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Badly coiled cables


DanSteely

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lots of multicore cables do this despite being treated and coiled properly - as Paul says above Van Damme did have an issue with this for a while, but plenty of others have been known to do the same. Ive been known to throw cables from heavy HO7 3ø to just last week a low voltage 12 core from our motor control remote in the copper bin due to this very issue.
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'Has always been used on a reel but taken off to sell'.

 

Yeah right, chances of twisting up like that if kept on a drum are a bit slim.

 

I had 4 lots of 50m of 2 pair on a drum which was did the rounds with 5 different companies for years. yes the sheath had worn, yes the sheath had cracked, yes the terminations failed, yes the plugs need replacing. But the only bit with a kink like that was where it went through the centre of the drums, the rest of it was pretty much as straight as the day it was purchased.

 

With all of them the reason they failed was rot and physical damage, plastic tape didn't come anywhere preserving it any longer.

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Multiple twisted pair cables are notorious for having a life of their own when coiled. The bit of most suspicion there is where it's taped up. The tape over the end of the bad circuit is not a major issue if it's broken at the pin, but it is an issue if it's broken under that wad of tape.
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I was thinking that!

 

I got given a couple of multicores that were kinked like that. Days of leaving them in hot sun and attempting to straighten them out resulted in very little improvement at all.

 

I guess I'm never going to need to buy thin cable for making up patches inside racks again!

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Could well have lived on a (tight) drum, but now totally ruined.
I don't even think I want to give you the benefit of the doubt. None of my cables on drums have ever gone like that but long cables wound loose do.
In its current state it's not worth 32p with 2p carriage.Should be reported for cruelty to the NSPCC.
Quite so.
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I have made people re-coil cables before. Not often, but occasionally I just can't cope with it any longer.

 

The most frustrating thing, though, is when you're working on a show and the more senior techs can't coil cables properly - I was on one where the foh engineer's coiling was unequal sizes and lots of figure 8s in it.

 

Also, under-over cables. It's not hard!

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It's not hard!

 

But there is a "knack" to it to keep with the natural lay of the cable. I always like to coil my own cables, because it's me that "suffers" at the next get-in if they are a mess (or hours at home re-coiling). However I have had some "fun" in the past trying to demonstrate to other "willing helpers" how to coil up mic and DMX leads to regular coils and without it springing into an "8" at the end - with mixed but generally limited success. I guess in the pro field you'd expect a better than average outcome, but maybe that's not the case!

 

Kevin

 

 

 

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