SCSI cable folds - to cut or not to cut

[patters]

I'm certain I have seen official Macintosh internal SCSI cables with multiple slits in them to ease folding and cable routing, and even for improving airflow.

In my own SE/30 I have to put two 45 degree folds in my SCSI cable and can only just do this. Would slitting the cable help in this regard? Have any of you tried this? And what should the slit interval be? Even numbered, like say in groups of 4, to preserve signal and ground pairings? What were the official cable slit spacings?

 

[Trash80toG4]

Slitted cables are present in LC form factor cases to facilitate the required offset, RA connection for fan/power connector clearance.



Folded cables aren't a problem when angled. Folding a cable back and forth overtop itself to shorten a run could cause crosstalk interference. Such defeats the purpose of the alternate ground line setup of IDC cable.

Don't recall ever seeing a cable slitted for cooling purposes.

 

[patters]

10 pin cut interval. Interesting, thanks for sharing.

 

[Trash80toG4]

De nada! Shouldn't be needed in your SE/30 I think?

 

[patters]

The BlueSCSI v2 needs to be mounted upside down for best placement of the Raspberry Pi Pico W WiFi antenna - otherwise it would be up against the metal drive cage. So it needs one full twist of the SCSI ribbon, which is what made me think of slitting the cable.

 

[patters]

Well I've ordered a new cable from Shenzhen for a few pounds, to cut up. I will post photos.

 

[patters]

Before pic. The peak of this fold rises up very high, allowing only just enough length remaining to plug this into the motherboard.

 

[patters]

This is the new 20cm cable I ordered, for £3.84:

20CM Length FC Connectors 6-50 Pin Flat Ribbon Cable Wire For IDC 2.54mm Pitch | eBay UK

Connector Type: Female IDC Connectors. Length: 20CM(200MM). Pin Pitch: 2.54mm. Pin Number: 6/8/10/12/14/16/20/24/26/30/34/40/50. Good Good quality.

www.ebay.co.uk

As long as the blade is kept in line and lower than 45 degrees, it follows the depression line in the cable while cutting. As you can see here, a full twist can be achieved much more easily with this sliced cable.

 

[patters]

Much neater, and working fine. BlueSCSI v2's Raspberry Pi Pico W WiFi antenna is oriented upwards which seems to work fine for me. I suspect that the other way up would be too close to the drive cage and floppy drive metal.

 

[Trash80toG4]

Missed your post while out of town. VERY nice!