Hi everybody!

After seeing how much success whiskerBox has on geekhack with his custom cables i was wondering if there would be any interest for such a thing over here as well?

Now, if you need a nice budget cable i suggest you order from Whisker, but if you're looking for something just a tad more special i could set up shop here on DT. I could make virtually any color cable, twin-color (limited combos atm) various patterns and i will also use quite a bit less shrink-tubing (i could even make cables with no visible shrinky stuff whatsoever) and without any stiff parts in the cable itself. Another great 'feature' i could offer is a very low profile angled USB mini connector, here's an example of something i built (not as clean a build as possible, just for personal use);

Now for a keyboard you ofc would have no real need for a ferrite core but this should give you a good idea of what i can make.

Prices would start at something like 25 euro's (including everything) up to however crazy a cable you'd like, from regular USB cables all the way up to super thick detachable led-lit biopharmaceutical-grade Watson-Marlow platinum cured silicon covered PS/2 cables for model M's (tho i have no idea why someone would actually WANT and impractical cable like that i currently have everything in 'stock' to build you one of those ).

I could basically build any cable to you personal wishes...... just need to know if theres interest for such a thing so i can start stocking up on some basic supplies (so if you are interested, please let me know whay kind of cable youd actually be interested in).

Oh hell yes. I'll be the first to get one usb and one audio one.

Yes.

Interested!!!

Definitely interested, although I have no idea what I want...other than it would be a USB cable for a keyboard. Can you give us more details about what some of the options are so people in the same boat as me can start to figure out what they would like?

Well.... half an hour and already quite some interest..... Not bad. What kind of cables would you guys like? Am i right in thinking good ol regular type-A male to mini-B would get the most love here?

Maarten wrote:Well.... half an hour and already quite some interest..... Not bad. What kind of cables would you guys like? Am i right in thinking good ol regular type-A male to mini-B would get the most love here?

For me yes. I love the tiny mini-usb one you are showing in the OP. My other requested cable would be audio related, a replacement for my current headphone one.

gimpster wrote:Definitely interested, although I have no idea what I want...other than it would be a USB cable for a keyboard. Can you give us more details about what some of the options are so people in the same boat as me can start to figure out what they would like?

Well the options i could offer fully depend on what you guys want tbh..... I can build basically any cable (but i do ofc need some tools to press certain odd connectors like those ones IBM used on the old boards).

What keyboard do you have?

Yup, Mini-B to Type-A is what I'm looking for. Thinking of using these for my Phantom builds.

sixty wrote:

Maarten wrote:Well.... half an hour and already quite some interest..... Not bad. What kind of cables would you guys like? Am i right in thinking good ol regular type-A male to mini-B would get the most love here?

For me yes. I love the tiny mini-usb one you are showing in the OP. My other requested cable would be audio related, a replacement for my current headphone one.

Okay... i could do that.....



!!!WARNING BEFORE ANYONE STARTS GETTING THEIR HOPES UP!!!!!
I order much of my stuff from countries faaaar away so any odd stuff that needs to be ordered is going to take TIME!

However, if i decide to get into this business ill try to be as communicative as possible so you guys can roughly estimate lead times on stuff (aka, ill let you know what parts are in stock, locally available or available in a looong time LOL)

Well...for me I would be interested in an SDL-PS2 cable in something matching my industrial shell and also Audio cables.

SDL will be one of the connectors ill get into at a later time because of the needed equipment to make those.

For now ill try to get some demo's shipped to get a feel for what you guys think about em.

Interested in the USB ones

I would like a type A - mini B, 75cm to pimp out my usb dac.

startacked wrote:I would like a type A - mini B, 75cm to pimp out my usb dac.

Oh now lets wait for a second The cables im going to offer here will be regular USB cables;

So basic stuff; good ol regular jacket, with braided shield, then foil shielding and then little wires.....

The 'DAC'-quality stuff is quite a bit different;


Mantle with braided shield.....

Then a foil shield (already removed, you can still see a bit bluish peeping out) and an isolating clear foil


Then some fancy soft fabrid cores to keep things flexible and a second braided shield......


Then two more foil shields;


and THEN youll get to the actual wires LMAO;


these are a b!tch to connect to usb mini plugs im afraid..... they just never come out looking as fresh as id like (as you can see if you look reaaaaaly closely in the OP pic)

Nice cables. If these were availabe, it would depend on the price for me. Would like one, but it doesn't send the bytes any better.

Nice keycaps.

webwit wrote:Nice cables. If these were availabe, it would depend on the price for me. Would like one, but it doesn't send the bytes any better.

And thats the exact point ive been trying to make to people who wanted to build me 'superz quality' cables for thinkgs like keyboards in the past;

For keyboards and stuff like that you DONT NEED FANCY solid gold triple EM-weaponry shielded stuff... Keyboards are pretty stupid things (hope im not offending anyone here), they either send their data or they dont and as long as they get more or less their preferred voltage they will be happy. Pretty on/off situation.

DAC (Digital to Analog Converters) are a bit of a different story. Quite a few of these devices rely in some way or form on the stability of the voltage they get from the computer to produce their sounds. Now if the voltage already is unstable and crappy as heck (aka dac behind a cheap 27port USB hub with various laserprinters, USB powered harddrives and those fancy USB powered coffee warmers connected) then there's not a cable in the world that can fix your problems..... However, if you do manage to hook a dac up to a properly powered USB port somehow then it would be a waste to use a cheap USB cable that does not shield the lines enough and thus still introduces noise via your voltage lines into your system...

Long story short and also to clear thing for people not interpreting my post correctly; THE FANCY ZOMG SHIELDED TURBO CABLE ABOVE IS NOT WHAT YOU NEED OR WANT FOR YOUR KEYBOARD!!!

woody wrote:Nice keycaps.

Thanks.... Its a work in progress.....

Well...I have a spare SDL plug, so I was thinking it might be an option ^^

Ascaii wrote:Well...I have a spare SDL plug, so I was thinking it might be an option ^^

That would certainly help alot... Is it a salvaged plug from an old cable or a clean one that still needs to be crimped on?

It is a salvage. No problem though, I understand if it is too much work.

Maybe Unicomp has them?

one cable for me
The same than the OP, longer and a different color

edit: ... dumb question, ignore me^^

My guess is: for teh lulz!

A toroid isn't really necessary, but as the OP said, he wanted to show off his skills.

Edit: Aww mintberryminuscrunch - now you make me look stupid. >.<

You can buy new SDL plugs from rs-components and alike

Maarten wrote:

startacked wrote:I would like a type A - mini B, 75cm to pimp out my usb dac.

Oh now lets wait for a second The cables im going to offer here will be regular USB cables;
So basic stuff; good ol regular jacket, with braided shield, then foil shielding and then little wires.....

Oh... a regular "huis-tuin-en-keuken" USB cable is just fine! I don't have a fancy dac or headphone, I just want a cool looking cable.

I didn't even know special "cat7" audio grade usb cables were out there.

I am interested in a cable like in the OP as well (different color though).

Will you have some samples as to what colors/braidings you are going to have? I was thinking about some black/white braiding.

These are quite pretty. Do you just use rope and replace the innards?