Trying to source odd cable

Jul 19, 2004 1 Replies

I have been lucky enough to acquire (ebay) an ANALOY portable aluminium alloy identifier in non-working condition and traced one of its faults to a broken core in an umbilical cable - shortened cable and got it working - hooray ! However I'd like to replace the cable so it is back to original length, but it is a very odd composition of cores:



Overall diameter 10mm


15 thin data cores each 0.9mm diam over insulation comprising 18 strands of
0.07mm copper


9 thick power cores each 1.7mm over insulation comprising 41 strands of



0.15mm copper

Two of the thick cores are individually screened and then laid with the other 7 thick ones



As the rest of the instrument bears all the hallmarks of the Radiospares catalogue of 1989 when it was made and I suspect that they were made in relatively small quantities its hard to imagine it was a specially made cable - though maybe it was.



All I need is about 1.5 meters of the stuff - anyone suggest what it may have been made for or have an odd length laying about?



Alternatively any other similar multiway cable with those cores in a 10mm or less form factor (needs to go in the shell of a 25 way D type plug)



Andrew Mawson


Andrew

In my opinion the cable you described must have been specially made for some sort of instrumentation purpose and I am not aware of anything similar.

My suggestion would be to make up the cable yourself. I have made various leads and special cables using combinations of individual wires, coax cables, pneumatic tubes, some incorporated a kevlar cord to support the weight of the equipment. For the outer sheath you can use Silicone, PVC or braided Nylon sleeving. I have also dismantled screened multicore cable just for the copper braid to create a custom screened multicore.

Ian Phillips

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