The knots happen if one end or the other of the cable gets passed through any
of the coiled loops before uncoiling. I used that method for many years but
gave up on it in all situations except where I have control of both ends of the
cable (as is the case when coiling up a cable where one end is already attached
to the mike and the other is plugged into something).
My standard technique now is to turn the cable one rotation of the wrist for
each loop. On long cables, this can build up a tendency to kink. To get rid of
this as you coil, rotate the bundle of cable that's already coiled back in the
other direction several times.
When uncoiling a long cable that is coiled in this manner, you'll have some
twists in it, but it is far easier to get rid of the twists than to undo twenty
five pretzel knots!
--Flawn
> Re: Wrapping cables
> Posted by: "Dan Dugan" dandugan_1999
> Date: Thu Dec 8, 2011 3:56 pm ((PST))
>
>> I left it off my last email but there is an "over-under" way of
>> wrapping cables learnt from sparks wrapping long 1" cables. It gets
>> over the way cold cables tend to finish up like a tangled slinky toy.
>>
>> When coiling the cable in one hand, hold it between thumb and finger
>> of the other hand and rotate it so it first loops the same way and
>> then alternately throws a loop under, so there is no net twist in the
>> coil.
>>
>> It is essential to tie the wrapped coil with string or whatever, as if
>> it is uncoiled the wrong way it throws a series of knots. Once you've
>> got the hang of it, over-under becomes second nature and all your
>> cables lay nice and flat.
>
> After 50 years of doing audio, I finally learned over-under from a video on
> YouTube. I was practicing it religiously but sometimes I got, as you said, a
> series of knots! What's the "right way" to uncoil the over-under coil?
>
> -Dan
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