I've seen have 2 connectors, and they look quite bulky you know.

 

Thanks.

 

--Cynan.

[BladeRunner 0]

Well, the last two I ordered were from www.scan.co.uk

They are two connector versions but are 90cm in length.

They also do 45cm versions.

They are quite bulky, but the 'boots' around the actual connectors can be removed.

Not sure if this could cause shielding issues or not.

I think you might be best off trying a DIY one first, see how you go.