I've been using "snakeskin" woven nylon sheathes on servo wires for the last couple of planes. I like them a lot - but - I haven't found a good way to seal off the ends. I've tried heat shrink, but a piece with large enough diameter to go over the servo connector does not shrink enough to hold the sheath tight. Electrical tape works, but loosens up over time.


There must be a better solution?

Use heat shrink with adhesive in it. Glues to the sheath and the servo wire. And use heat shrink with the right shrink ratio. Only disadvantage is it can be a bear to undo it, so make sure it's correct before heating.

Raychem has some of the best shrink ratios obtainable -
http://www.raychem.com/en/home.html

A little dab of FoamTac, RTV, or other soft glue under the shrink sleeve before shrinking works as well.

Guess I've been doing it the hard way. LOL.. I take off the connector on the servo, put on the snake skin, slide on some small heat shrink, and then install the connector again.
--John--

If you make your own servo leads, you can also put the skin on before you attach the connectors, so you can use much smaller heat shrink tubing.

Great ideas. Thanks for the help, guys.

Xpress is doing the same thing I've been doing. The adhesive or marine heat shrink about 1/4" will bond to the snakeskin looming and the servo wire. I always leave a 1/2" gap from the connector or servo so there is enough room to connect to the RX because it wont slide around after it's sealed.
I have tried hot glue with regular heat shrink- its messy, bulky, and inaccurate. I've also tried vinyl tape and other stuff with less than ideal results.
I cut the looming, lightly hit the end with a lighter or culinary style torch (not so it's on fire.. just till it starts to melt a little). This will keep the ends from fraying or opening up. Then slide it over the servo lead, and then put your adhesive heat shrink over that. High quality looming you can actually burn it with a torch right off the roll instead of cutting it.

I buy 4 to 1 shrink ratio or 3 to 1 shrink ratio with adhesive, usually called marine shrink wrap from EBAY or local electrical supply business. Not the big box places.

3 to 1 shrink ratio works good.

Harbor Freight Marine heatshrink. One of the sizes will barely slip over the male end of a servo wire and still shrinks down tight. It's also adhesive lined and works great. At $5.99 it's priced right

Originally Posted by TnAeroNut

I've been using "snakeskin" woven nylon sheathes on servo wires for the last couple of planes. I like them a lot - but - I haven't found a good way to seal off the ends. I've tried heat shrink, but a piece with large enough diameter to go over the servo connector does not shrink enough to hold the sheath tight. Electrical tape works, but loosens up over time.


There must be a better solution?

Heat shrink can be expanded to fit, then shrinks down to its expected size.

I use a pair of long needle nose pliers to widen my heat shrink enough to fit over the connector or connectors when I am bundling wires within some tech flex/braiding. Once I have the heat shrink where I want it, I put the hot air gun to it. Done.

Originally Posted by rooman

Raychem has some of the best shrink ratios obtainable -
http://www.raychem.com/en/home.html

They make some brilliant products. Their heat maintenance cable is awesome.

I put a drop of liquid tape on the wire before i shrink the heatshrink..

Aren't all of these adhesive-based solutions permanent? Is that just an accepted cost of the solution?