Coilng Cable

[EastCoastGriffin]

Does anybody know of an advantage to coiling cables (mainly socapex, 14/3 and dmx) clockwise or counterclockwise? At the various places I have worked over the years it did not matter as much to how i coiled them as long as they were neat and sizeable. So I now wonder is there an advantage to a certain way or is just personal preference?

 

[Wood4321]

Does anybody know of an advantage to coiling cables (mainly socapex, 14/3 and dmx) clockwise or counterclockwise? At the various places I have worked over the years it did not matter as much to how i coiled them as long as they were neat and sizeable. So I now wonder is there an advantage to a certain way or is just personal preference?

I am a big fan of clockwise, over under.
Thats all my multicable seems to want to do. (or has been trained to do)
You can force it into a case without the over-under, but then it will be a nightmare when taken out of the case.

 

[JFR]

I am a big fan of clockwise, over under.
Thats all my multicable seems to want to do. (or has been trained to do)

For my 14/3 I'm not a huge fan of the over under, but that is just my personal preference.
I was always taught to coil socapex in a figure 8. I don't know why, but maybe someone else can back up that logic.

 

[rm2011]

For my 14/3 I'm not a huge fan of the over under, but that is just my personal preference.
I was always taught to coil socapex in a figure 8. I don't know why, but maybe someone else can back up that logic.

Probably because it fits better in a road case. Just my opinion.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[venuetech]

I was always taught to coil socapex in a figure 8.

the over/under is a figure 8 in one coil.

 

[techieman33]

I generally over/under clockwise. But if it's not house cable I usually check to see if they have a preferred method of coiling.

 

[David Ashton]

my cables get rolled any way they want to, the golden rule is do not put the cable under stress by forcing it.Anyone seen winding a cable overarm is immediately "counseled"

 

[church]

my cables get rolled any way they want to, the golden rule is do not put the cable under stress by forcing it.Anyone seen winding a cable overarm is immediately "counseled"

I agree with David, I had this experience at an event on Saturday, a supposedly experienced sound guy was "caught" coiling one of my DMX cables over his arm. He was counseled and decided it was too much effort to coil cables properly. He was out.

 

[cbrandt]

I prefer that every cable in my inventory is over under. I'm a little more lenient on multi cable and feeder, so long as it is coiled neatly and in small coils. It still blows my mind when I get cable back from a show, with lots of complaints that it doesn't fit in the cases. Lo and behold, all of it was coiled in six foot coils. Does anyone, anywhere, want their cable coiled like that? The only time I figure 8 cable is for very long cables that have a specific case that they permanently live in, such as my control snakes, and PRT bundles.

 

[Aakburns]

my cables get rolled any way they want to, the golden rule is do not put the cable under stress by forcing it.Anyone seen winding a cable overarm is immediately "counseled"

Your statement made me chuckle. Same with the church under you.

I had a guy that refused to under over my cables. I had brought him into where I worked and because he knew me personally he just decided he didn't have to listen to me and laughed whenever I told him to do stuff. He only took me seriously with national acts because I was always running around with my head chopped off making sure everything was right and going on strict time constraints.

Grr I say Grr. He only stayed because I needed him at the time.

 

[WooferHound]

Someone new on our crew was rolling up a 100 foot SOOW cable on his arm and was almost half done when I stopped him and had a brief training in Cable Coiling.
A little later I was thinking that I should have let him try to finish it to see how far he got . . .

 

[techieman33]

Someone new on our crew was rolling up a 100 foot SOOW cable on his arm and was almost half done when I stopped him and had a brief training in Cable Coiling.
A little later I was thinking that I should have let him try to finish it to see how far he got . . .

I watched a new guy try to coil soco like that. The rest of us were working on other things so he didn't have anyone to look at for an example. We just watched him for a bit trying not to laugh. He went up to one of the guys and said "man you guys must all be really strong if you coil this cable all the time." We all laughed at him, and then showed him how to coil it.

 

[ProgrammerInTraining]

here in hollywood we coil clockwise, every cable, everytime. the way we coil 100' soco/feeder/s400 is start at the middle and pull the cable towards you coiling in front of your feet, when done with the first half flip it over continue coiling the rest. I've seen people get told off for improperly coiling, speed is everything, the only people that do over under around here is camera guys coiling bnc cable.

 

[kicknargel]

I like to hold one end of the cable, then spin in place and let it coil around my hips. A little shimmy-shake and it falls at my feet neatly coiled. If I'm standing in the road case it saves another step.

 

[MarfaLights]

Beach House played our venue recently. We asked if they wanted their cables coiled over/under. They said it was the first time on tour that anybody had ever asked that question!