I finally got around to replacing the too-short IDE cable in my spare with a Eutronix extra-length cable. But is it too much of a good thing? I'm not sure what to do with the extra cable length.

No matter how I arrange it, the extra cable fills the space under the drive tray, restricting its downward movement. And I'm worried that the tight fit may press against the motherboard too much and cause damage.

I've attached a photo. I think it's too thick over the IDE header. And since the cable is hard creased near the back of the unit, the tray hits some resistance moving forward. I'm not too worried about that though.

Any ideas? Round IDE cables? Haha.

The extra fold should be positioned completely up front, nowhere near the IDE header on the mainboard. Fold it forward and up behind the display. That cable does look a little too long to me, too, but it should work fine once folded.

Cheers

Yeah, IMO it is a little bit too long. 5mm longer than stock would have been enough. Creating the extra folds is an issue for memory upgraded players, especially 48MB and 64MB.

I've attached a photo of my interpretation of Mark's suggestion. Cable goes over the processor, creases 90 degrees up when it hits the displayboard, then creased 180 degrees down at "just the right spot", creasing 180 degrees up at the end point.

It allows for a lot more motion. Though, when I push the tray toward the display, it's a little tight and pushes the display a tad. With the right folds, it got out of the way of the display board components. And by looking in the side of the reassembled player, I see the cable has lifted above the processor to allow air flow.

Do you all think this is ok?

Mmm.. should I be billing for product design services?

Yeah, that looks basically good. The top of the extra fold could be a little larger radius (wrap it around a pencil) to allow better stress relief as the tray moves about, but basically that's it.

Cheers

Curious you should say that - the new cables I will be supplying in the new year are the same overall length, but the board connector - 1st connector distance is increased by 5mm to give just enough play for full disk movement without obstruction.

I have also just experimented with crimping a fourth connector 3mm upstream from the 1st connector, which looks odd but again, places another 5mm between the board connector and the (new) 1st connector. The distance from the old one is just sufficient for it to be out of the way under the disk connector without interfering with the disk mounting, sled plate, or causing obstruction behind the display board.

The real problem though, is not the cable length or connector spacing: the positioning of the drive mounting holes on the drive sled plate is simply too far forward, bringing the connectors close to the back of the display board and the display cable. This leaves a huge gap at the back of the drive sled at the back of the case.

There's also (on the 2A display boards) two great big solder lugs from the rotary controller sticking through the back of the board, directly in line with the disk cable connector, reducing clearance by another 2mm. I routinely crop these flat when doing display board repairs using sidecutters (if you do this, do it with the display DISMOUNTED from the player to ensure that no metal clippings drop into the player - I have just had the mother of all burn-out damage - caused by a short circuit - turn up for repair here).

By lengthening the drive mounting holes carefully towards the rear of the plate with a small circular file or 2mm reamer you can re-position the drive up to 2mm backwards in the case (the "four connector" version of the cable has sufficient space between the two connectors to allow them to go either side of the plate when you do this). This gives extra clearance behind the display and does not encroach on the space at the rear of the case where add-on boards tend to be mounted. It also means there is 2mm more effective cable length for disk travel under shock towards the display. However, if you have a "tall" hard disk casing, then the vertical clearance at the rear is reduced by about 1mm, which will reduce up-and-down movement. For "slim" cases this is not a problem. Bear this in mind if you attempt this modification.

I initially had a larger radius at the 180 degree crease, but that was bad. I've attached a photo. It restricted forward movement and pushed the cable up against the two big display board components near it.

I'm sticking with the hard crimps. It allows enough motion everywhere. Thanks for the good idea.