Another step to cleaning up your cables

E

eyedol

Gawd
Joined
Dec 22, 2002
Messages
872
Couldn't sleep tonight so I decided to mess around with an old board and wanted to share my idea.

I see people with some clean cases but I've never seen anyone hide thier bulky atx connector completely so I decided to give it a try. Please excuse the crappy solder joints...I simply just didn't care enough to make them pretty.

Pretty much the idea is to cut a hole on your motherboard tray to allow the mod to connect to your psu behind the tray. Pretty impractical to do it on an expensive board if you think you might fuck something up. Took be about 40 minutes to unsolder the old atx connector on the board, plan the wiring, and soldering the new wires on. It could have been done in a cleaner fashion but it was just to give people the idea.

I'm just throwing the idea out there for anyone that really wants wires hidden. I used an atx extension cable and cut off the male end.

atx0.jpg

atx1.jpg

atx2.jpg

atx3.jpg


Comments? Flames? Kthnx. Time to sleep.
 
Not bad at all, although I would have taken the time to replace the wires on the plug with something WAY more flexible. After that I would test the connection and drown the whole thing in a layer of hot glue to ensure that nothing comes loose. You've modified a fairly stiff and unforgiving connection :eek:

But overall not a bad idea :)
 
Yeah it's stiff, not the way to do it if you're serious about doing this as a serious project. When I get back to my university I'll take everything off and come up with a nicer way to do it. I just don't have any of my wire and cable here.
 
ha it would be hard but put the ide cables on the back to that would be cool but still HARD
 
ShaolinDragon said:
Nice idea, GJ

By the way, funny solder joints :D.
Click to expand...

lol...don't judge my soldering skills based on those pictures...it was late :D
 
I've seen this idea in atleast 20 threads, great to see someone do it.


PLUG IT IN! *BOOM*
 
There are some people looking for this thread...might as well send it to the top! :D Plus it will give others a chance to see it.
 
I must have missed this the first time around. I've got an old machine just taking up space, I might try it.
 
The problem with doing something like this is the hassle of trouble shooting mobo/psu problems.
The better way to do it (that a guy I know of, is planning) is just re-solder the power connector
on the mobo to the backside of the mobo, that way you dont have de-solder every wire when
removing the psu from the mobo.

When installing the power connector to the back the wiring is going to be inversed, upside down
left and right, pins 1-x are now x-1, so thats something to be detailed about.
 
kuyaglen said:
The problem with doing something like this is the hassle of trouble shooting mobo/psu problems.
The better way to do it (that a guy I know of, is planning) is just re-solder the power connector
on the mobo to the backside of the mobo, that way you dont have de-solder every wire when
removing the psu from the mobo.

When installing the power connector to the back the wiring is going to be inversed, upside down
left and right, pins 1-x are now x-1, so thats something to be detailed about.
Click to expand...
the pins would be reversed on the backside that way.
 
BoySetsFire said:
the pins would be reversed on the backside that way.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about re-soldering the power connector to the back, instead of soldering extensions
from the solder points on the board pcb.

Yes the pins are reversed, but the power connector is only setup to connect one way...so
there has to be rewiring of pins...or at least a rewired adapter.
 
kuyaglen said:
The problem with doing something like this is the hassle of trouble shooting mobo/psu problems.
The better way to do it (that a guy I know of, is planning) is just re-solder the power connector
on the mobo to the backside of the mobo
Click to expand...


that would look cleaner too, i wish i knew how to solder, id do this mod.
 
What would be cool is making a pass through connector so that the PSU ATX plug can plug into the case somewhere and the case can have a plug that goes to the board. That way it would look like the mobo is plugged directly into the case. If you can find them, the MIL-SPEC cannon plugs would look absolutely badass in that capacity.
 
Hot damn that's awesome. Someone should definately start manufacturing motherboards with features like that to facilitate wire-hiding. Hell, why not do the same with IDE and floppy cables? Front panel headers, USB headers the list goes on...
 
This is a bad idea.

Maybe not bad, but done wrong. Solder joints are not meant to bend. With the wires soldered directly to the board you will have problems with the wires breaking off and then probably shorting out and frying things. You definately need tension relief on those wires.

You've hidden wires better, but with an extreme cost in reliabiltity and functionality.
 
Well the idea was to do it to an old board. As far as the tension release bullshit, as long as I use stranded copper wire and solder to both contact pads on each side of the board i dont think it's possible to rip them out if you tried. If you don't already know, your atx connector is only held on with solder on the back side of the board. The solder joints dont "bend" the wires do........ It's really not as delicate as you would think. I'll post a vid of it later.

It may not look purty but there's ways to clean it up. I've been busy modin ps2s and haven't messed with it in a while.

But yes, it can be done to anything. ide connectors, fan headers, etc. As long as you pay attention to pin assignment there's not really a problem with it. As long as the solder joints are good i doubt there's anything to worry about. You have to realize also that modding is not always 100% reliable....hell without modding shit can still go wrong. Of course the objective is to make it as reliable and functional as possible.

This is simply an idea that was applied. It can be done better, I only did it to show it to others and had no intention to impress anyone with a clean and reliable look.

Keep the flames rollin in. :rolleyes:
 
eyedol said:
But yes, it can be done to anything. ide connectors, fan headers, etc. As long as you pay attention to pin assignment there's not really a problem with it. As long as the solder joints are good i doubt there's anything to worry about. You have to realize also that modding is not always 100% reliable....hell without modding shit can still go wrong. Of course the objective is to make it as reliable and functional as possible.

This is simply an idea that was applied. It can be done better, I only did it to show it to others and had no intention to impress anyone with a clean and reliable look.

Keep the flames rollin in. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't understand the "critics" coming in and slamming you.

I for one and dang happy that you did something like this, it has made me come up with so many ideas now. I am also glad to hear that it can be done with almost all the connection ports. Very cool indeed.

Thank you for doing something like this.
:)
 
http://www.digitalepicenter.com/video/atx/
Here ya guys go. As shown, the solder joints dont break off even considering that the top is flush cut to the pcb. that wire is 20 guage stranded copper wire and as you can see is flexable enough for the most careless installers.

The hot glue was just an idea, at first it kept the wires together and offered some tension release, after all the abuse I gave the wires it started to come off the wires. Don't hate. ;)
 
eyedol said:
Well the idea was to do it to an old board. As far as the tension release bullshit, as long as I use stranded copper wire and solder to both contact pads on each side of the board i dont think it's possible to rip them out if you tried. If you don't already know, your atx connector is only held on with solder on the back side of the board. The solder joints dont "bend" the wires do........ It's really not as delicate as you would think. I'll post a vid of it later.

It may not look purty but there's ways to clean it up. I've been busy modin ps2s and haven't messed with it in a while.

But yes, it can be done to anything. ide connectors, fan headers, etc. As long as you pay attention to pin assignment there's not really a problem with it. As long as the solder joints are good i doubt there's anything to worry about. You have to realize also that modding is not always 100% reliable....hell without modding shit can still go wrong. Of course the objective is to make it as reliable and functional as possible.

This is simply an idea that was applied. It can be done better, I only did it to show it to others and had no intention to impress anyone with a clean and reliable look.

Keep the flames rollin in. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I never said the wires will break. They are stranded wire and can bend all day.

Advice from a computer engineering student: I've had to help my friends fix projects due to the same kind of solder joint. basically the point where the wire is soldered to the board breaks. The small part of the wire that's covered in solder doesn't like to bend and when bent it will just break. Your joints do look pretty good but it is still possible.
 
this is friggin awesome dude...personally i'm very very sick of people using forums to flame others...this is a place where we can respectfully look at, talk about, and share opinions and projects...key word is respectfully...

a difference of opinions does not warrant verbal bullets.

anyway, how did you manage to desolder that in the first place? every time i try something like that, it never works right..help!!
 
Idea: why aren't there 90-degree ATX connectors? It won't hide the cables, but it will (for those mobos with power on the edge of the board) at least clean up the look and prevent the bulky wad of cables sticking straight out from the board. Simpler and safer than this interesting little mod.
 
I never flamed.

Just saying everyone jumped in and wanted to recreate this mod. They may not have the soldering expertise to do such a good job which can lead to more breakable wire, and even if they do they still might have problems with wires breaking. I was hoping to give a point of view on why it might be a bad idea since everyone else seemed to go right along with it.

to me flaming is calling something ugly or rice or something without giving any explanation. I think I gave some explanation for my concerns.
 
I used some chemtronics desoldering braid. With some practice you can get all the solder off the contact pad and the pin. There might be a little left but with a soldering aid you can heat up any trace of solder thats still holding the pin.

A desoldering/rework station is ideal but I don't have that kind of cash to put toward one. :(

edit

I just don't want anything escalating. Let's all just be friends. :p

But as a warning, this could fuck up your board so many ways. You just have to watch out for how much heat you use, how long you apply it, etc. Contact pads lift off the pcb if they get heated too much or with too much pressure. Good luck to whoever trys something like this. The atx connector can be a bitch to take off, just take your time and don't get impatient or mad. :)
 
Thx for the link GlobalFear, I'm gonna try and get some practice in and consider it for my Ultra-D when I get it to perfect my wiring that much more. Hell, might think about doing it with the 4pin P4 cable too to get it out of the way. ;)
 
got pics of it installed in a case so we can see the difference? also have you powered it up yet?

good idea, would definetly make it cleaner in there
 
I'd also be interested to see this install in a case with a before and after pic....I know exactly how much difference it'd make in MY rig...but i just wanna see it. ;)
 
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