Training Cable

Does anybody have any tricks or tips for when it comes to training a cable. Meaning how you get a cable to form a decent coil. Lots of new cable sometimes comes in too tight of a coil. Stretching out the cable and letting it sit works sometimes but not always. Any ideas?

 

Put your fingers around it like you're holding a pencil, squeeze tightly and pull the cord through your fingers. This should get it warm enough and remove the kinks and coil problems, but be sure to lay it out straight as you do this.

 

one good method is to stretch it out on the pavement during lunch, just leave it there for an hour or two so it softens under the sun. Then you should be able to roll it up as you need.

 

When your working with Triax which is video cable it can get really long like hundreds of feet and this is what we do to get kinks out. now im not sure it will work with xlr but it should.

lay out the cable. then choose one end and whip the cable away from you to create thoes ripples in the cable. as you do it wrap it over under style.

one or two wips per loop this will send all the kinks to the end of the cable but since its disconnceted it will twist the cable till its right.


try it out it always works for me.

JH

 

Never tried the finger grip technique but the others have worked well for me in the past. Although, I have only used the whip to straighten out a length of cable or to remove twists when rolling. I have broken connectors in the past by getting a bit heavy handed!

If the twisting/kinking is bad, you can suspend the cable under load. Tie off one end to a rafter or similar and then tie a weight to the other end. This will allow the cable to uncoil but is tricky as you need sufficient height and need to be careful not to over weight it either.

Usually leaving it in the sun works for me if I cannot untwist it whilst I am coiling it.

Cable has a memory so once you coil it correctly a few times it will almost roll itself up at the end of a gig.

 

you'll need to have at least a good 70' fly tower, but let your cables hang for a while and they'll coil nicely the first time you try without any weird ripples.

 

The Hanging method, finger method and the Leave-it-out-in-the-Sun method are all good ones that work well. In addition tho I have also found if you take a rag and spray it with Armor-All or other leather/vinyl/tire treatment fluid, while you coil it or run it thru your fingers tightly before layting it out and let it sit, this can help with the new memory it will get. Another method whcich I know some houses will do is apply a VERY lite coating of Linseed Oil to the layed out cable or as its coiled. The Oil soaks into the rubber and warms up and helps the memory--but you should make sure its DRY and all wiped off before putting it away.

VERY VERY IMPORTANT NOTE about Linseed Oil--You need to apply it lightly, let it DRY and watch it for a few hours after applying, and keep it away from flammable items. Linseed Oil WILL make its own exothermic reaction and heat up to a flash point--the oil helps heat up the cable jacket to give a good memory. BUT Linseed Oil is VERY VERY dangerous to use and work with if not taking precautions--fires have started from rags moist with Linseed Oil tossed into a garbage can. You MUST let it all evaporate and dry off before discarding rags wet with Linseed Oil--or soak them in water before tossing...else you can expect a fire to happen...

JMO...
-w

 

we pop out a ceiling tile on our catwalk of death and let them hang for a day or two

 

that must look so weird to people who arnt in tech!