Best way to semi-permanently loom cables together

[timsabre]

23 minutes ago, sunray said:

which tape please.

See post #2

[Dave m]

I have made up camera cables with several coms, tally, video leads and power using expandable sleeve  then used heat shrink on the ends. Take it easy on the cable end when shrinking.

[Stuart91]

33 minutes ago, Dave m said:

expandable sleeve  then used heat shrink on the ends. Take it easy on the cable end when shrinking.

When I did something similar, I used adhesive-lined heat shrink on the ends, in two layers. One over the cables themselves, and then another on top with the sleeving sandwiched in between. Seemed to work quite well.

As Dave says, the tricky bit is applying enough heat to get shrinkage happening, without melting the sleeving. Do this part of the operation before re-terminating the cables...

[sunray]

6 hours ago, sunray said:

which tape please.

6 hours ago, timsabre said:

See post #2

From post #11

7 hours ago, sunray said:

It's funny that LeMark products were referred to earlier as that is the only tape one of my employers buys from 'gaffertape.com', my experience of it is pretty much no different to the cheap 50p rolls from the wholesalers. I'd love to know which tapes you use which don't go sticky.

I admit I haven't knowingly used any Advance tape for a long time, and which version we used to use in BT I have no idea but it was always leaking adhesive after a while.

My go to for a long time was Scotch 33+(only available in black) which, if not stretched too far, was quite clean, good but in recent times I find it has gone the way of others.

[sunray]

1 hour ago, Stuart91 said:

When I did something similar, I used adhesive-lined heat shrink on the ends, in two layers. One over the cables themselves, and then another on top with the sleeving sandwiched in between. Seemed to work quite well.

As Dave says, the tricky bit is applying enough heat to get shrinkage happening, without melting the sleeving. Do this part of the operation before re-terminating the cables...

This was one of my methods but I changed, using SA tape about 40-50mm along the cable, finish the braid just past the tape then 100-120mm adhesive HS over, roughly lining up the back ends. I found the braid was restrained better between SA tap and adhesive HS.

On thin looms the length of HS is usually reduced.

And the other popular method as mentioned before, folding the braid inside itself

I always found SA tape, or Hellermann sleeve on small looms, worked better than HS

[gareth]

2" PVC tape is, as has been mentioned, the standard for making up touring looms for, e.g., LX bar feeders and breakout looms. Take your time, make them neatly, tape them well (cut, don't stretch) and use good-quality tape, and they'll last a long time.

Unless you really have the time and inclination to take all the connectors off one end of each cable, braid and heat-shrink them all, then put the connectors back on...

[kerry davies]

A long time ago the normal method of attaching a cable to a catenary wire was tape and buckle clips then as PVC tape became better quality it was OK just to tape the two together and I was told that properly taped with cut not torn ends and carefully aligned and tight but not stretched three turns of one inch PVC would lift a ton. Like most things in life, take the time to do things properly with decent quality gear and it lasts forever. 

I loved using tape amalgamating but not for this purpose, spiral wrap is useful but I don't like it where looms are frequently installed and removed, heat shrink is good but more permanent than semi which the OP asked for. In the end it all comes down to what suits the individual in what circumstances and like most things in life there is no perfect panacea.

[Guy Tec]

I have found the Velcro Tie style a good alternative holds well but easy to mod loom to replace a broken cable ect. 

[the kid]

44 minutes ago, Guy Tec said:

I have found the Velcro Tie style a good alternative holds well but easy to mod loom to replace a broken cable ect. 

We have that for ages. there is nothing worse imho. its not BAD, but if your moving it at all it catches, the slide. all the things. 

On 2/1/2022 at 3:03 AM, gareth said:

2" PVC tape is, as has been mentioned, the standard for making up touring looms for, e.g., LX bar feeders and breakout looms. Take your time, make them neatly, tape them well (cut, don't stretch) and use good-quality tape, and they'll last a long time.

Unless you really have the time and inclination to take all the connectors off one end of each cable, braid and heat-shrink them all, then put the connectors back on...

Yep, I use 2" when I can, and our made looms from AC are 2" at x distance (50cm? 1m? something like that) and heat shrink at another (like every 5m to keep it nice)

[ANDYLASER]

I find ordinary spiral wrap awful stuff to use, especially on longer lengths.

 

The similar but infinitely better solution by Hellerman is infinitely better. It uses a tool to "zip" along the cables guaranteeing a neat and tidy job. It is available in several diameters.

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/cable-spiral-wrapping/6478780