cable drawer

Post by **Jonathan** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:49 pm

I have ethernet cables. I have USB cables. I have power cables. I have RS232 cables. I have other, more esoteric cables. I keep them all in a drawer. They get tangled. Does anyone have a better idea?

George · Post by **George** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:32 am

Nope. I've got mine (the ones that aren't on the floor) twist-tied and sorted into flat cardboard boxes. Then the boxes are layered in a large Rubbermade tub which I put in the top of my closet. This ensures that I quickly forget which cables I have, can't find them when I do remember, and have to move a ton of stuff to get access to them.

VLSmooth · Post by **VLSmooth** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:15 am

Bundle them up first with twisters (or whatever you call them) before putting them in the drawer. They work wonders.

My mother goes even further, by sticking some, if not all, of a bundle into an open ziplock bag. She even does this for excess cable in use, which also cuts down on dust.

Peijen · Post by **Peijen** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 2:54 pm

hang them on the wall as you would with snakes.

Post by **Jonathan** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 5:39 pm

Peijen wrote:hang them on the wall as you would with snakes.

What kinda scary ass wall do you have?

George · Post by **George** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 11:55 pm

I can't imagine what kind of snake would stay on a hanger for any length of time (unless it was waiting for you to drop your guard).

On the other hand, we had snakes in the laundry room for a while. They hibernated in the ceiling in the winter, then in spring they started to crawl out but stopped at the nice warm light bulb. They were up there for three or four days. I'd poke them with a stick, but they'd retreat back into the hole in the ceiling. Finally, I managed to whip up a snake pole using some aluminum channel and a hanger. Took some work, but I managed to drop them onto the floor and eventually into a Rubbermade bin (the same one that now holds my cables). Then I carried them out and hurled them into the woods. Eventually, the landlords caulked the holes they were getting in through, and I haven't seen any since.

But the point of the story is that the snakes crawled there on there own. At no time did anyone hang one up.

Jason · Post by **Jason** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:32 am

Just make sure they're not on your wall when you burn them respectfully.

George · Post by **George** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 2:24 am

It took some digging, but I knew it was here somewhere.

http://www.jonathan.pearce.name/mohtali ... =7222#7222

Edit: Oops, well, the joke I was looking for wasn't even in there. I recall there was something along the lines of "Neal's character: I burn the chicken respectfully"

bob · Post by **bob** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 1:49 am

For my guitar cables, I coil them and hang them on some nails sticking out of the wall. Same with my headphones, but I have bubble wrap over those two nails, to protect the headphones.

For my big batch of random cables, I sometimes twist tie them after they're coiled, but mostly I just put them in gallon ziploc bags categorized by type. All the power cables have their own bag or two, audio cables in another, USB stuff in another, etc. These ziplocs are all thrown into a canvas bag or two. It seems to work pretty well. But, I don't really need to go find a cable very often. My commonly-used ones are generally already on the desk.