Snaking Snake Cable!

[frederic]

I finally had a huge block of time to which I could spend snaking the 24-TRS audio cable.

The first step is to make a spool holder, because rolling this unweildly beast around the driveway just wouldn't be fun. Two sawhorses, a section of scrap "black pipe" and some clamps, and I made a loud squeek generator!

The first "snip" 28 feet long, of 24-trs audio snake cable.

Only took 2.5 hours to snake the first four cables. Another thread on this forum has the snaking of the control/ethernet/serial cabling that's already there. THe cable has a rubbery jacket which had enough friction on neighboring cables that it just was a slow process. I could have greased them but I didn't want to have grease on the stucco-plaster ceiling. So, I did it the old fashioned way. Yank, pant, yank, pant, yank, pant, yank, pant.

Seven of the nine snakes ran through the producer's desk toilet flange. I knew the toilet flange idea was a good one

Same seven of nine in the crawl space, ready to be snaked through the wall to feed the producer's desk. Yes, I know, I wasted a lot of cable by making them too darn long. By about 3' too long each, give or take. But that's okay, I'll slice off the outer jacket of the pieces cut off, and make 24 TRS patch cords out of each "wasted" section. And here you were worried I was being wasteful. Always recycle!

Two more snakes to run, and I think I'm done for the night. Climbing over all the crap in the garage is exhausting.

 

[frederic]

Was a long day, but snaking the audio cable is now done. I can close up the crawl space tomorrow by hanging the new insulation, stapling it into place, and cover the insulation with sheetrock per the design. This will give me a nice, enclosed crawl space to store boxes and stuff, tools, extra gear, in an insulated area. I prefer not to keep stuff in the attic as I share that space with my wife, and on occasion I've found my extra gear moved around and "stacked". By using the crawl space, I'd have total control over what sits on what and how things are protected. Also picked up a huge roll of bubblewrap and gear I'm not going to use that will be in the crawl space, will be bubblewrapped and labeled as to what it is, for protection.

Guess I better start desoldered the patch bays... so I can attach the new cables.

 

[DDev]

Another step in the "cool" direction

How much of the 24-pair snake did you wind up with as leftover material? Let me know if you have some you want to sell off and I might be interested in some.

Anyway, sounds like it's time to cramp the back while huddling for hours with a hot soldering iron in your hand. Have fun!!

Darryl.....

 

[frederic]

I finished fairly late at night, and was at the doctors most of the day so far, so maybe tomorrow I'll unload the rest and see how long it is.

Know that Rick has first dibs

 

[DDev]

Know that Rick has first dibs

I seem to remember something about that from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

If nothing is left over it is not a problem, so don't fret it or anything. I keep meaning to get some for permanent wiring in my control room and never seem to get around to it, and your spool pic reminded me once again of my intentions.

Hope your doctor visit wasn't anything serious.

Cheers,
Darryl.....

 

[frederic]

Hope your doctor visit wasn't anything serious.

Colonoscopy. Just being reminded I'm getting old.

 

[brogers]

wow... talk about snaking cable... i've had one of those... and it feels like someone ran 24 pair of TRS wire through your gut... afterwards that is... sweet drugs kept me blissfully unaware at the time...

i'm having a blast watching your progess and lurking... but i had to post on this one...

b.

 

[frederic]

The procedure itself wasn't too bad, I was "out" for it so essentially I was wheeled in, they took my BP, said hello, administered anethesia and bang, I was in the recovery room.

The horrible part of the procedure is not being able to eat anything the day before (except for back coffee, or black tea, bleah) and large quantities of that disgusting goop one has to drink the day before, leaving you in the bathroom with a week's supply of magazines.

But at least I don't have to think about it for another four years

I'm still a little groggy from the anethesia. When it was over, they asked "is your wife coming to pick you up?" I was like no... I'm driving my 7000lb pickup home. No worries

 

[Tim Brown]

Colonoscopy. Just being reminded I'm getting old.

Sounds like Fun.
Hopefully, everything will be in the clear. Once you hit the mid 30's, it all seems to start to go to hell real quick. LOL If I had known that when I was 21, I'd have taken a lot better care of myself.


Tim

 

[frederic]

Don't kid yourself my friend. We all knew in our 20's that youth doesn't last forever. But we smoked, drank, got no sleep, partied all the time, played loud music, did donuts in parking lots, and so forth.

This is because in our 20's, our perception of invincibility grossly exceeds the concept of illness. As you age, that slowly "flips", and starts to sink in as things break, fall off, get removed, and recovery times increase.

 

[notbradsohner]

put me on the list for extra snake cable...........please

just curious, how much did that spool weigh?

 

[frederic]

Honestly? I have no idea. I couldn't lift it by myself. I was able to roll it out the back garage door, around the house (in the snow, but it was wrapped in thick shipping plastic), to the front of the house, onto car ramps, then torque it up onto sawhorses as in the first picture.

Maybe I'm a wuss

 

[c7sus]

Don't kid yourself my friend. We all knew in our 20's that youth doesn't last forever. But we smoked, drank, got no sleep, partied all the time, played loud music, did donuts in parking lots, and so forth.

This is because in our 20's, our perception of invincibility grossly exceeds the concept of illness. As you age, that slowly "flips", and starts to sink in as things break, fall off, get removed, and recovery times increase.

We're supposed to stop doing all that stuff by the time we're 47???

Say it ain't so!!!

 

[frederic]

We're supposed to stop doing all that stuff by the time we're 47???

In excess. I'm afraid so. Unless of course you believe in the "die young" concept. Me, I want to be around long enough to really irritate my great grandchildren. And my son isn't even a year yet

 

[pandamonk]

What the stage where you just randomly piss yourself wherever possible and make someone else clear it up? lol, sounds like fun. Anyway, i got my cables in today, woohoo, and while doing it it reminded me of your pics frederic, just a cheaper way of doing it. Instead of those staple things i used wire screwed into the ceiling, luckily my dad's an electrician so has lots of spare wire, and i didnt have muilticore, had to do each separately. Pleased with myself now though

 

[frederic]

Cool pics, and that certainly works.

The staples were free though... mostly out of scrap I had laying around, and some welding time - which I enjoy

 

[pandamonk]

Free is always a good price . The pics are of the wires going from the bomb shelter into the shed. So glad i got it done today.

 

[ThaArtist]

frederic, you could even build a nice wooden box and stain it, and surround your staples. That would make it look nicer.

Probably one of the very last things that would get done if anything tho... more important tasks at hand i would imagine...

We built a rec room in our basement and their were two pipes that were really just impossible to get rid of so we ran the pipes close together and just cased it with wood to make a fake beam effect. looks really nice.

 

[frederic]

What I intend to do eventually, maybe mid-spring, is to clean out the garage bay which I have to do anyway, it's mostly junk, an old sofa, bags of bird seed, old fenders and bumpers and junk, and tack-weld some small-hole metal chicken wire between the staples. I can turn the heat low enough just to tack the chicken wire on without damaging the cables in the hangers, then plaster over that to match the plaster ceiling.

Originally I wanted to use sheetrock, or wood, but the staples aren't in a straight line so using stiff, straight material just adds to the aggrevation, unfortunately.

I could leave them exposed, it would fit my lazy motif

Your idea about the plumbing is a good one... I could get another foot of ceiling height in the basement once I finish relocating pipes. I've replumbed about half of them, removing tons of extra copper. There are two that are going to be a pain, but I figured where to route them so they are out of the way, I just haven't gotten around to it. I generally have too many started projects, and not enough finished projects. Grrrrrr.