Date: May 31st, 2004
Article by: Roger (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner, Head Editor & Hardware Reviewer)
Product was donated by: Techparadise
<---SHOP FOR THE VANTEC CABLE SLEEVING KIT HERE

PRODUCT INSTALLATION (cont'd)

Now, the principle behind this braided sleeve is similar to the old Chinese finger traps. You can puff out the sleeving to make it bigger, and Vantec claims that you should be able to then get it over the molex ends without having to remove the ends. The reality is, depending on what size of sleeving you choose, you may have to remove the ends anyway. I choose a mid-range size and was able to slowly get it over the molex ends, however if I'd gone with anything smaller in size, I'd have had to remove the ends.

To this end, it would have been nice of Vantec to include a molex remover with this kit. They are not that expensive, and it would have raised the price a bit, but would have been worth it in the end.

If you do not have a molex remover, it isn't that difficult to remove ends. Get your hands on a precision screwdriver (the same kind you'd use to tighten screws on glasses), and carefully push out the wires on the molex. From there, just slip your sleeving into place, and place your wires back into the molex. The clips at the ends of the wires will cause them to snap back into place and so the molex will be securely held in place.

Finally, to seal the ends, you can either use the included tie-wraps (whose color matches the sleeving), or you can use some of the heatshrink tubing. The tubing is great, but I found that it did not shrink well under a regular dryer. I had to use a more powerful dryer which I borrowed from a buddy of mine who used to build detailed airplane models. It is the kind that is used in drying model paint and gets exceptionally hot.

And here is what the end result looks like in the ClearPC Secret Agent Briefcase that I recently reviewed. In a case like this especially, sleeved wires are a must.

The entire process took me less than an hour to complete, and that was while watching a Pokemon movie with my son. Had I removed the molex ends, it would have taken longer, but I found that I could get away with just using the larger sleeving and it slipped over just fine.

When I was working on the Secret Agent Briefcase review, I wanted to rewire the 40mm fans, but I wanted to make certain it looked tidy. I used the smallest sleeving, and having cut the ends to rewire it, the sleeving slipped on easily and made the final product look great. I shrinked the tubing for the ends and was very happy with how it turned out. Again, don't toss out whatever ends you have left from this kit once you finish sleeving the PSU... who knows when you could just a couple small pieces.

And here are some examples from the Vantec site which show off the same black kit that I reviewed, as well as a green UV reactive kit.