Custom Coiled USB Aviator Cable for $50?!?! Build one DIY for just $17! Follow Along Tutorial!

[Music] huh [Music] pepper all right time to do some work hmm something doesn't feel right [Music] come on scott it's not christmas anymore gotta get rid of this tree no no no that's not it [Music] aha i got it hi guys welcome back to the channel this is scott k the perfect desk setup is a sum of many parts what better is it to complement your awesome mechanical keyboard than with a custom coiled usb cable these cables typically cost about fifty dollars or more today let's build one ourselves for seventeen dollars let's get started i bought the entire kit from cruise control cables and it includes a usb cable the tech flex sleeve [Music] the paracord sleeve a usbc connector usb-a connector the gx16 aviator connector and some heat shrink the necessary tools are soldering iron solder wire cutters heat gun a dowel tape and some scissors first we start by taking our paracord and find that the ends have been cinched to prevent fraying take a pair of scissors and cut these off inside the paracord are some strands that we'll be pulling out later [Music] since we'll be adding an aviator connector to our cable measure how long you want your coiled end will be and your connector end will be a good rule of thumb is about one inch of coiled cable equals about a foot of straight cable so a six inch coil requires about six feet of cable now do the same thing for your usb cable [Music] now finally your tech flex sleeve [Music] now you're ready to get started [Music] as mentioned before your paracord will have some nylon strands inside this helps to keep the paracord from bunching up and snagging and to hold its shape we don't need it pull it all out [Music] stick your finger into the end of the paracord to widen and then you insert your usb cable inside this is where things get a little bit tricky and pretty tedious [Music] here's a quick tip make a little triangle with your fingers grip the paracord with this hand clamp and then you push the loose end of the paracord onto the usb cable and then you pull it if you ever get your fingers stuck in a chinese finger trap this is actually the idea repeat this motion until your entire usb cable is sleeved in paracord [Music] now that you have the usb cable sleeved in paracord it's time for the techflux fortunately techflux is much easier to work with start off by taking a little bit of masking tape and taping off the paracord so that it doesn't fray or slide around while you're feeding it through the techflux [Music] my [Music] one thing you'll notice about the tech flex is that it's much stiffer than the paracord and it balloons up when you push against it start off by inserting your paracord cable through the end of the tech flex similar to the paracord you push from the loose end so that you see the tech flex widen push over the cable then pull the other end the whole motion is going to be push over pull push over [Music] pull [Music] once you get to the end leave about an inch of exposed cable and then pull the entire techflex sleeve tight to properly tension it across the entire cable now that both ends of your cable are properly sleeved it's time to strip and get ready for the soldering process [Music] i'm using a simple wire stripper here but it's not totally necessary you could also do this with a wire cutter as well once you remove the outer cover you'll notice some foil insulation peel this back and throw it away [Music] next you'll notice some thin cable insulation surrounding the center wires cut this off now the wires are ready for stripping [Music] use a wire stripper or in this case i use the wire cutter to strip out about a quarter inch or so of cable now let's take a look at the aviator gx16 connector i'm actually going to start with the gx16 connector first and then move on to the usb connectors you can see the gx16 aviator connector actually consists of two different parts there's a longer and fatter male end and there's also a shorter female end i'm going to be using the male end for the coil side and the female end for the connector side [Music] let's start off by taking the female end and then unscrewing the cable clamp at the end [Music] once that is unscrewed you could actually pull off the little ring that actually is a tightener then you can see the little screw that actually holds the socket and the housing together take a screwdriver take that off you'll notice that the actual plastic socket it rotates and then it slides out once you remove the socket you'll notice some numbering one two three four keep this in mind because you'll have to match up the sequence on the female side and the male side in order to establish a connection before we start soldering the cables onto the aviator connectors we need to take some heat shrink and cover the end of the cable this is to provide enough thickness for the aviator cable clamps to bite into [Music] tightly [Music] now take the female aviator socket and start adding solder into the cable slots [Music] [Music] now feed in the connector ring as well as the socket housing over your prepared cable [Music] since we haven't soldered the usb connectors yet you could also feed this in from the other end as well [Music] now here's a little trick take some masking tape and tape down the aviator socket so that it remains stable while soldering another way is to use a helping hand to keep things clamped [Music] the rule of thumb that i use is black and white christmas black white green and red i keep that order and i repeat that order for both the usb connector as well as the aviator connector side [Music] solder the wires onto the female aviator connector black goes to 1 white goes to 2 green goes to 3 and red goes to 4. [Music] now make sure everything looks good here make sure the uh there are no shorts and make sure there are no crossed wires [Music] now we start the assembly process take the socket housing and push it up to the female socket turn and lock into place and then screw the socket into the [Music] housing now take your lock ring and push it beyond the cable clamps [Music] take the cable clamp screw it in tight so that the aviator connector is fixed onto the cable snug and secure now it's time for the usb connector since this is going to be at the end that connects to the computer they'll be featuring a usb a connector start by taping down the usb a connector so that it doesn't move around during the soldering process similar to the aviator connector we will be following black white green and red [Music] so [Music] [Music] make sure that the wire is soldered correctly with no shorts or crossed [Music] wires now it's time to insert the usb connector into the housing and crimp it together i usually insert the usb connector with the wired side facing up [Music] the two housing pieces are designed to fit in together and click in with the tabs on the side [Music] use a wire crimper or just a pair of pliers to crimp the little tabs together [Music] my now you're ready for the heat shrink place the heat shrink over the usb connector and line it up to the line marked on the usb connector housing [Music] with this half of your cable that connects to the computer is now complete time to move on to the keyboard side similar to what we have done before we will be putting some heat shrink over the end of the usb cable that fits into the aviator housing this way there will be a tight fit when you screw down the aviator cable clamp [Music] now we have the male side of the aviator which will connect to the keyboard via usbc this will also be the side that gets coiled as well start by loosening the cable clamp and twisting off the connector socket from the housing once again notice the numbering on this connector socket from one to four same rule applies black white green and red now tape down the socket and then load up the little channels with some solder [Music] i did notice that my soldering iron was running a little bit cool here typically i have it set to around 360 to 375 degrees celsius but i think here is a little bit off now we're going to begin the actual wire soldering process we started off similarly with some tape and just taped down the socket so it doesn't slide around when you're soldering on the wire [Music] once again remember black and white christmas black white green and red black goes to one white goes to two green goes two three then red goes to four [Music] [Music] [Music] make sure everything has been soldered on properly with no shorts or any crossed wires now slide on the connector housing from the other side of the cable once you get the housing past the heat shrink make sure to screw the socket and the housing together by splitting the housing itself and not the actual socket with the wire attached to it [Music] finally take the cable clamp and tighten the screw tight so that the aviator housing is affixed tightly to the cable now it's time for the usb-c connector once you have everything taped down use some solder and then apply it to the contacts so that we have enough solder for the wires to adhere to once again here black and white christmas black white green red [Music] now make sure the wires are on correctly with no shorts and or crossed wires [Music] now time to apply the usbc connector housing the two halves connect together by the tabs on the sides similar to what we have done for the usb-a side use a wire crimper or a pair of pliers to crimp the little tabs together now for the final step take your remaining heat shrink and place it over your finished usb-c connector [Music] now there you have it the keyboard side of the usb cable is now complete [Music] at this point you can choose to be done or move on to the next step of putting an amazing coil into your keyboard side of the usb cable get your finished cables the dowel the tape ready to go the dial i'm using is actually a 5 8 inch dowel from a hardware store start by taping the usb-c side of the cable onto the wooden dowel i like to go perpendicular to the dowel so i could have a straight connector portion right off the keyboard make sure to wrap the tape tightly so it does not move or come off during this coiling process now that the cable is on the dial tightly start by wrapping the cable around the dial as tightly as possible remember the direction you wrap the cable right now will determine how the coil will sit on in respect to the keyboard i'm wrapping this from left to right because the keyboard i am making this coiled cable for is the kbd8x and the usb connector for this specific keyboard is on the right side [Music] a quick tip here is to use one hand to grasp the coil against the dial tightly and rotate the dial itself with the other hand to coil the cable [Music] higher length you can take a piece of tape and tightly wrap the aviator side of the cable onto the dowel i like to see the aviator side of the cable come out to the side so i wrap it in parallel to the dial this time [Music] make sure this is wrapped super tight because you don't want this to come apart when you start using the heat gun to set the coil in [Music] now you're ready for the heat gun when you're coiling a double sleeve cable like this i highly recommend using a proper heat gun i noticed that a hairdryer typically lacks the amount of power to be able to properly set the cable into a coil however i know there are some really powerful hair dryers out there so those might work out okay [Music] i typically go back and forth along the cable and repeat this process for about two to three minutes until the coil feels hot to the touch [Music] then i flip it over and repeat the process once again [Music] one word of advice if you're using a proper heat gun like this do not use it on high i have learned this the hard way when the heat gun literally melted through the tech flex and ruined the entire cable and all the progress you have made thus far [Music] now the final flip over to make sure that the coil is really properly set congratulations at this point your coiled cable is complete now let this sit for at least 30 minutes before you start unraveling it or playing around with it [Music] after it has set for about 30 minutes you can start undoing the tape and pulling the cable off the dowel if the coiling process was done properly you'll be left with a beautiful coiled cable ready to go [Music] there you have it i know it's not the fastest thing to make but more than being difficult it just takes a little bit of time the combinations are limitless and you can now make a nice coiled cable for every keyboard you own for just seventeen 17 thank you for watching this long video if you enjoyed the tutorial please like and subscribe and i will have more content for you in the future thanks

Channel: Keybored

Views: 989,452

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Id: 1WgCXG8qcVI

Length: 29min 52sec (1792 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 05 2021