[ncolug] Re: Spare Patch Cable Management
- From: Chuck <cstickelman@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ncolug@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 08:31:42 -0400
It's funny how one solution -- your cables in bags in tubs on a shelf,
for example -- can work for one person, but not another. I tried that
and totally lost track of many of my cables and stuff. Which explains
why I just tossed a bunch of Cat 3 stuff in the trash and am debating
about the fate of several Cat 5 patch cables.
Thanks for sharing your solutions. I was sure that I wasn't the only
one who's had to be creative in coming up with a system for storing our
stuff.
For adapters, I was thinking about using one of those storage thingys
with the rows and columns of little plastic drawers. (Harry had a
couple that he used to keep Legos in that is just itching to be
reused...)
On Fri, 2013-06-07 at 06:10 -0400, Larry DiGioia wrote:
> My solution was similar - I just put two large hooks into a wall, about
> 5' apart. Then draped cables across them.
>
> This covered the medium ones... in the 6 to 8' range, which are the most
> popular... and best of all it lets me see the ends, which is similar to
> your solution. I should mention I included power and audio cables mixed
> in. Finally, I put the both the shortest ones and longer (15' to 100')
> ones into ziplock plastic bags in a tub, with a large printed page in
> the bag for length... ("less than 6' " etc)
>
> For all my audio adapters I use a fishing tackle box that has clear
> sides, I can immediately see what I am looking for. In my new house I
> settled on the "tubs on shelves" method for everything else.
>
> On 6/6/2013 7:06 PM, Chuck wrote:
> > Howdy.
> >
> > Are you like me in that you have a collection of spare patch cables
> > floating around? I have tried to get a handle on my cables for several
> > years. At first I just coiled my cables up and tossed them in a tub.
> > But the tub would always end up in the basement among a bunch of other
> > tubs, so when I needed a cable I'd have to go down to the basement and
> > sort through the tubs to find the right one, and then I'd have to dig
> > through the mess of cables that magically became entwined while in the
> > tub. I tried putting the coiled cables in zip-lock baggies, but the
> > largest ones wouldn't fit.
> >
> > Fortunately, I think I've finally come up with a winning idea, and I
> > wanted to share it with you all.
> >
> > First, I have classified my cables as either "short" or "long" and I
> > deal with them differently. For me a long cable is one that is > 2
> > meters, all others are short. The thing to note here is that my cut-off
> > for long vs. short is not arbitrary; it was chosen for a particular
> > reason, that I will came back to in a moment.
> >
> > I have found that I typically use shorter patch cables more frequently
> > than long ones, so I want them to be available. Also want to minimize
> > tangling and I want to be able to visually distinguish cables by type --
> > coax vs. Ethernet vs. USB -- and I want to get an idea about how long
> > they are without a bunch of fussing around. In order to meet these
> > goals I've concluded that the cables need to be hanging vertically. But
> > hanging from what? Well that's where my first bit of inspiration comes
> > in. I went to a local hardware store and picked up 6 small compression
> > springs, and then dug around in my garage and found a small board and
> > some clips. About 20 minutes later I had a small wall-mountable
> > solution.
> >
> > I then drilled a couple of small holes in my office closet and used
> > those little plastic insert dodads to screw it to the wall and started
> > hanging cables from it, with the cables hanging down, and tied with hook
> > & loop wire ties.
> >
> > The middle two springs are now full of various USB cables, which has me
> > thinking that I didn't build this big enough. I may make another one
> > and put it on the other side of the closet...
> > But that's how I am now storing my patch cables that are < 2meters long.
> > Note: DO NOT use anything like this for fiber optic cables, as the
> > springs do pinch the cable and you could end-up crushing the fiber.
> >
> > For cables that are longer than 2 meters, I lay the cable out next to a
> > tape measure and use a sharpie to mark it every meter. I then coil the
> > cable up so that the circumference of the coil is 1 meter long. This is
> > quite easy as all you need to do is to line up the sharpie marks. I
> > then use 3 small pieces of black electrician's tape evenly spaced around
> > the coil to help it retain it's shape. Now I can tell how long a cable
> > is just by counting the number of loops in each coil.
> >
> > That's it. I now have a small stack of coils for my long patch cables
> > and a couple of bundles of shorter ones hanging in my office closet.
> >
> > I'll send pictures in follow-up emails.
> >
> > I hope someone finds this useful.
> > Chuck
> > .
> >
> >
> >
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> > the Subject field.
> >
>
>
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