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Straightening Cables


HobitLight

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Hi there!

 

Basically I have a couple of 10ft lengths of two core speaker cable (jacks, if you must know). It came not coiled but... oval. Basically in a piece of cardboard, hopefully you know what I mean, I'm not explaining it very well! A bit like this.

 

As a result the cable, when I try to coil it, is more square than round! I just can NOT get it circular!

 

What do you do with cable that needs straightening? I've tried rubbing it down the length of the cable several times to get some heat into it to help but it hasn't really helped a lot. A friend suggested I put it on the boiler for a bit which I left for an hour or so (checking up on it every 15 mins or so, just in case!). This seemed to help a bit as it was becoming a bit easier to coil but the cable is still fairly 'square'.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to straighten cables out? Often I come accross cables in a bad condition that I've found difficult to coil due to the 'squareness' of the cable so any suggestions would be great!

 

Thanks!

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Get them good and warm then run them out straight, I go for the down the side of the stairs, the descent seems to help pull them a bit.

 

The kinks usually fall out of cables packaged like that, but it often takes a fair while.

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I had a lot of cables like this at work.

 

A little warmth helps a bit as you have found. Hanging them by one end, overnight, helps a bit. Hanging them in a warm place helps a little more. Wrapping them around something round & storing then like that helps a bit too.

 

Usually time & use will sort it - most of mine are now round :P

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Depending on how long they are, you COULD (if your really careful) hang them up and then use a hairdryer or heat gun to warm them up and allow them to go their way...

 

These companies are real buggers for this - your no where near the first. I am confused to why they do this? We got some BNC cables off Ebay once, and these were coiled in the perfect circle (and new/manufactured by machine), so I struggle to comprehend why other people can't do this?

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As almost everyone else has said, warmth is the ticket...but just to give you one more way of achieving this...

 

When you get a hot, sunny afternoon, two or three hours baking on the tarmac on your driveway or car park can work wonders.

 

Bob

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It's not really straightening it, however why not keep it taught and wrap it round a drum or circular object and leave it for a couple of days in a warm enviroment?

 

Always worked for me! Seems a little obvious so apologies if I've missed something (again)

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