Useful Wiring Tip No. 2: Lubricating Hellermann Sleeves

For those constructor who use Hellermann sleeves: how to put just the right amount of lubricant on the sleeves before using the three pronged stretching (midwife's) tool?

Use one of those small metal tins that you can buy that contain vaseline or lip salv - they are about 2 inches in diameter and about half an inch tall with the lid on.

Clean the tin out thoroughly and  squirt a small amount of lubricant into the tin base so that it gives a very thin layer of about 1/32 to 1/16  of an inch deep.  You can then dip both ends of the Hellermann sleeve (I tend to use half sleeves) and get just a small smear of lubricant before pushing it onto the stretching/application tool.  Dipping both end makes sure that it slides easily on and off the tool, and that it also slides easily over the cables when you slide the sleeve off the tool.  This lasts for about 50 or so sleeves before needing to add more lubricant.

Put the lid back on the tin to stop the lubricant evaporating.

Note also that for most applications such as wiring up D-types and XLRs, you can often get by with just half a sleeve, so snip them in two and save cash.

Hopefully I have described that sufficiently, but those folks who use the sleeves  will probably recognise the problem.

Cheers

Mike

I use the method I was taught  by the wiremen at British Aerospace when I was an apprentice back in 1969. They got an old tobacco tin and a piece of foam sponge cut so it just fit the tin. They then impregnated the sponge with Hellerman oil. To lubricate a sleeve just press and roll it into the sponge. You just cannot get too much on.

I like the expression 'midwives tool' for the sleeve stretcher. The old wiremen had a similar name for the lubricant but it is too coarse to repeat here. All I can tell you is the second word was grease and the first had something to do with meeting someone one day next week.

Cheers

Ian

madswitcher said:

... before using the three pronged stretching (midwife's) tool?

Click to expand...

I had to google  "Hellermann Sleeves" didn't know they were called that, never used them. Are they better at staying put, than heat shrink?

The tool sure looked familiar, similar in operation to one from a completely different industry, turning bulls into steers.

Sleep well tonight, guys.  ;D

Gene

Gene Pink said:

I had to google  "Hellermann Sleeves" didn't know they were called that, never used them. Are they better at staying put, than heat shrink?
Gene

Click to expand...

They were in common use in 1969 when I started my apprenticeship but by 1974 when I finished it, they had largely bee replaced by heatshrink.

Cheers
Ian

Gene Pink said:

I had to google  "Hellermann Sleeves" didn't know they were called that, never used them. Are they better at staying put, than heat shrink?

Click to expand...

I like them a lot better. They stay 'tight' over decades and you obviously don't need  to apply heat, which might affect other parts as well. I used heatshrink when I was a kid, but when I started to work in the studio the guy who I worked with and learned from showed me the Hellermann Sleeves and I never used heatshrink again.

They seem to fade out these products, at RS at least I couldn't buy them any more.

There is a lubricant from Hellermann as well which is crazy slippery (Hellerine?). I bought a small bottle probably 15 years ago  and I managed to use up maybe 20% of it so far.

Michael

I saw them in Neve consoles before I knew what they were. You don't see them in the US. I had a U.K. Tech here for a while and he had a stash. It was the first time I had seen them in use. I like them. They seemed more like a substitute for lacing twine or cable ties than heat shrink.  I dislike cable ties because the clasp is always getting in the way and if you aren't careful in cutting there is a sharp point to get you .

I've taken to using a sponge paint brush to add flux if I need extra flux, like when soldering a brass binding post.

Gold said:

I dislike cable ties because the clasp is always getting in the way and if you aren't careful in cutting there is a sharp point to get you .

Click to expand...

We used to cut zip ties with the wider part facing inside the cutters (they were scissors) at the nightclub when I used to work the door. They used to use color zip ties to designate age and this method would keep the cut edge soft so not to be a danger...... It seems counter intuitive to how you'd want to cut them but it actually works....Is this what you mean by careful cutting?


Sorry....off topic....just browsing and this caught me.....lol

I use flush profile diagonal cutters that don't  leave a sharp edge.  I never use cable ties inside a box because I can't stand the nub. If things are packed right they get in the way. I use lacing twine in a non traditional manner. More like a cable tie. I just wrap it around a few times and tie.  It doesn't look as beautiful  or keep the cables as  tightly bundled as the British Navy method but it works well enough for me.

It is possible to buy pre lubed hellerman sleeves.

Rob Flinn said:

It is possible to buy pre lubed hellerman sleeves.

Click to expand...

I have never come accross pre-lubricated sleeves: I would imagine it would be very fiddly to do so and use as the 'system' relies on the slow evaporation of the lubricant to form a frictional bond.

Cheers

Mike

madswitcher said:

I have never come accross pre-lubricated sleeves: I would imagine it would be very fiddly to do so and use as the 'system' relies on the slow evaporation of the lubricant to form a frictional bond.

Cheers

Mike

Click to expand...

No, they work really well, & are a lot less messy than using sleeve oil.