Stranded homemade microcable. Encyclopedia of radio electronics and electrical engineering

Encyclopedia of radio electronics and electrical engineering / Ham Radio Technologies

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Multicore microcables are widely used in modern equipment, in particular, for connecting information input devices such as well-known joysticks and other peripherals with computers. With all the variety of requirements for such microcables, it is still desirable that they be as thin and flexible as possible, do not create inconvenience and interference during operation, and do not tear or break from repeated bends. The latter is especially typical for cable communication lines with miniature push-button joysticks that are held in hands.

To get such a cable for a radio amateur from the rural outback is a rather troublesome and expensive business. To make a more or less acceptable ersatz is also not an easy task. Thin winding wires, even if they are enclosed in a rubber or cambric insulating sheath, will not replace the microcable: if you pull harder on such a bundle, the sheath will stretch a little, all the force will be applied to one (shortest) "core", which, of course, won't last and break.

I have developed a special technology, according to which even a novice do-it-yourselfer can make a stranded microcable at home. The strength and reliability of the resulting products can be judged at least by the fact that the resistance to tearing forces here is shifted to insulation - a PVC tube, which is much stronger than thin wires, even despite its stretching.

The secret lies in the features of PVC. In this material, in addition to plastic (residual) deformation, which changes the length and diameter of the tube after the removal of the tensile force, and elastic (disappearing when mechanical stresses cease), an intermediate elastic deformation occurs. It is characteristic that the latter does not disappear immediately with the removal of stretching, but gradually.

During the time that the stretched PVC tube will slowly reduce its length, you can slowly thread thin winding wires inside, which, after the disappearance of the intermediate type of deformation, will be located in the shortening tube in a zigzag ("accordion"). This will provide a homemade stranded "hybrid" of copper and insulating sheath with additional protection. If you pull on such a cable, then the PVC tube, as the shortest element, will take on all the effort, and not wires that can move inside the tube with little friction against the wall. Elastic deformation, which is inevitable with any stretching of the tube, will allow the veins-wires to straighten only a little.

Thus, a microcable made at home based on a PVC tube (having, say, an inner diameter of 1,5 mm) and wires (for example, PELSHO-0,1) turns out to be quite convenient and reliable for connecting remote units with the main equipment. In particular, it turns out to be so soft, flexible and light that it does not interfere at all during computer games using a joystick.

The technique for making such a multicore cable at home is quite simple. In a two-meter segment of a PVC tube, it is first necessary to thread a copper winding wire-conductor with a diameter of 0,6 mm. However, it is impossible to push it from one side and through the entire specified length due to the increasing friction against the tube walls. As practice has shown, even lubrication with engine oil does not help here.

Technology for manufacturing a harness for a home-made microcable (the number of cores is conventionally reduced to two): 1 - core (PELSHO-0,1 wire, quantity - as needed); 2 pin. (brad); 3 - winding blade (an auxiliary element of arbitrary shape and size, after winding it is removed from the bundle); 4 - support

It is possible to advance the conductor inside to a depth of more than 0,8 m only by periodically stretching the tube. To do this, the end of the conductor (its location is easy to see through the light or clarified by touch) must be fixed by sharply bending it together with the tube. Then, by stretching the passed section of the shell (within the limits of its elastic deformation), it is necessary to ensure that the next section is overcome. Further, without removing the tensile force from the tube, it is necessary to fix (by bending) its beginning, creeping onto the winding wire.

Now you can remove the tensile force by straightening the previously made bend at the end of the conductor, and follow how the wire moves inside the tube when it is shortened due to the disappearance of elastic deformation. By repeating the process several times with successive stretching of the PVC tube and its weakening, it is possible to pass the conductor through the entire length of the insulating sheath.

Having tied a bundle of eight pieces of PEPSHO-0,1 wire 2,2 m long each to the protruded end (if this is done for a joystick, in which six wires must be working and two are spare), it is necessary to stretch the resulting wires through the tube. Moreover, in order to eliminate any kind of congestion and minimize friction, it is necessary to bend the end of the conductor wire with a hook, and after putting the harness on it, strongly squeeze such a connecting assembly with pliers and grind it with a file.

The tourniquet can be made (manually, as shown in the figure in a simplified way, or with the help of special equipment and tools) by winding four turns of PELSHO-0,1 between two nails hammered at a distance slightly exceeding 2,2 m, followed by twisting in several places so that when drawn into the tube, such veins do not break up and become tangled. The thin silk insulation of the wires themselves also contributes to unhindered retraction (and with low friction), the use of which also makes it possible to reduce the parasitic capacitance of the cable while increasing the protection of the varnish insulation of the conductive cores.

When the harness is finally drawn into the PVC tube, it must be soldered on one side to the contacts of the peripheral device (joystick), and on the other to the electrical connector. This is done so that the wires at the soldering points do not break.

Homemade cable of great length: 1 - tail of the bundle (conductive wires); 2- protective limit switch (coiling with copper winding wire d0,6); 3 - insulating sheath (PVC tube with process holes); 4- harness head; 5- insulating sleeve (quantity - locally); 6 - conductor (copper winding wire d0,6); sizes L and l - in place

Their integrity is provided by protective limit switches. Each is 4-6 turns of wire with a diameter of 0,6 mm, the ends of which are soldered to two free or to one working contact of the joystick or connector. Heating up during soldering and bonding with the sheath of an almost finished microcable, the protective end caps are slightly pressed into the PVC tube and, as a kind of reinforcing elements, give it additional strength. Now the force that occurs when pulling the joystick will not be applied to thin wires at the soldering point, but to a sufficiently strong cable sheath.

And further. If you need a cable of great length, then it is made in several stages. To do this, the billet tube is divided into sections of 2 m each with the cutting of technological holes. Then they take a bundle of wires, the linear length of which should exceed the length of the tube, and pull it behind the conductor: first, into the area from the beginning of the tube to the first hole, then into the area between the first and second holes, and so on according to the previously discussed technology.

Of course, when using a tube or conductor wire of a different diameter and material, the length of the cable or its section between the technological holes will be different.

Author: V.Solonin

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