For those with tons of XLR without tons of room and $.

[CHScrew]

If you have tons of cables rolled up just hanging around here is a good idea to store them. (This will only work if you have a lot of the same length XLR). Go to your local Wal-Mart or LOWES and buy one of those garden hose reels on wheels. Connect your first cable to the spool with a wire tie then just start winding them up. Once you get to the end of one just connect the next cable to the end of it. Our school has over 50 25' cables (don't ask me why) and this helped a lot.

[ship]

Good idea as long as the same size, what if they are all different sizes and you need the 5 foot at the bottom of the reel? Wouldn't a few pegs on the wall work the same for the same size materials, or perhaps a small trash can assigned to each size of cable?

Just a thought.

[sound_nerd]

We used to use trash bins marked with 5" 10" 25" 50" 100". Just put the cables in there after you're done with them. Teaches proper cable wrapping skills too, because it's not just being wrapped around a drum.

[CHScrew]

I had a BAD time with trash cans. We had extension cords in a trash can back stage. In the dark you couldn't see the extension cords and the cast thought it was just a garbage can. Then, the janitors came through and emptied the garbage. Needless to say, we were out 80ft of extension cord.

[avkid]

Put iron weights in the bottom of the can and a latching cover on the top.

[gremlin1287]

Originally Posted by CHScrew

Go to your local Wal-Mart or LOWES and buy one of those garden hose reels on wheels. Connect your first cable to the spool with a wire tie then just start winding them up. Once you get to the end of one just connect the next cable to the end of it.

I've thought of that but then I wondered, in the long run wouldn't that have the same effect as wrapping it around your arm (i.e. ruining the cable)?

[Foxinabox10]

gremlin1287,

Yes, it is the same as wrapping it around your arm which severly hurts the inside of the cable by forcing it to bend back in forth, rather than using its natural curve. That is why the natural shape is crucial to achieve in wrapping cables.

[Inaki2]

We just got back various moving lights from tours where they will bend the cable into shape and tape it together (ie if the cable is to long). Needless to say after 4 months of living in a swing-wing truus, the cables is now marked like that and has horrible kinks. At least round-wrapping it won't leave those kinks in them.

[Radman]

Ouch.

[bdesmond]

Originally Posted by ship

Good idea as long as the same size, what if they are all different sizes and you need the 5 foot at the bottom of the reel? Wouldn't a few pegs on the wall work the same for the same size materials, or perhaps a small trash can assigned to each size of cable?

Just a thought.

Milk crates work well too ... esp since they stack.