Heat shrink - what's good and where to buy?

[firefuocco]

I need to do a minor repair to a speaker cable and need to buy some heat shrink.  I don't need a set of every colour, just red & in a few different diameters and lengths as I'm not sure what I need. What's good and where to buy?

The red wire has damaged plastic where it comes out of the black heat shrink.  The copper strands are okay.  The plan is to get some new shrink over the the banana with existing shrink in place and then up and under the black shrink.

Shrink ratio - is 2 to 1 okay?  I see 3 to 1 listed somewhere.

A friend has a hot air gun I can borrow.

 

[Metatron]

3:1 is probably better, it will only shrink as much as what it's compressing will allow.

They're all Polyolefin typically.

Farnell/CPC or RS Components is your best bet. Mouser or Digikey UK will do also.

You can use a good hairdryer if you don't have a dedicated heat gun. Just keep moving it side to side to avoid hotspotting and to shrink it evenly.

 

[Jazid]

Rather depends on the damage to the insulators under the black heat shrink. Given the plugs are different I'd say sale value won't drop much if you strip the old monogrammed heatshrink from both wires, make a proper repair,  and then bond a new heatshrink over the red and then another over the pair of wires. Probably look better too?

3;1 is the way to go, nothing to lose. The thicker the better IMO. Mouser, RS, and Farnell all sell decent stuff.

 

[alexh]

You can also get the heat shrink adhesive lined as well 3-1 is good 4-1 even better. RS components, Farnell or CPC stock it in red and black.

 

[audio_PHIL_e]

I got some in various diameters from amazon. And a cheap enough heat gun.

 

[orbscure]

Rather than start my own thread, other than the Farnell and RS pointers above, are their any other recommendations for decent quality red and black heat shrink?

 

[tackleberry]

Too expensive everywhere else

 

[Lawrence001]

Is the stuff on eBay no good?

 

[bencat]

Well it works for me .

 

[MartinB]

eBay and the wife's hair dryer worked fine for me

 

[karlinamillion]

Keep an eye out in Lidl, they often have variety boxes of heatshrink in all sorts of colours.
Heatshrink is one of those things that once you have some you wonder how you got along without it

 

[orbscure]

Thanks chaps... I have loads already, but never the damn size I need! I'm also looking for it not to have markings on it, just plain and simple suits me sir! Time to get me vernier calliper's out and measure the cables I use the most

 

[Gray]

Keep an eye out in Lidl, they often have variety boxes of heatshrink in all sorts of colours.
Heatshrink is one of those things that once you have some you wonder how you got along without it

Yes I've bought a couple of boxes of theirs.
You do get some unwanted printing, but very good value.

 

[Jazid]

Rather than start my own thread, other than the Farnell and RS pointers above, are their any other recommendations for decent quality red and black heat shrink?

I have used eBay sellers but the heatsink is sometimes thin and quite hard. I prefer thicker material, 3:1 and 4:1 are great because you can slip them over plugs and still get the correct shrinkage, but 4:1 isn't that common in my experience. The adhesive lined ones are superb for outdoors wiring but I find rather limiting for audio work where repairs are not infrequent and the stuff remaining under the stripped adhered heatsink leaves a lot to be desired...

 

[orbscure]

Belated thanks chaps... I'll take some detailed time early next week to check out the various suggestions offered. Much appreciated

 

[audio_PHIL_e]

I've been told that Portable Appliance Testers have to fail equipment that has heat-shrink on its mains lead. This may not worry you if you don't have to PAT your gear. A PAT ticket means little anyway: if the machine says there is too much resistance between chassis earth and the mains plug ground pin the tester just presses the "long mains lead" button, the alleged fault goes away, and the appliance gets its ticket.