One of the key manufacturing points to consider when making custom cables is the materials to build the assembly. Sometimes, the number of parts to build a cable can be overwhelming.

You will need to think about each one of the components to make the cable (cable construction, pinouts, AWG, drain wire, solid or stranded wire, grommet trees, soldering or crimping, types of hoods, boots,etc) This in addition to any other type of design that would complement the cable to complete your project. It is easy to understand how some customers may be frustrated due to the number of choices. Today, we are going to discuss the hoods that may be required to build the cable.

hoods for your custom cables metal vs plastic readytogocables

Not too long ago, we had a quote for an audio custom cable. The customer was building an Audio Studio for a High School in California. He called our office asking for a quote for a cable pigtail. He referred to the need to have a quality assembly built because of the high end project he needed to complete.

When we spoke to him, he mentioned the need to build a Network Custom Cable with a DB25 Male solder type connector on one end, and a blunt end on the other extreme. Amongst other things, he also wanted a chart with a description of how the connector was terminated(pinout) and the need for drain wire. Lastly, he excluded the plenum material from the quote because all he needed was PVC rated cable.

We went ahead and provided options for him. We explained that the best type of wire would be a Belden 24AWG shielded cable. Other items we mentioned were the grommet trees for the assembly and the metal hoods for the Network Cable. One question that he had was whether to use metal or metallize plastic hoods. In his mind, he wanted the assembly to be clean and shiny.

He was thinking that the metallize plastic hood would make the cable standout and look “better looking” than using a metal hood with a dull color. Once he mentioned this to us, we went ahead and explain the difference as to what hood to choose. Here it is the key facts on this specific assembly: First, because of the type of wire that was needed to build the assembly the customer should really use the metal hoods. This is a basic but essential component for this specific type of assembly.

We come up to this conclusion since the requested wire was shielded and with a drain wire. The use of the metal hoods really depends on the customer and the type of project where the cable will be used. For example, if the assembly really requires the grounding, then the metal hood will be used because of the conductivity of the ground between the metal hood and the end where it is connecting to. On the other hand, if the grounding is not necessary, then the customer could use a metallized plastic hood and a different type of wire. In this case, the cable will have a less expensive price tag.

This goes back to the quality of custom cablesand the components that go into building a custom cable assembly to the exact specifications of the customer’s project. Shortly after this was explained, he chose the metal hoods and picked the rest of the components for it. The turnaround on his 50 cables was 3 days to hit the shipping dock. A few days later, he was installing our assemblies at the customer’s site. In the end, he was thankful for our help and the level of customer service we provided him.

If you would like to receive a quote for any of Network Custom Cables, Audio or Video Vustom Assemblies, please do not hesitate to contact us by sending an email to [email protected] or calling in the USA this phone number (682-325-1944)

Jessica Cardona
www.readytogocables.com