Power Cord Part Sourcing and Building Techniques
- Thread starter 4-2-7
- Start date
I have just over 10" here of SJOOW 12/3 (UL) water resistant. Nice and floppy/flexible but no shielding. For me if I make my own shielding is number two on the list of must have.
You can get sjoow at Lowe's/HD but it is quite bulky. I used it to make a nice cord for my server rack.
I wouldn't know where to get shielded.
If I ever make biwire cables I'll try 12/4 SJOOW. I like having all four conductors in the same outer sheath.
I wouldn't know where to get shielded.
If I ever make biwire cables I'll try 12/4 SJOOW. I like having all four conductors in the same outer sheath.
Yeah Tim I was thinking I could spiral a wire around the outside of the cable and connect it to the grounds at both ends.
Ground at both ends or just one, and which end if only one?
Which cable is it that the shield only gets attached at one end? Phono cables?
FrostEOne
Active Member
Great information, thanks
RCA IC, that they have directional arrows on, it's a bleed off, that's not what I'm doing here. I'm making AC power cords
Is the outside wire copper? And then I solder it to the ground?
I got it, that was just an informational query. Sorry to clutter your thread.
That copper mesh is neat, where's the best place to buy that stuff?
When it’s the outer shield of a power cord, it’s called a drain to dissipate noise.
I think I'm proving a point here, even going on the supper cheap.
I should have just ordered $100 cords that I liked the looks of. They would have been delivered and installed already.
My free time is money and worth more to me than shopping and spending money on crap that's still not working out right.
I should have just ordered $100 cords that I liked the looks of. They would have been delivered and installed already.
My free time is money and worth more to me than shopping and spending money on crap that's still not working out right.
invaderzim
Super Member
A truth about DIY is: Anytime you can afford to buy the item of the same quality completed, without giving up anything else, the only reason to build it is if you enjoy the process.
Yeah I was getting frustrated last night, I was hoping to get at least 4 cords knocked out. However the only IEC plugs I could find local are just too small for the cord. I thought I could just ream the hole witch I did but the contact screws and mounting is just too small for the wire. I then whipped out a old soldering gun to eliminate screws. I just couldn't get it hot enough to solder it together.
I only bought 4 IEC @ $3.00 each and 10 more feet of SJOOW 12AWG to make four 5' cords. I think Home Depot had SJOOW 14AWG I might try, or order bigger and better IEC plugs and wait for them in the mail.
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Ok to resolve the problem with the pretty small IEC plugs and the fat SJOOW, 12AWG, I went to Home Depot and got some SJOOW 14AWG.
This worked out a lot better and I got one and a half 5' foot cords done last night. I never made cords like this so I'm glad I went on the cheep for these 4. It's letting me practice some assembly techniques to end up with a cleanly assembled cord as the end result. The plug ends are about $3.00 each for both ends, a 5 foot piece of SJOOW 14AWG is about $7.50, about $5.00 for the outer sleeving and a $1.00 for heat shrink, total $19.50 for a 5' cord.
The 1/2" NTE no fray expandable sleeving is pretty good stuff, I got a 100 foot roll for $96.00. I would say this stuff would work for 90% of the cabling in a home system.
I highly recommend the Dual Wall- Adhesive Lined Heat Shrink Tubing. Not only dose it shrink evenly without crinkles and looks very neat. It glues to the flex sleeving, clamps down tight to the cord and is ridged when cooled. It's just like the stuff used on ready made cables, IC and cords, just no gold brand name printing to make it look fancy. Before I went to the store I was just going to get the standard 3 foot heat shrink tubing thats flimsy, I'm glad I seen this package before buying. I feel this will make or break the looks and function of the end result no matter the cost of the other components.
Archguy
Official Roiurama Factory Rep
Agreed. It looks like fun until you get into it, then you discover it's hard work bringing everything up to the standards you set. And it's especially hard to compete with the economic advantages of large-scale factory production. Not to mention the especially low price of labor in E/SE Asia.
Now build and profitably run a business against those same factors...
Great thread to have saved when I get to the point of focusing on my power cords, thank you.
