stuff I learned sleeving my first PSU

Skug

New member
I just sleeved my first PSU. I figured I'd share with you guys what I learned as I went.

1. It is a pain in the ass and it takes forever =)

2. Don't waste money on a "pin removal tool" like this one for the 24 pin style connectors. It worked on some but on others I spent way to much time fiddling with it trying to get the pins out.

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INSTEAD: just go to the store and spend a couple dollars on some heavy duty staples. Get the ones with the straight edge tip. You just cut one in half and you are good to go. These work perfect every time and if you bend one it's no big deal you just grab another staple from the box. the job got a ton easier after making the switch to staples.

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3. 3/4' electrical tape is too wide to wrap the wires. You can do it but the wires look fat and the sleeving doesn't look as good. Cutting the tape in half you end up with perfect width tape but it is a tough task cutting a roll of electrical tape in half. Instead I found some 1/2" tape that works pretty well and you don't have to cut. Unfortunately, the only 1/2 tape I could find came in a multi color pack so it was kind of a waste buying a bunch of multi packs just for the white tape. I didn't mind though since it made my life quite a bit easier just being able to take tape off the roll.

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4. Buy quite a lot more sleeving than you think you will need. I bought extra and still ran out from all the mistakes and redos I ended up doing. There were a bunch of wires I wish I could have redone.

It took me about a week to sleeve the whole thing 2 pretty much full days and then 4 days of after work sleeving . I imagine a lot of other people will say it can be done a lot quicker but I'm just letting you know how long it took me my first time. In the end it feels worth it though
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Hopefully this will help some other newbie.
 
I plan to do this for my project so thanks for the tips! Those cables look amazing in that system. I personally think sleeving your own cables always gives the best results if done properly, nice work
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Looking amazing dude, the sleeving colours match the system nicely. It great attempt for your first time at sleeving
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Took me just as long to do mine, got a few paper clips, hammered the ends to make em flat and it worked fine
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Alot of time is required but if done properly with no rush, results can brilliant
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If you can't easily remove the pins with a proper pin removal tool, you are doing completely wrong.
 
Looks amazing man!

This sounds ultra lazy but I wish more companies would sell sleeved cables for power supplies.

But again, it looks gorgeous. Do you think it was worth the time and effort?
 
If you can't easily remove the pins with a proper pin removal tool, you are doing completely wrong.

"More new stuff! Phobya pin removal tool, I've snapped the 24 pins/ EPS removal tool already! :wallbash: I've got a new one coming from Nils soon, which hopefully will be a stronger/better one!" - a quote from your project log =P

the tool did seem to work okay on the 8pin extension I did. However, a lot of the ones on the actual psu were a pain to get out. with staples it was cheap and easy.

and to explosive toaster. It didn't seem worth it 5 hours into sleeving when my fingers were raw and burnt but the pride and the look of the final result made me very glad I did it. I will do it again on my next build.
 
and to explosive toaster. It didn't seem worth it 5 hours into sleeving when my fingers were raw and burnt but the pride and the look of the final result made me very glad I did it. I will do it again on my next build.

But is it worth the time against just buying say, BitFenix Extentions? I only ask as I love the look of sleeving but can't decide whether to do my own or just but pre Done ones...
 
BitFenix cables are good quality but there are some drawbacks. The sleeve is fabric so they are dust magnets and they can fray over time. Also because the sleeve is not as rigid as plastic sleeve it's harder to get your cables perfect when the actual wires have kinks and bends in them.

If you like the look of single sleeved cables and have enough room to hide the rest of your cables but don't want to put too much time in it get the BitFenix cables, you won't regret it. But if you are a perfectionist and want to play around with different colours you are going to have to learn to sleeve yourself and put a lot of time in it.
 
I was new to sleeving like yourself, when I used the Phobya pin removal tool and I'm man enough to admit I was doing it wrong, hence breaking it. As I said, if you break the tool, even if it is a cheap one you are doing it wrong!
 
I just sleeved my first PSU. I figured I'd share with you guys what I learned as I went.

It is a pain in the ass and it takes forever

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Hopefully this will help some other newbie.

congratulations.. glad someone else did this as well...

+1

airdeano
 
Yeah completely agree with the points you made. Took me like 2 hours to get my first cable out! I disagree with Pexon though, I did the same technique on my cables and some came out easily and some were just damn right infuriating.

You do need to learn the technique, but for some it is just a matter of wiggling gently until they come out
 
You know what that is right? Poor quality terminals, they don't help.

To be fair I will admit to that. I am doing it on a Corsair 1050W power supply. And I have a feeling that it hasn't got the best quality terminals.

If you buy the correct tool and have perfect terminals I bet it would take about 30 mins to do the whole PSU!
 
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