Author Topic: How to make USB cables?  (Read 4460 times)

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Offline cinnabolt

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 10
How to make USB cables?
« on: Mon, 09 December 2019, 00:50:58 »
Hey everyone, my friend and I got into the custom keyboard community earlier this year and we are looking to learn how to make our own USB cables!

Does anyone have any recommendations on a guide and where to source the materials?



Offline joshinator

  • Posts: 1
Re: How to make USB cables?
« Reply #1 on: Mon, 09 December 2019, 03:45:49 »
Zapcables is selling DIY kits that include all the items you need for a cable.

- 28 AWG 4 core cable (shielded)
- the USB connectors you need (eg. USB A and USB C, for USB C stick to the connectors that have 4 pins)
- Heatshrink and sleeving

Your best bet is aliexpress if you dont want to buy a kit, they have pretty much everything available, they even have aviator connectors / lemo knockoffs.

Offline 4sStylZ

  • Posts: 127
Re: How to make USB cables?
« Reply #2 on: Mon, 09 December 2019, 10:47:52 »
Hi there,

I second @joshinator Zap are probably good for kits.

If you want to made them by yourself, He are some advices : 

The most important thing is the cable diameter. You want to be as close possible to the paracord, else this will be bad looking. But you want to be able to put the sleeve on the chord. So you need to have the good cable. This one is the key to success. As you can see it's 24 AWG (American wire gauge). For some reason I get others cable with the same size but they are too big for the paracord, even 750. This is for 25 meters so this is an investisment for multiples cable…

Paracord size 550 to 750. If the color that you want is disponible in 750 then go for it. Remember that if you coiled, you need a more important section. Paracord 1250 can be good if you have a big sleeved cable (not the one that I recommand). You can get them on paracord planet or paracord.eu or elsewhere.

For USB connectors, choose something like that  As you can see there is no plastic shield and you can cover them with heatshrink.

You can get Lemo connectors on Aliexpress (I don't know if they are genuine but I have some and it's pretty decent).

For USB-C connectors that's a little bit complicated. At this point I have done some research and there is some USB-2 connectors that you can use on Alieexpress.

For the Heatshrink the most important thing is the reduction factor like 2:1, 3:1 or 4:1. If you take 4:1 reductor then you can cover a female usb port and also your chord so it’s probably perfect. The size that I have used is  ≥9.53 mm for covering the male usb (if you don't have those with plastic shield as suggest) cable and that will work for mini / micro usb but this can be a little bit big for others use so I suggest you get a size a little bit smaller. Anyway, having different heatshrink size is very confortable, so maybe buy a black or transparent kit that will follow all your needs for a lot of time. I have those in multiples colors, also made by techflex. I suggest you to have a heatshrink at the color that you want but also take some black / translucent one for your next uses.

If you want to have a techflex sleeve on the paracord you can see that there is multiple size. I have used PET Expandable braided sleeve called Flexo. There is multiple size but you can see on this table the minimal size (when folded) and the maximal size when stretched. What you want is 6.35 mm size. It's good with 550 paracord size to 1250 (and probably 3 time bigger).
Bépo user here : AEK64 White linear dampened, XD75 Cherry Blue Jailhoused, TypeMatrix2030 black skin, Lenovo 0B47200 w/ trackpoint, G13, G512. Kensington Expert Trackball & Orbit, Magic touchpad 2.

Offline cinnabolt

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 10
Re: How to make USB cables?
« Reply #3 on: Tue, 10 December 2019, 03:01:49 »
Hi there,

I second @joshinator Zap are probably good for kits.

If you want to made them by yourself, He are some advices :

The most important thing is the cable diameter. You want to be as close possible to the paracord, else this will be bad looking. But you want to be able to put the sleeve on the chord. So you need to have the good cable. This one is the key to success. As you can see it's 24 AWG (American wire gauge). For some reason I get others cable with the same size but they are too big for the paracord, even 750. This is for 25 meters so this is an investisment for multiples cable…

Paracord size 550 to 750. If the color that you want is disponible in 750 then go for it. Remember that if you coiled, you need a more important section. Paracord 1250 can be good if you have a big sleeved cable (not the one that I recommand). You can get them on paracord planet or paracord.eu or elsewhere.

For USB connectors, choose something like that  As you can see there is no plastic shield and you can cover them with heatshrink.

You can get Lemo connectors on Aliexpress (I don't know if they are genuine but I have some and it's pretty decent).

For USB-C connectors that's a little bit complicated. At this point I have done some research and there is some USB-2 connectors that you can use on Alieexpress.

For the Heatshrink the most important thing is the reduction factor like 2:1, 3:1 or 4:1. If you take 4:1 reductor then you can cover a female usb port and also your chord so it’s probably perfect. The size that I have used is  ≥9.53 mm for covering the male usb (if you don't have those with plastic shield as suggest) cable and that will work for mini / micro usb but this can be a little bit big for others use so I suggest you get a size a little bit smaller. Anyway, having different heatshrink size is very confortable, so maybe buy a black or transparent kit that will follow all your needs for a lot of time. I have those in multiples colors, also made by techflex. I suggest you to have a heatshrink at the color that you want but also take some black / translucent one for your next uses.

If you want to have a techflex sleeve on the paracord you can see that there is multiple size. I have used PET Expandable braided sleeve called Flexo. There is multiple size but you can see on this table the minimal size (when folded) and the maximal size when stretched. What you want is 6.35 mm size. It's good with 550 paracord size to 1250 (and probably 3 time bigger).

Zapcables is selling DIY kits that include all the items you need for a cable.

- 28 AWG 4 core cable (shielded)
- the USB connectors you need (eg. USB A and USB C, for USB C stick to the connectors that have 4 pins)
- Heatshrink and sleeving

Your best bet is aliexpress if you dont want to buy a kit, they have pretty much everything available, they even have aviator connectors / lemo knockoffs.

All good information! Thanks for the kit recommend! and thanks 4sStylZ for the in-depth answer to making a cord! (and where to get the materials)

I think I'm gonna get a DIY kit from Zaps to learn how to make a cable and then when I'm comfortable, I'll just venture out to sourcing the materials from a wholesaler!



Offline Findecanor

  • Posts: 5036
  • Location: Koriko
Re: How to make USB cables?
« Reply #4 on: Tue, 10 December 2019, 07:42:13 »
A C-to-A cable also needs a 56kΩ resistor between A5 (CC) and VBUS. The other CC pin should be unconnected.
When connected to a smart-enough Type C device, it indicates orientation and to not draw too much current (Ampere) from the Type A port.
« Last Edit: Tue, 10 December 2019, 07:45:24 by Findecanor »