Rebuilding (or strengthening) an old flash cable?

Steven Lee

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I have an odd question. After years of searching I finally found the Y-cable to enable TTL metering in the Hasselblad ProFlash. A sample image of such cable is shown below. However, the cable is well-used and the plastic insulation is tearing at a the flex points. If I continue to use it as-is I doubt it will last very long.

Meanwhile, the connecting plugs are quite robust. As far as I can tell they're also proprietary. Which led me to think: is it possible to build a new Y-cable but re-use the plugs?

Is there a service that can do that?

Thanks!

 

koraks

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Sometimes, the plugs can be disassembled and the conductors desoldered from the lugs inside. It's then possible to build a new cable, but the flex part will of course still be broken. As I understand it, the cable still works at present. Maybe just reinforce it physically so that it doesn't flex too much and keep using it?
 

BobUK

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Before cutting the cable or undoing the plugs, buzz out the pin sockets with a meter. If you do not have a meter use a battery and torch bulb.
Write the results down, do not trust your own memory.
On the machines that I have worked on in the past it was not uncommon to find crossovers in the wiring. That is, the pins may not be wired a-a, b-b, c-c, d-d, etc.

It would be nice to know how you get on.
 

Don_ih

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Depending where the insulation is being damaged (and how much of it is being damaged), you may be able to bolster it with glue gun (I know - sounds weird - but it works).
Those connectors look like they can be dismantled. I'd be careful of where the plastic connector clips into the metal housing - it might be quite brittle by now.
 

BrianShaw

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Please teach me how! I go through phone charging cords like crazy. My repairs have included blue electrical tape, black electrical tape, and reinforcement with a plastic straw. Every time they just crack below my repair. One of these days I'll have to try some shrink tubing, but every time I order it from Amazon I seem to get the wrong size (or at least a size that is advertized but I have no idea how they measured). I have a hot glue gun and find them very fun to use so tell us... please!

 

John Koehrer

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There's also a heat shrink electrical tape
 

koraks

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BrianShaw said:
Every time they just crack below my repair
Click to expand...

Yes, that happens. The repair results in a stiff part of the cable, do all force is diverted to the first flexible point and that's where your cable breaks. There's really no way to repair a cable with tape, heat shrink tubing etc. that entirely prevents this.
A flexible repair is a little better than a rigid one, so try leaving out the plastic straw next time, and only use enough tape or tubing to get the job done, without excess.
It'll still never be as good as a new cable.
 

snusmumriken

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There is an inexpensive moldable putty called Sugru, which can be used to create a flexible strengthening layer on cables. I have used it and found it worked really well.
 

Don_ih

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BrianShaw said:
Please teach me how!
Click to expand...

The glue gun is useful for relatively large things, because you need to apply enough to coat all the way around. It would make a phone charging cable pretty huge.

You will notice the Apple charging cable isn't really designed for you to be using the device while it is charging. The cable doesn't have much in the way of a stress reliever at the point where the wire goes into the connector. It's an impractical design, not helped by their love of right angles.

Generic charging cables tend to have wires slightly thinner than human hairs, so that's a different problem.
 
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