Posted: 2004-03-06 at thecrucible.ca
Written By: Rob 'DoGMaN' Parks
Price: $19.95 and up
Supplied by: www.adpmods.com

Introduction

So your case is pretty pimped, its got lights and windows, and all kinds of neat stuff.  The only thing left is the eye sore of those yellow, red and black power cables.  Well today we are going to show you how to mod those cables into slick looking nicely managed ones. 

Cable sleeve is not a new idea.  Many companies have been adding sleeve to their power supply 20pin connectors for some time.  Most however don't sleeve the octopus of leads that are used to power all of the devices.  We are going to show you how to effectively sleeve all the cables on that power supply and give your cool case mod a great finished look.

The first thing you're going to want to do is gather your materials. At the very least, you need a few zip ties to tuck those wires away. We are going to take things one step further today, and sleeve the wires on our power supply, to make our exposed wires more attractive, and help the airflow in our case as well.

You will need to buy a Molex pin removal tool.  Otherwise you are going to have a heck of a time getting those pins out of the Molex connectors.  These usually run about $20-$25 and are available at many shops that deal with modding supplies.  Ours came from ADPmods along with the expandable sleeve and heat shrink tubing.  A small screw driver, like for fixing eye glasses will be an asset when removing the floppy style connectors, a small pocket knife will work as well.  Two to three staples bent into an L shape will be used for removing the pins in the 20pin power connector. You will need a Philips (#2) screwdriver to remove the power supply from the case, and also to remove it's cover.

Again to summarize the list:

Scissors
A Couple Staples
Philips Screwdriver
Masking Tape
A Fine Tip Permanent Marker
Molex Removal Tool
A Tiny Flathead Screwdriver
Diagonal Cutting Pliers
Power Supply
½” PSU Sleeving
¼” PSU Sleeving
½” Heat Shrink Tubing
¼” Heat Shrink Tubing
Some Small Tywraps (zip ties)

Measuring.  The first thing we need is to know how much expandable sleeve we need.  Measure each set of connectors and keep track.  For the standard molex power connectors, 1/4" sleeving is used.  For the larger 20pin ATX connector you will need 1/2".  The +12v connector will also use 1/4" so add that to the length when ordering.  Approximately one and a half inches of heat shrink tubing is needed for each end of the sleeve.  This means at each point where the sleeve will be cut so that it will not fray. 

Unplug and removed your power supply from the case.  The power supply should be allowed to sit for 20-30 minutes to allow the capacitors to drain.  This way there will be no risk of shock.

With your molex removal tool, insert the small end into one of the four pin connectors.  Push the tool in as far as you can.  Depress the plunger, there should be little resistance if your tool has been pushed in far enough to compress the tabs on the pins. Do not try and force the plunger down.  You will end up damaging the tabs on the pins. It is best to do one at a time and not all of them at once.  This way you can use one of the untouched connectors as a guide when replacing the pins.  Once the plastic connector has been removed tape the metal connectors together so they won't become snagged in the cabling.

For the smaller four pin floppy connectors. Depress the silver tab on the top of the connector.  Do not press to hard or you will bend the tab into the pin.  These should pull out fairly easily.

Since the sleeve expands when it is pushed together, hold the end that you pushed onto the wires, push the opposing part toward where you want the sleeve to be.  Once the sleeve has expanded, release the end that is closest to the direction you want the sleeve (i.e. the hand closest to the power supply).  The sleeve should easily slip over the wires covering it nicely.  Repeat until you have covered the entire section of wire.

After you have pushed on the sleeve it is now time to secure it into place with the shrink wrap tubing.  Cut one piece or each end, approximately ¾" long.  Place at each end with at least half of the shrink wrap covering the ends of the expandable sleeve.  Heat the shrink wrap until it is nice and tight on both the sleeve and wires.  I recommend that you use a hair dryer to heat the shrink tubing.  While using a lighter may be quicker, you risk the chance of burning or scorching the tubing.  Since the tubing is near impossible to remove once it has shrunk, replacing a burnt piece would not be easy.

Replace the plastic molex connector making sure you have the pins in the right holes. There, you have just finished the first part.  Repeat these steps for the remainder of the connections.

Now we come to probably the most difficult part of the guide.  The next step is to sleeve the four pin 12v ATX connector.  Begin removing the pins by sliding the staple into the open end of the connector.  There is a small tab on each side of the pin that needs to be depressed before the pin will release.  DO NOT FORCE THE PINS OUT!  You will damage the tabs and possibly break them off.  Once you have all of the pins out of the plastic molex, tape the ends together as we did with the 4 pin HDD power plug.  Slide the end in to the ¼" sleeve and cover the entire cable, less about one inch where the connector goes on. 

You will need a few additional things before you can proceed.  Some masking tape, the sharpie marker and the bent staples or other thin flat object.  Put a small piece of tape on each of the colored wires coming from the 20pin molex.  There should be a line on one corner of the molex that defines which is pin one.  Start your numbering here.  Go down one side then back up the next, so that wire 1 and wire 20 are both at the same end of the molex.

Begin removing the pins by sliding the staple into the open end of the connector the same way as was done with the four pin +12v connector.  There is a small tab on each side of the pin that needs to be depressed before the pin will release.  DO NOT FORCE THE PINS OUT! You will damage the tabs and possibly break them off.  Once you have all of the pins out of the plastic molex, tape the ends together.  Slide the end in to the ¾" sleeve and cover the entire cable, less about one inch where the connector goes on.  Place a zip tie on each end of the sleeve about half an inch from the end.  Tighten the tie as much as you can and clip off the excess.  This will prevent the sleeve from moving around or slipping and bunching up.

Cut two pieces of the larger shrink tubing to about one to one and a half inches in length, depending on how much you would like.  Personally I used about one and a half inches.  Slide the heat shrink over the sleeve and to each end.  Again leave about half of the shrink tubing covering the sleeve.  Heat until tight.  Replace the plastic connector following the numbering scheme laid out in step five.

Almost finished.  All we have left now is to sleeve the six pin AUX lead.  This lead consists of one red, two orange and three black wires.  Be sure to mark down which goes where.  To remove the plastic connector,  simply insert the tiny flat head screw driver into the open hole above the wire and press down on the tab.  Pull the wire out from the rear and repeat.  Once the end is off, repeat the procedure for installing the sleeve and shrink tube. Replace the plastic connector.

So all the leads should be nice and neat and covered with the expandable sleeve now.  If you have any extra connectors (fan speed sensors) you can modify the guide to install the sleeve on those as well.  Most three pin fan headers can be removed in much the same way as for a floppy drive connector.

Now that we have a nice looking set of wires, all that remains is to replace the cover, and reinstall the PSU.  Make sure that the wires are bound tightly so they will not interfere with the cover.  I used a zip tie on the inside and outside of the PSU casing to hold the wires tight enough.  In your case, it may or may not be required.  Once you have reassembled the PSU, install it back into your case with the four screws that you removed earlier.

While adding decorative sleeve to your power supply wires is not an overly difficult task for a moderate or advance modder, the task is probably not geared to the beginner.  This mod takes a lot of time and patience.  The end results however are well worth the toil.   During the course of writing this guide I realized just what a n00b I was at modding.  Sure I have cut a few windows, added some lights, the normal junk that most of us start off with.  Now I feel I have taken the first step to becoming  a hardcore modder.  I have felt the sickness.

Upon completion of the guide, I decided to take the mod one step further.  I added a clear UV reactive blue acrylic cover (also from ADPmods) and replaced the stock fan with a blue UV reactive UV LED fan.

My case has always been kept pretty neat and clean.  From the times before rounded cables, I always had my wiring tied and out of the way.  I can remember folding flat IDE cables into accordion like shapes and tucking them under the motherboard trays.  The one thin that always drove me nuts was the ugly power supply wires that I couldn't hide.  With the help of ADPmods I have accomplished just that.  Now all the wiring looks good.  It really gives your case a nice finished look.

Was all the work worth while?  I think it was.  With prices for sleeve at a reasonable level and the tools being made more readily available adding decorative expandable sleeve to those ugly power sully wires has never been more appealing.  Whether you are a hard core modder, or just a neat freak cable sleeving has its place in every PC.

If I had to rate this mod on difficulty, on a scale of one to ten it would score about a six, maybe six and a half.  Overall it is not that hard, but very time consuming, and it does leave you without a PC if you only have one power supply.  Make sure that you have all the supplies laid out before you begin, and set aside a couple hours where you can work.  When you are done you will be happy that you took the time and covered up those nasty wires.

I would like to thank ADPmods for providing the supplies used in writing this guide.

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***Disclaimer***
ADPmods and Rob Parks/thecrucible.ca take no responsibility for any mods you undertake. All case mods should be done at your own risk. Neither the author or ADPmods will take responsibility for any omissions or errors in this article.