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[Chris Edwards]

Hi,

I am looking for heatshrink tubing to cover the pins and cable on my panelmount XLR jacks as well as the pins and cable for my stage use cables. Can anyone recommend the correct sizing and shrinkage ratio?

[Dave Pluke]

Can anyone recommend the correct sizing and shrinkage ratio?

I don't do a lot of that, but have used Raychem WSCM 24/6 8-2 (4 to 1) tubing for the backs of chassis mount Powercon connectors.  It's rated for submersible use, which I hope never happens to my racks!

Home Depot sells them in 4" lengths if you want to try it.  This is not the brand I've seen in the stores, but is what they have on their website:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gardner-Bender-8-2-AWG-Heavy-Wall-Heat-Shrink-Tubing-Black-HWT-0025/205881703

Have to assume there's a more economical source if you need larger quantities.

Dave
 

[Christopher Irwin]

I've used the TecNec shrink tubing from Fullcompass - 4' length for $2-$3 each.  I believe 1/8" barely fits over the outside of small install xlr (belden 9451) and is tight without shrinking, so probably either that or 1/16" for individual wires would be my guess. Honestly it's cheap enough I would just get a few sizes and see what works best. I also use 1/4", 3/8", and even 1/2" & 1" for a variety of cables including snakes.  It is 2:1 ratio, but if you have a variety of sizes and don't need to squeeze it over a connector you can easily make it work.

https://www.fullcompass.com/prod/180534-tecnec-sht18cr-4-4-of-1-8-clear-heat-shrink-tubing

[John Schalk]

I recently needed to buy some heat shrink to color code speaker snake fan outs.  I watched a couple of YouTube videos on how to size it and learned that, for 2:1 ratio, you should buy heat shrink that is roughly 25% larger than the diameter of the wire(s) you want to cover.  I was able to buy several different diameters of 6" pieces for $2 from my local home store and then test them on some scrap speaker wire.  FWIW I ended up with 3/8" 2:1 for 1 pair and 1/2" 2:1 for the 2 pair mid-high outputs.  To get the colors and lengths that I wanted, I had to go to Amazon.  My point being that it is pretty cheap to do some trials to see what works best and then order what you need in bulk.

[Tim McCulloch]

Hi,

I am looking for heatshrink tubing to cover the pins and cable on my panelmount XLR jacks as well as the pins and cable for my stage use cables. Can anyone recommend the correct sizing and shrinkage ratio?

The correct way is a "back box."  With Hellerman sleeves or heat shrink over the solder cups on the connectors and physical support of the wires.

[Mike Caldwell]

Neutrik sells these

https://www.neutrik.com/en/product/scdr

I've used them on just about every D series size connector at one time or another.

[Chris Edwards]

Neutrik sells these

https://www.neutrik.com/en/product/scdr

I've used them on just about every D series size connector at one time or another.

I forgot about those. Thank you for reminding me.

[Chris Edwards]

The correct way is a "back box."  With Hellerman sleeves or heat shrink over the solder cups on the connectors and physical support of the wires.

Thanks for your answer Tim. Do you have any picture of what this looks like?

[ProSoundWeb Community]