Crys1s_Gam3r
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I originally posted this in the EVGA forums, but I though some of you might appreciate it. So without further rambling here's the stuff you'll need: 
Materials:
- 18 AWG stranded wire
- Molex male/female pins for Mini-Fit Jr. receptacle housings (aka "ATX pins")
- Molex Mini-Fit Jr. housings (aka "ATX connectors")
- 1/8" or 3/16" cable sleeve
- 1/4" heat shrink (with at least 3:1 shrink ratio)
Equipment:
- Wire cutter/stripper ($5-$15)
- Molex Mini-Fit Jr crimper ($20-$50)
- Heat gun ($20)
- Lighter ($2-$6)
- Scissors (dont go cheap... get a nice $5 pair)
- Xacto knife (a kit goes for about $15)
For the sake of this guide, we'll be doing a 12" 6pin PCIe extension. You can apply the techniques in this to all the extensions with Mini-Fit Jr connectors (24pin, 8pin, 6+2pin, 6pin).
Start off by cutting the wire at 12" intervals. When they're all cut, find the shortest wire and cut them all to be exactly that length. Even the slightest variation in wire length will make one appear to "bulge", so it's best to make sure they are even while it's still easy to adjust.
Next, strip off exactly 3mm on each end of each wire.
When that's done, it's time to get out your crimper. Different people have different crimping methods, this is mine: First, put the female pin face up in the crimper, and close it until it clicks once. This will hold the pin in place, freeing up your other hand. If you used wire from a spool, you'll notice that it forms a "C" when cut.
Take the top end of the C (I'll explain why later) and insert it as far as it goes into the pin in the crimper. Finish closing the crimper until it opens. It should come out something like this:
Then insert the male pin face up into the crimper, and close to hold it in place. Then grab the bottom end of the C (if the already crimped pin is face up, this bottom end should have no pin), and insert it flat into the crimper. It's important the the already-crimped pin is facing up while you crimp this pin. Otherwise the wire would have to twist from one connector to the other.
When all the wires have been crimped, you should have this:
There are plenty of sleeving guides online so I'll just post a quick picture guide of the process:
If you used an accent color, insert the female pin side into the male connector. Then find another that has exactly the same distance from the end of the heatshrink to the end of the sleeving. Insert it into a spot next to the accent color.
Continue around the connector in the same fashion. This will ensure the "heatshrinks" are even. Insert the opposite ends into their corresponding spots on the other connector, and you're done! Well, almost. If the heatshrink-evenness is still less than satisfactory, take an Xacto knife and carefully cut a small ring off the end of the heatshrink. Using the lighter, flick it over the cut part to make it less gray.
It now should look something like this:
Emphasis on having even heatshrink is obviously on the male end of the cable. Unfortunately, this may lead to the other end having not-so-even heatshrinks. This happened to mine:
If you're unhappy with it (although this is the end you don't see) - use some big heatshrink over the connector itself to cover up the unevenness. Like so:
Now - perfection:
I hope you found this guide useful, or at least somewhat interesting. Any and all feedback is appreciated, and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!
Materials:
- 18 AWG stranded wire
- Molex male/female pins for Mini-Fit Jr. receptacle housings (aka "ATX pins")
- Molex Mini-Fit Jr. housings (aka "ATX connectors")
- 1/8" or 3/16" cable sleeve
- 1/4" heat shrink (with at least 3:1 shrink ratio)
Equipment:
- Wire cutter/stripper ($5-$15)
- Molex Mini-Fit Jr crimper ($20-$50)
- Heat gun ($20)
- Lighter ($2-$6)
- Scissors (dont go cheap... get a nice $5 pair
)- Xacto knife (a kit goes for about $15)
For the sake of this guide, we'll be doing a 12" 6pin PCIe extension. You can apply the techniques in this to all the extensions with Mini-Fit Jr connectors (24pin, 8pin, 6+2pin, 6pin).
Start off by cutting the wire at 12" intervals. When they're all cut, find the shortest wire and cut them all to be exactly that length. Even the slightest variation in wire length will make one appear to "bulge", so it's best to make sure they are even while it's still easy to adjust.
Next, strip off exactly 3mm on each end of each wire.
When that's done, it's time to get out your crimper. Different people have different crimping methods, this is mine: First, put the female pin face up in the crimper, and close it until it clicks once. This will hold the pin in place, freeing up your other hand. If you used wire from a spool, you'll notice that it forms a "C" when cut.
Take the top end of the C (I'll explain why later) and insert it as far as it goes into the pin in the crimper. Finish closing the crimper until it opens. It should come out something like this:
Then insert the male pin face up into the crimper, and close to hold it in place. Then grab the bottom end of the C (if the already crimped pin is face up, this bottom end should have no pin), and insert it flat into the crimper. It's important the the already-crimped pin is facing up while you crimp this pin. Otherwise the wire would have to twist from one connector to the other.
When all the wires have been crimped, you should have this:
There are plenty of sleeving guides online so I'll just post a quick picture guide of the process:
If you used an accent color, insert the female pin side into the male connector. Then find another that has exactly the same distance from the end of the heatshrink to the end of the sleeving. Insert it into a spot next to the accent color.
Continue around the connector in the same fashion. This will ensure the "heatshrinks" are even. Insert the opposite ends into their corresponding spots on the other connector, and you're done! Well, almost. If the heatshrink-evenness is still less than satisfactory, take an Xacto knife and carefully cut a small ring off the end of the heatshrink. Using the lighter, flick it over the cut part to make it less gray.
It now should look something like this:
Emphasis on having even heatshrink is obviously on the male end of the cable. Unfortunately, this may lead to the other end having not-so-even heatshrinks. This happened to mine:
If you're unhappy with it (although this is the end you don't see) - use some big heatshrink over the connector itself to cover up the unevenness. Like so:
Now - perfection:
I hope you found this guide useful, or at least somewhat interesting. Any and all feedback is appreciated, and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!
