Introduction: Cable Repair

Every time I get a new phone charger or cable, I run into the same problem where the wires get exposed and frayed. This normally results in the charger being thrown out and the purchasing of a new one. This set of instructions is meant to show how these cables can be repaired with the right tools.

Materials Needed:

  • Safety Glasses
  • Soldering gun
  • solder material
  • heat shrink
  • heat gun
  • wire cutters
  • wire strippers

Warnings:

1. Heat guns can reach temperatures over 400 degrees Fahrenheit and can be extremely dangerous

2. Soldering irons melt the material at very high temperatures and can cause injury if not used properly

Steps:

  1. Cut wire
  2. Strip wire
  3. twist wire together
  4. solder wire
  5. heat shrink wire
    1. individual wires
    2. entire wire bundle

Step 1: Cute the Wire

Cut the wire at the point where the fray is present

Step 2: Strip the Wire

Stripping a wire means to remove the plastic coating surrounding the metal wire. Use the wire strippers to cut the plastic around the outside a pull off the outer coating. Next use the wire strippers to take the plastic of the small individual wires.

Step 3: Solder the Small Wires

WARNINGS: The soldering gun gets very hot and can cause burns.

1. Heat up the solder material using the tip of the soldering gun and let the metal drip onto the wires. This will fuse them together. Do this process for each of the small wires

Step 4: Heat Shrink

WARNING: Heat guns can cause serious injury if not used properly

  1. Place the plastic heat shrink around each of the small solder points
  2. Use a heat gun to shrink the plastic until a clear resin is seen coming out of both sides of the heat shrink

Step 5: Heat Shrink Part 2

Once the wire has been fixed, one last piece of heat shrink must be applied to make sure that the wire is secure and does not become damaged again. Place a final piece of heat shrink around all inside wires and use a heat gun to secure.