Would it be a bad idea to seal a patch cable shut?

[brand0nized]

Just thinking outloud...

I want to buy a bunch of 1/4" plugs, screw off the end, solder in my cable, bend in 90 degrees, and then seal the whole thing with a hard glue or instamorph in a mold, using enough to make a small grip.

Basically, I want to hack together my own solderless Lava plugs.. But on the super cheap. It might be so cheap that I wouldn't mind just making another if it goes defective.

What y'all think about my shenanigan?

[Ettore_M]

I don't quite understand what the process would be, but I'm always in for everything DIY. You should try it either way, and if it goes defective or you don't like it, you just leave it aside. Experiment, right?

Hector

[brand0nized]

Heck yeah!

After a day of day dreaming in class, I've thought up a more concise plan.

I would use a plug like the one below and cut down the solder lugs to as small as I dare to solder. Then I would cut down the screw-on cap to however low-profile I want the plug to be, but enough to cover the newly cut solder lugs.

If I want this to be a straight plug, I can solder in my cable from here, screw on the newly cut cap, and , with the cable sticking out of the open end of the plug, push in some Instamorph (http://youtu.be/IhVuc6RNyaw) to seal the whole thing shut.

If I want a right angle plug, I would screw on the newly cut cap, put the plug in a vice and drill a hole on the side large enough for my cable to go through. Then stick the cable through, solder, and plug up with Instamorph. With this method, I can draw a logo onto the Instamorph side of the plug.

It'll pretty much look pretty darn close to a Lava plug. But with custom colors

[Ettore_M]

I now see what you mean! Yes, it could be done. Me likey! But the whole process may be a PITA. I'm sure you're ready for it! 
These Lava plugs are really small. For my DIY patch cables, I use this kinf of jacks

They are pretty small and really easy to build.

Hector

[jkokura]

Not to mention that Lava makes a soldered version of their solderless plug. If you really want to save the room, invest in those plugs man. The solution you're describing will in the end not be a long term one I think, which means you're either buying or building a cable twice, which isn't saving you money.

Jacob

[jimijam]

or use 1/8 ra Plugs and jacks in your builds. so much smaller. and mogami 2319 miniture instrument cable. bet that would save a ton of space.

[pickdropper]

Overmolding is done to cables all the time.  The better cables will often have a hard inner "premold" and a more rubbery outer "overmold."  If you are only going to do an outer mold, you'll want the material to have a fairly high durometer material (basically harder) or it may not be very reliable.  Ideally, you'll have some sort of strain relief as well, but the lava ones don't really have that so my guess is that you will probably skip that.

[brand0nized]

I now see what you mean! Yes, it could be done. Me likey! But the whole process may be a PITA. I'm sure you're ready for it! 

Haha, yes! I agree with you, it will be a pain. It seems that everything I think of doing is overcomplicated

I'm watching a 6-pack of a Hosa version of those plugs on Amazon. It's only $16 for a 6-pack of 6" pancake plugs! I was going to get them and disassemble them to make custom lengths. But I do prefer the small Lava style because it gives me better options of fitting the cables into small spaces whereas this pancake plug has a fairly large "leg"

[brand0nized]

Not to mention that Lava makes a soldered version of their solderless plug. If you really want to save the room, invest in those plugs man. The solution you're describing will in the end not be a long term one I think, which means you're either buying or building a cable twice, which isn't saving you money.

IN THE NAME OF DIY!!! 

or use 1/8 ra Plugs and jacks in your builds. so much smaller. and mogami 2319 miniture instrument cable. bet that would save a ton of space.

I'm actually doing that for a double-drive in a 1590a. I wouldn't mind converting my whole board to use 1/8", but I think 1/8" mostly saves me space inside the enclosure, because I'm having trouble finding some low profile 1/8" ra plugs that don't stick out any more than the pancake plugs.

[brand0nized]

Overmolding is done to cables all the time.  The better cables will often have a hard inner "premold" and a more rubbery outer "overmold."  If you are only going to do an outer mold, you'll want the material to have a fairly high durometer material (basically harder) or it may not be very reliable.  Ideally, you'll have some sort of strain relief as well, but the lava ones don't really have that so my guess is that you will probably skip that.

What's this magic you speak of?

If I end up doing this like I planned, I would have a cut-down cap over the solder lugs, and just fill the insides with Instamorph, so the outside still has the strength of the original metal screw on thingy.

[brand0nized]

or use 1/8 ra Plugs and jacks in your builds. so much smaller. and mogami 2319 miniture instrument cable. bet that would save a ton of space.

If I could get my hand on cheap bulk packaging of these ra plugs, that would be AMAZINGG!