I've wrapped cables like this for more than 20 years; in studios, on video shoots, in remote trucks. I've even taught this to my Production 1 students. But I've never heard the "overworked, underpaid" mnemonic before. Brilliant!
Well done. I'm a professional mariner and try to spread this knowledge. I'm going to use your video. Works for all ropes/lines/cable except three strand.
I was taught that about 3 years ago and dealing with cables has become a lot less of a hassle. The guy who taught me it called it a fireman's loop - I guess they're overworked and underpaid, too!
Learned this over 30 years ago, at my first studio internship; done it that way ever since. I was told at the time that it actually mimics the way that cable is wound on a spool, so that's why it will loop itself so nicely (if it hasn't already been abused!).
Generally, I tell people they can do that with audio and video cables but if you're going to over/under the cables just stay away from the power distro cables. For that, just do over/over in a clockwise wrap. What's the difference? Skinny signal cables tangle easily and if you do an over/under wrap then they'll *unwrap* without tangling. That's the point of wrapping over/under. However, all cables are made on a machine and they all have a natural twist to the strands. The twist only goes one way and you'll notice when you buy a spool of cable it's not going over/under on the spool. When you wrap over/under you tend to reverse the original twist of the strands inside the insulation, and over the course of 5 or 10 years of heavy daily use the strands will start to break. That's a lot of use, btw. This is a problem for power distribution because you often max out the current capacity of cables and if they're breaking apart inside you reduce the capacity and sometimes even create hot spots. For power distro that's bad. (It's bad for audio too but it's not a fire or safety concern.) So, for power distro cables, just go over/over and don't fight what the cable wants to do. Another tip. Some of the biggest power cable is a pound/foot and at 100' runs it's heavy stuff to wrap. So instead of wrapping from the end and trying to drag all 100 lbs of cable, wrap from the middle. That way the most you have to drag 50 lbs of cable.
Learned this from someone in your trade. Been using it on the job site and at home ever since. Works great with stiff air hoses, extension cords and hoses large and small. Thanks for sharing a great tip.
Charming presentation, thanks for sharing! Been in the business a long time, but nobody ever explained the directional change (overworked > underpaid twist)... will try from now on.
Todd, thanks - not only are my guitar cables neat, but I now apply your method out in the garage w/ extension cords and power washer lines and smaller gage garden hoses! Agree with many comments about your unique voice. A soothing combination of Bob Ross & Casey Kasem....THX for the tip!
The only thing I would change, Todd, is that Sailors wrap line by coiling and faking, not "flaking." Faking is the process of laying a line on the deck (or, as you say, belowdecks in the hold) in a figure-eight pattern, which is topographically similar to the Roadie Wrap.
Figure 8 wrap on your vacuum cleaner power cord keeps it from getting twisted, too. Especially important when I'm vacuuming the sanctuary at church, where the vacuum has a 25-foot cord.
I love showing off the variation of this I learned in the recording studio when I throw out my 25-foot HDMI cable at home. I don't get to do it too often but I love seeing their mouths drop when the cable sails oil effortlessly across my apartment.
Really useful. Love how the wires open up and stay straight. I used it, shared it, and then came back to "thumbs up" and comment after using this tip a few times. Thanks! :-)
i remember my music teacher taught us this to wrap cables up and also said it was good for headphones. forgot how to do it but glad its all coming back.
Thanks! Took a me a minute to conceptualise it but got it. Little tip: if you haven't been doing this with your leads, it initially won't loop as easily as shown in this clip. After a few times though, it falls right in place.
Someone showed me how to do this years ago. When he did, he also told me that it works for Christmas lights as well. I was quite skeptical of it working for the lights, but I tried it the next Christmas and was amazed the following year at how easy it was to unravel the lights. I’ve been doing it ever since.
I don’t know why I’m watching this, I’ve been working on live video productions for the better part of a decade. But damn, the way this guy explains it. Like the Bob Ross of audio engineering.
OhHH that's the way you wrap cables I've been doing it totally wrong for 35 years,, I'm glad I got to see this demo...well done.now I must go and practice..i I realized it's gonna take a long while .but I'm a fast learner...
Nice method - another way is get one end in your left hand and find the other end while getting the twists out of the calbe. put both ends together in your left hand and find the middle of the cable with your right hand. Once you have the middleput it just above the two ends in your left hand and find the middle again with your right hand. Do this until you have around 6 feet left. Then make a loop with left under right and you have a perfectly stored cable. This is how the guys at NOS studios did it - learned it in back in the eighties. This is especially useful for very long cables > 50 yards.
Your directions don't make sense, e.g. you'd have a section to your left and right, so you can't repeat as you say without picking a side ... ... seems a giant mess even if you tried to alternate between left and right.
I wish have hair as awesome as yours...also I used to do over all the time when I used to do shows thinking that it was fine. though I do like the way the cable looks over and under. thanks.
Excellent example, thank you for sharing. At home for decades, I have used this technique with our water hoses, and numerous 100-foot electrical extension cords. They properly unfurl.
Thank u my earphones started to have some scratches due to bad storage though it's actually of very high quality, it may be due bad storage or misuse but this way of storing helps a lot
I love Velcro ties... I get the 3M rolls and I use them on practically EVERY CABLE if for no other reason than easy storage of the cables when not in use, even if it something as simple as a laptop charging PC cord coiled like a bowtie or something... As long as it's Velcro tied, it's 99.999% impossible to jumble them together in anything other than a neat and (usually) orderly pile
This is very nice, but the biggest problem for me is getting both tips wrangled up. Basically what you just skimmed over at the end of the video. That's my biggest problem when wrapping cables. What I do, and this is pretty bad, is I tie the whole cable in a lace, and they'll never get wrangled up. It's bad for the cable, but it's good for my sanity and they absolutely never get tangled. For bigger cables, it's not even that bad at all. But I'm just an amateur, of course.
Easier way to remember this is to have your thumb pointed one way for one wrap and pointed the other way for the next wrap continue to do this until the cord is fully wrapped.
This should be subtitled "here's the wrong way to wrap a cable". Always start with the connector in your left hand facing away from you. The method shown requires you to take your hand off of the cable every other loop. You don't have to remove your hand from the cable if you start with the connector facing away from you. Source: I've wrapped approximately 12 miles of cable this year.
