Wraiths SATA Sleeving Guide

Wraith

Bettyswollocks
Welcome to my SATA cable Sleeving guide.

First things first, tools you are going to need,

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Sleeve. (White 9mm)
Shrink. (Black 12mm)
Sharp Angle cutters.
Sharp Scalpel (stanley knife)
Long nose Pliers.
Lighter or Heat gun.
Ruler.
Cutting mat.
And obviously a SATA Data Cable.

It's worth while saying before I start that if you want a solid colour sleeving job, use a SATA cable that is the same colour as your sleeve, I didn't, because I actually wanted to be able to see the black cable beneath the sleeve.

Step 1.

Take your sleeving and leave it on the roll DO NOT measure it out to length, all will become clear as we proceed, singe the end of the sleeve to gather the loose fraid ends and make the next step so much easier.

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Step 2.

Slide your sleeve onto your chosen SATA Cable, it can be a bit of a fiddle but go with it, once your on slide it right to the opposite SATA connector, stop at the connector. Remember you're only covering the cable not the plugs, once you have reached the plug, pinch the sleeve and run your other hand back along the cable to tighten up the sleeve, now that you have done that mark the sleeve where it meets the connector (pictured below).

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Step 3.

Now you need to back the sleeve off the cable, once you have enough sleeve backed off (pictured below) you can cut your mark from Step 2. Once you have a nice clean cut, you now have the sleeve at the correct length for your SATA cable, which is why at the beginning I said leave it on the roll ;) now before we slide it back onto the cable you will need to use your lighter again to singe the end to avoid fraying.

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Step 4.

Now all you need to do is slide the sleeve back onto the cable and remove the slack by pinching one end and sliding your other hand along the length, you should have something like this pictured below.

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Step 5.

Now you take your semi sleeved cable and measure how much shrink your going to need, I've gone for 25mm as I'm covering the plug as well as the sleeve edge. Once cut slide the sleeve over the SATA plug and line it up to where you want it, if your shrink does not slide easily over the plug use your long nosed pliers and stretch out the shrink (don't worry it will close back up).
Next simply apply some heat making sure to rotate the cable as your heating, I used a lighter for this but a heat gun would be my preferred method, take your time with the heat shrink it's not a race.

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Step 6.

There is no Step 6! You should if all went well have a nicely sleeved cable, mine is not as perfect as I'd liked but I will redo them later.

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Well I hope this was helpful to you, I know I had fun doing it.
~Wraithguard~​
 
WOO! Perfect timing for me Wraith :), now I just need to get some bigger heatshrink and some sleeving (I wish paracord could come in a size big enough :().
 
Would we be able to white-tape the cable and fit the sleeve? If yes, I guess this would avoid the black from the sleeve holes. Nice job!
 
Really informative and clear instructions, anyone else think it should be a sticky?
And nice pics btw
 
This deserves to be in my bookmarks :p
Looks like a relatively quick and cheap way to make my rig look better
 
That's the same way I did mine. Avoid tape, especially if it's white! It goes yellow. It's defo worth doing it just the way the post suggests. Good work, and simple to do.
 
Very nice Wraithguard! I just had alot of questions answered without having to ask them. :D Awesome that you included the size of the sleeve and heatshrink.

Easy to do since you don't have to remove the connectors. Though is it possible to remove and re-attach the connectors if you want for eg. to shorten the cable?

And what about lacing or having several cables run parallel?

Cheers.
 
One small thing Wraith, if you have Sata ports that stack, this might (probably will) not allow them to be installed next to each other, it's already pretty tight without sleeving me thinks.
 
Thanks for the kind words guys.

One small thing Wraith, if you have Sata ports that stack, this might (probably will) not allow them to be installed next to each other, it's already pretty tight without sleeving me thinks.
Stacking them isn't really a problem they sit side by side or on top of each other pretty well, I was kind of in a rush when I did the guide. But if you spend a little bit more time on the shrink it gets smaller, I think it something like 3/1. But everyone must pay attention to the shrink, if it starts to go a cloudy milky grey STOP! otherwise it bursts and you have to start again. :D
 
Thanks for the kind words guys.


Stacking them isn't really a problem they sit side by side or on top of each other pretty well, I was kind of in a rush when I did the guide. But if you spend a little bit more time on the shrink it gets smaller, I think it something like 3/1. But everyone must pay attention to the shrink, if it starts to go a cloudy milky grey STOP! otherwise it bursts and you have to start again. :D

I mean more like these ones

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My cable connectors are *already* touching when I plug them into these type (although mine don't seem to have the extra gap this example shot does) :) just wanted to point that out is all.

I suppose you could double sleeve two together perhaps?

Edit: lol i googled bloody sata ports... and that image is from this site, fancy that.. wonder why it has a different watermark on it..
 
My cable connectors are *already* touching when I plug them into these type (although mine don't seem to have the extra gap this example shot does) :) just wanted to point that out is all.

I suppose you could double sleeve two together perhaps?

Double sleeve is a good Idea ;)

Or you could use a narrower shrink, stretch it to fit over the socket and simply shrink the sleeve to the cable instead of the socket.
 
Great Job. One point that I find helpful is a tip I got from another person. I use a bit of brush on superglue right at the end of the plug to hold the sleeve in place while fiddling with the heat shrink. It makes it worry free as you don't have to hold the cable / sleeve in place while stretching the shrink over the connector.

Thanks for the excellent tutorial.

--Rick--
 
Great Job. One point that I find helpful is a tip I got from another person. I use a bit of brush on superglue right at the end of the plug to hold the sleeve in place while fiddling with the heat shrink. It makes it worry free as you don't have to hold the cable / sleeve in place while stretching the shrink over the connector.

Thanks for the excellent tutorial.

--Rick--

Thanks dude, I left the super glue bit out, as

a: it can get messy.
b: if your cable goes borky you can just slice the shrink and remove the sleeve to put on a replacement ;)

But that said if you slide the slack out of the sleeve it won't move about too much when shrinking.
 
I spoke too soon! Thank you!! Except I don't have all the necessary tools haha... How much did all the tools run you?
 
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