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geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => Topic started by: whiskerBox on Mon, 15 October 2012, 22:58:37

Title: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: whiskerBox on Mon, 15 October 2012, 22:58:37
I have been promising for a long time that I would post a guide of some sort to help people who want to make there own cables.

Ok for starters I am not going to make a comprehensive guide on all things usb cable because thats ridiculous and I wouldn't know where to start. So I will go over the basics of what I used to make mine and what worked and what didn't.

This will probably take me a couple days to get pics of everything up so be patient, and feel free to add tips and tricks you figured out. My way is by no means perfect so if you think you have a better way to do something then you probably do lol.

Ok so I guess the best way to start is with a couple topics:
-Tools needed or recommended
-Sleeving material
-Shrinkwrap
-Cables
-Assembly tips

Whisker Cables Gallery (http://s1228.beta.photobucket.com/user/johnjohns0n/library/Whisker%20Cables)

(http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee451/johnjohns0n/Whisker%20Cables/649f9493.jpg)
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: whiskerBox on Mon, 15 October 2012, 22:58:49
TOOLS

(http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee451/johnjohns0n/D464E5BC-5997-495E-9319-172E0BBD13D8-8227-0000074800BE2F40.jpg)

Ok so...
-Heatgun $13 harbor freight
-Soldering iron $10 radio shack doesn't have to be nice minimal soldering required
-helping hands $8 harbor freight (optional if you have somewhere to place your iron)
-Small screw driver set $3? - only need small flat heads
-Tweazers $3 - 10 buy a set of all different size and shape ones they will come in handy
- wire strippers $3 harbor freight
- wire cutters $3 harbor freight
- Weird angled pliers ? orange handle (sorry not sure what the term is for these but I find them useful) bent needle nose?
- small scissors $3?
- little clamps
- scalpels or exacto knifes
- electrical tape
- solder (small / thin)
- tape measure - small and not the retracting kind (optional)
- ruler small (optional)
- something to gauge diameter (optional)

Ok a lot of this may sound crazy, but it will make sense later.

If you work at a hospital you are set because half of this stuff can be grabbed there. (i.e. tweezers, hemostats, scissors, scalpels, tape, rib spreaders, bone saw, dremel you get the idea).

Look for these: they contain scalpel, scissors, tweezers and rubber gloves, gauze and ointment for when you cut yourself
(http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee451/johnjohns0n/6F89AD30-E68D-4BD2-ACC7-1692754D530E-8227-0000074806A22CDE.jpg)
believe it or not these expire so sometimes you can get them for free :)

I like the metal stuff better too and when things dull you can use them for jigs.
-take an old dull scalpel and rip the blade off and tape it to the table now you have a jig for soldering usb ends
(sorry for the crappy pics :( this is a rush job I will fix later)
(http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee451/johnjohns0n/72EFABEC-7236-48D2-9971-B3447B0F8807-8227-0000074816F392BE.jpg)
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: whiskerBox on Mon, 15 October 2012, 22:59:32
Sleeving

I personally like techflex sleeving and you can buy it from cableorganizer.com (http://www.cableorganizer.com/) by the foot.

as for size I usually go for the smallest 1/8" when I want to show the color below the techflex for double wrapped.

If you are not doing multiple layer get a larger diameter like 1/4" so the original cable color does not show through.

-Braided Sleeving (http://www.cableorganizer.com/wire-management/)

-Shrink Wrap (http://www.cableorganizer.com/heat-shrink/)

-techflex can sometimes be found on ebay for a good price as well ;)
    - I have had very good luck dealing with furyletters. If you buy multiple items request combined shipping and he will get back to you within a day. This is his ebay store FURRYLETTERS (http://stores.ebay.com/FURRYLETTERS?_trksid=p2047675.l2563)


I aslo like to use paracord as the base material for my cables, but beware not all 550 is created equal. I have gotten many different size paracord in the mail. So best bet is to go to your local malita store(army surplus) and try theres first. A lot of the brands I have gotten in the mail have been to small.


Shrinkwrap

don't cheap out! The cheap shrink wrap tends to be real thin and will look crapy after a short period of time or come lose. Also order many different sizes because most places tend to mess up the order. I have found 3 to 1 works pretty good for me and is plenty think. Mess around with the weird stuff, sometimes you will get a pleasant surprise.


Cables

The easiest way to do this is to buy normal cables. Find a cable you like and buy it that simple. They are cheap and then you will not have to solder the mini-b side of the cable.

*this is done for the ease of the tutorial so that you do not have to solder the mini-b connector. If you feel like a challenge buy all the parts separately :)

How to prep the cable:

1. use the heat gun to heat up each end of the cable focusing on the seem of the plastic on the connector. Then use a scalpel to cut down the seam (be careful!). now that you have ripped all that dumb plastic rubber **** off you should have just the metal connectors one the cable.

2. Cut the the big end off. Leave about an inch or two on the the usb-A side and cut it off.

3. take the USB-A side you cut off and get out a small screwdriver to pry apart the metal housing and set it aside for later


How to sleeve the cable:

Paracord
1. Cut a piece of paracord a foot longer then your cable.
2. pull out the inner strands.
3. cut the ends neat and burn em with a lighter so they don't fray.
4. cut the end of your cable thats cut off neatly and melt it. if you don't do this wires will pop out and the paracord will never go on.
5. inch the paracord on.
6. once it is on all the way and you have tightened it leave an inch or two of the cable exposed and put electrical tape on the end of the paracord to hold it in place.


Techflex

1. don't cut it to size you will fail just start feeding it on and cut it once the cable is sleeved.
2. trim the techflex around usb mini-b side
3. shrinkwrap the USB-miniB side


Solder

1. bring back the usb-A plug you cut off and disassembled
2. desolder the wires still connected to the usb-A connector
3. strip the cable you sleeved (remember the inche you left out of sleeve)
4. tin the four wires
5. solder them to the USB-A connector
6. remove the electrical tape holding the paracord in place and pull the sleeving taught.
7. remove excess techflex
8. shrink wrap the USB-A side


Thats it! I think if I remember anything else I will post it later and update with pics sooner or later
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: sth on Mon, 15 October 2012, 23:00:08
Woo can't wait to see what this entails and if I'm doing much different  Particularly interested in HST diameters that you use.
edit: removed old post so it was not in the way of your reserved posts
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: Sifo on Mon, 15 October 2012, 23:10:59
this looks like a fun up and coming project. can't wait for the guide :)
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: whiskerBox on Tue, 16 October 2012, 00:03:41
Beware this will make a mess and your wife/GF will hate you
(http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee451/johnjohns0n/78fa9132.jpg)

I have made this table look like a girl with a bad cutting problem YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: sth on Tue, 16 October 2012, 00:10:33
shoot i was hoping for some tips on mini-USB... but i guess that just means they're definitely a pain in the ass, and I'm not just a butterfingered klutz!
 thanks for posting all of this, what an awesome resource :)
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: whiskerBox on Tue, 16 October 2012, 00:13:58
Quote from: sth on Tue, 16 October 2012, 00:10:33
shoot i was hoping for some tips on mini-USB... but i guess that just means they're definitely a pain in the ass, and I'm not just a butterfingered klutz!
 thanks for posting all of this, what an awesome resource :)

I have soldered mini-usb several times, but for this tutorial I was trying to keep it easy. Best advice is Tweezers and magnifying glass.
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: cactux on Tue, 16 October 2012, 00:15:36
where can I get the best gold usb connectors?
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: The_Beast on Tue, 16 October 2012, 00:16:10
Quote from: whiskerBox on Tue, 16 October 2012, 00:13:58
Quote from: sth on Tue, 16 October 2012, 00:10:33
snip

I have soldered mini-usb several times, but for this tutorial I was trying to keep it easy. Best advice is Tweezers and magnifying glass.

Lol, so easy to make a masturbation joke with this quote ^___^


Anyways, thanks for the tutorial
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: sth on Tue, 16 October 2012, 00:16:33
Quote from: whiskerBox on Tue, 16 October 2012, 00:13:58
Quote from: sth on Tue, 16 October 2012, 00:10:33
shoot i was hoping for some tips on mini-USB... but i guess that just means they're definitely a pain in the ass, and I'm not just a butterfingered klutz!
 thanks for posting all of this, what an awesome resource :)

I have soldered mini-usb several times, but for this tutorial I was trying to keep it easy. Best advice is Tweezers and magnifying glass.
yeah i have both of those things now. i have successfully done them without either and it is possible but extremely frustrating. now that i am moved into my new house i can start working on cables again!
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: whiskerBox on Tue, 16 October 2012, 00:19:03
I also want to add that I am tired of making these. They are a pain in the ass lol, I probably wont make any myself for a while.

So if you want to just buy a cable hit up MIMIC on his thread http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=36065.0
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: hashbaz on Tue, 16 October 2012, 00:31:11
Awesome Whiskers, thanks for posting this.
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: Input Nirvana on Tue, 16 October 2012, 00:45:44
This is the cool stuff you can only get on a forum:

Someone has a creative idea, thinks it through, makes a few items.
Gets's too many compliments that go to his head.
Needs to earn some extra scratch so does an interest check and starts making units for the community.
Learns a lot of cool little things while ramping up volume.
Makes some extra dough, really gets into it, develops a following for a completely unique item.
Becomes famous, goes on tour, dabbles with celebrity and drugs.
Forgets his friends and where he came from.
Hits burn out, cut up fingers, messy house, GF and cat hate him.
Rolls into cable rehab.

I've seen this all before. Sad story.
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: whiskerBox on Tue, 16 October 2012, 00:49:06
ROFL!!!

Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: tjcaustin on Tue, 16 October 2012, 01:09:20
Ow.  $9 to sleeve two cables annnd $6 to ship it.

Hm, I need to find my soldering iron...
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: litster on Tue, 16 October 2012, 01:25:24
Subscribed!
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: boost on Tue, 16 October 2012, 09:33:21
Beat me to it wb :)

Thanks for putting this up and subbed
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: tjcaustin on Sat, 20 October 2012, 14:44:46
This seemed like a good place to do this:

I was able to sleeve and heatshrink a cable with no soldering and minimal cutting! 

For the most part, I followed whisker's detailed instructions, but in the interest of keyboard science, I decided to try and slip the techflex on via the miniusb end and it worked perfect. (I used 1/4" techflex, which when bulged, slips over that end with little issue)
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: kmiller8 on Sat, 24 November 2012, 17:27:37
Just ordered 20 feet of sleeving, and a Lightning cable... lets see how this turns out.
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: hluo87 on Wed, 28 November 2012, 13:40:03
nice guide
i am about to do so !!!
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: absyrd on Wed, 28 November 2012, 14:11:38
Thanks for the detailed guide. Something to add to my growing to-do list.
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: TheShining on Sun, 02 December 2012, 16:24:22
Awesome thread thanks for this.
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: WhiteFireDragon on Sun, 02 December 2012, 22:54:44
What size heatshrink is appropriate for the large A-side and mini-B side? I'm not sure to get 5/8" or 3/4" for the side A, and looking to get 3/8" for mini-B side.
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: whiskerBox on Mon, 03 December 2012, 09:34:16
Quote from: WhiteFireDragon on Sun, 02 December 2012, 22:54:44
What size heatshrink is appropriate for the large A-side and mini-B side? I'm not sure to get 5/8" or 3/4" for the side A, and looking to get 3/8" for mini-B side.

I would suggest getting a variety of sizes, places that sell shrinkwrap by the foot will usually screw up your order and then you will have to wait aother week for a new order to come in. So save your self the headache and order several different sizes. Also some bigger sizes will be thicker when shrinked which gives a nicer end product. You need to play with different materials to find what you like.
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: takaki on Wed, 19 December 2012, 11:48:02
Why are tweezers good advice, I've soldered a couple of wires and I usually just use my hands and the 3rd party hand thingie.
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: whiskerBox on Wed, 19 December 2012, 21:59:12
Quote from: takaki on Wed, 19 December 2012, 11:48:02
Why are tweezers good advice, I've soldered a couple of wires and I usually just use my hands and the 3rd party hand thingie.

You don't have to have tweezers I just found them helpful for some things. The list is just tools that I personally found useful and by no means a comprehensive list of required tools.
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: takaki on Thu, 20 December 2012, 18:57:15
Quote from: whiskerBox on Wed, 19 December 2012, 21:59:12

You don't have to have tweezers I just found them helpful for some things. The list is just tools that I personally found useful and by no means a comprehensive list of required tools.

Don't get me wrong! I just wanna know if there is a easier way to go about doing things :D
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: whiskerBox on Fri, 21 December 2012, 15:14:19
Quote from: takaki on Thu, 20 December 2012, 18:57:15
Quote from: whiskerBox on Wed, 19 December 2012, 21:59:12

You don't have to have tweezers I just found them helpful for some things. The list is just tools that I personally found useful and by no means a comprehensive list of required tools.

Don't get me wrong! I just wanna know if there is a easier way to go about doing things :D

Its always nice to have an assortment of random tools because you never know when you might need something. Hemostats and Tweezers  work great for soldering small connections when your finger are too fat and get in the way :) . I constantly tape **** in place too, tape is cheap and works great for temporary jigs. The third hand thing works good too, but sometimes it just doesn't do what I want or the way I want.
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: kbfreak on Sat, 22 December 2012, 15:36:28
Quote from: whiskerBox on Mon, 15 October 2012, 22:58:37
I have been promising for a long time that I would post a guide of some sort to help people who want to make there own cables.

Ok for starters I am not going to make a comprehensive guide on all things usb cable because thats ridiculous and I wouldn't know where to start. So I will go over the basics of what I used to make mine and what worked and what didn't.

This will probably take me a couple days to get pics of everything up so be patient, and feel free to add tips and tricks you figured out. My way is by no means perfect so if you think you have a better way to do something then you probably do lol.

Ok so I guess the best way to start is with a couple topics:
-Tools needed or recommended
-Sleeving material
-Shrinkwrap
-Cables
-Assembly tips

Whisker Cables Gallery (http://s1228.beta.photobucket.com/user/johnjohns0n/library/Whisker%20Cables)

Show Image
(http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee451/johnjohns0n/Whisker%20Cables/649f9493.jpg)


Nice, they almost look like custom instrument cables...for you guitar/bass players out there.
Title: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: whiskerBox on Fri, 12 April 2013, 14:11:36
I have recently got a couple PMs regarding cables so I thought I would give this thread a bump for those people.
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: SpAmRaY on Thu, 02 May 2013, 17:12:31
Posting to say thanks for the info and so I can find this thread later.
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: Tarzan on Thu, 02 May 2013, 17:21:00
Quote from: ray4jc on Thu, 02 May 2013, 17:12:31
Posting to say thanks for the info and so I can find this thread later.

Ditto!
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: hsu on Wed, 29 May 2013, 06:43:36
So I'm trying to do those from dealextreme parts - anyone? I can't find usb-miniusb cables without the little "transformers" on the cable...
Title: Re: How to make your own usb cable
Post by: nubbinator on Wed, 29 May 2013, 13:30:26
Quote from: hsu on Wed, 29 May 2013, 06:43:36
So I'm trying to do those from dealextreme parts - anyone? I can't find usb-miniusb cables without the little "transformers" on the cable...

You mean the ferrite core?