Hello there,
As the title suggests, i need some relief dealing with strain reliefs
I have several devices that have wires coming out of them and the wires often have to flex in order to be used in a daily routine. One example is a computer mouse, which just broke the other day.
What happens is that inside the wire, right outside the strain relief, a tiny wire breaks and so the mouse stops operating completely. Sometimes if you bend the cord near the relief the mouse starts working again, until you let go.
Now this is no ordinary mouse, but a gaming mouse with a very high quality cord coming out of it. The cord is made out of silicone, and the wires inside each are made up out of many strands of very thin magnet wire. Still, this wire eventually broke inside the jacket, same as all the rest, it just took a while.
The mouse is now repaired (found the break and soldered it) but i need a more long term solution.
So the question is, do any of you have this same problem and if so how did you fix it?
In particular, i'd like some ideas about how to make a good strain relief. The kind that was on there was the plastic kind molded to the wire and it allows the wire to flex but only a certain amount.
Oh yeah, there is one catch too. I dont want to have to unsolder all 5 of those tiny wires inside the mouse so the proposed solution has to fit over the wire from the outside, without having to cut the wire. I know that's a lot to ask for, but here are some examples of what i have already considered...
1. Hot glue. A big blob right where the cord comes out of the mouse. Would work but might be too inflexible.
2. Silicone sealant. This would probably be nice, but would be harder to apply in a blob.
3. Spring. This makes a nice relief, but i would have to cut the wire or unsolder it, which i dont want to do. I also dont think a spring with wide enough coils to allow the wire to pass through (so it could be 'threaded' on) would be a good spring for this application. I was thinking more like a spring from a retractable ball point pen.
Any other ideas?
As the title suggests, i need some relief dealing with strain reliefs
I have several devices that have wires coming out of them and the wires often have to flex in order to be used in a daily routine. One example is a computer mouse, which just broke the other day.
What happens is that inside the wire, right outside the strain relief, a tiny wire breaks and so the mouse stops operating completely. Sometimes if you bend the cord near the relief the mouse starts working again, until you let go.
Now this is no ordinary mouse, but a gaming mouse with a very high quality cord coming out of it. The cord is made out of silicone, and the wires inside each are made up out of many strands of very thin magnet wire. Still, this wire eventually broke inside the jacket, same as all the rest, it just took a while.
The mouse is now repaired (found the break and soldered it) but i need a more long term solution.
So the question is, do any of you have this same problem and if so how did you fix it?
In particular, i'd like some ideas about how to make a good strain relief. The kind that was on there was the plastic kind molded to the wire and it allows the wire to flex but only a certain amount.
Oh yeah, there is one catch too. I dont want to have to unsolder all 5 of those tiny wires inside the mouse so the proposed solution has to fit over the wire from the outside, without having to cut the wire. I know that's a lot to ask for, but here are some examples of what i have already considered...
1. Hot glue. A big blob right where the cord comes out of the mouse. Would work but might be too inflexible.
2. Silicone sealant. This would probably be nice, but would be harder to apply in a blob.
3. Spring. This makes a nice relief, but i would have to cut the wire or unsolder it, which i dont want to do. I also dont think a spring with wide enough coils to allow the wire to pass through (so it could be 'threaded' on) would be a good spring for this application. I was thinking more like a spring from a retractable ball point pen.
Any other ideas?