Michał ZającOct 4, 2024
s0 Is Not A Sysadmin

This is your regular PSA to learn the “over-under method” of rolling cables!

Coiling a cable the ‘normal’ way, whether just in your hands, around your elbow, or somewhere else, imparts a 1/2 axial twist to the cable each time.
That’s the main thing that causes your extension cables to develop kinks and degrade!
If you use the over-under method, the 1/2 twist is counteracted by a -1/2 twist every second loop, so the cable is kept flat and unstressed.
This can hugely increase the lifetime of your electrical cables, to upwards of 20 years of heavy use, without kinks or twists.
(GIF credit hosatech.com)

Oct 1, 2024 at 6:14amWeb
Show threads0 Is Not A SysadminOct 1, 2024

Here’s some videos to help you learn!

First up, the way I naturally do it — left-overhanded. It’s the smoothest to watch, because, y’know, it’s my job.

Show threads0 Is Not A SysadminOct 1, 2024
Second, here’s the right-handed version.
Show threads0 Is Not A SysadminOct 1, 2024
Lastly here’s a left-under-handed version. You can also do this right-handed. It’s when the head faces towards you, and the tail away. Some people prefer this method.
Show threadFoxOct 1, 2024

@s0

It's the roadie coil because they are Over-worked and Under-paid :)

Show threadjon rOct 1, 2024
@s0
There's also another way where you hold the cable in one hand and tilt it between two fingers in the other, in so it finds its form itself.
Show threads0 Is Not A SysadminOct 1, 2024
@yala I’ve had a lot of people mention this to me over the years, and it is theoretically possible — you’re basically trying to behave like a drum loader — but in my experience it’s just not as natural or fast for our hands.
Show threadmirabilosOct 1, 2024
@s0 ah, there are more videos… unfortunately my laptop cannot handle the rescaling from 1080×1920 (arrrgh, vertical videos!) to 1024×768 of its monitor in realtime…
Show threads0 Is Not A SysadminOct 1, 2024
@mirabilos ok… weird thing to complain to me about
Show threadmirabilosOct 1, 2024
@s0 yeah. But I guess I need a nōn-video explanation…
Show threadMike [SEC=OFFICIAL]Oct 1, 2024
@s0 remember this technique with the helpful roadie mnemonic; "OVER worked, UNDER paid ..."
Show threadStephen CollinsOct 1, 2024
@s0 your garden hoses will also thank you for this approach.
Show threadJonoOct 1, 2024
@trib @s0 does this count as kink shaming?
Show threadlenahallesaaleOct 1, 2024
@trib @s0 exactly, I was looking for a solution for them, great stuff!
Show threadANIME_~1Oct 1, 2024

@s0 this is even more useful for hoses

probably garden hoses, but definitely heavy commecrial grade rubber ones

Show threadTransitBikerOct 1, 2024
@s0 very cool. I should also remind people that wrapping your headphone cable around your device and slapping it in your bag or pocket is a big no-no. Just bunch the cable up on its own or use a snack sized Ziploc bag. I did this for years as a New York City tour guide & the one headphone pair I have left that still works (they eventually stop working because of getting water in them) is from 2006.
Show threadChristian VogelOct 1, 2024
@s0 and as a free added bonus: if you try to unravel the cable by passing the wrong side through the middle … you’ll get one knot for every two turns. This is to remind you to only ever pull on the correct side of your cable! 🪢
Show threads0 Is Not A SysadminOct 1, 2024
@vogelchr and always use a Velcro tie!
Show threadDeborah PickettOct 1, 2024
@s0 I feel like this could use a public-awareness song a la Slip Slop Slap. Leave it with me.
Show threadflukeOct 1, 2024
@s0 until you get an absolute nutter like me try to unroll it and end up with kinks and knots in it from tangling it
Show threadpiegamesOct 1, 2024
@s0 a bit tangential, but have any advice for better coiling up rope (twisted rope taken doubly)? I feel like there is additional things to be aware of, but trying to think about the maths behind it just twists my brain …
Show threadvarx/socialMar 16, 2025
@piegames @s0 I think the same method applies to any stringy thing. I use this for cables, ropes, garden hoses, and otherwise unmangeably long snakes.
Show threadcosOct 1, 2024
@s0 I remember years ago reading someone talking about interviewing people for networking jobs, and somewhere during the interview they’d casually hand the person an Ethernet cable and see if they naturally rolled it up properly, like this.
Show threadNick's worldOct 1, 2024
@hollie @s0 That would have to be demonstrated to me physically. Too bad holograms aren't physical.
Show threadPheebeUKOct 1, 2024
@s0 and as a huge bonus, cables unroll without tangling. For those not familiar, it means you can throw the cable holding onto the end or pull on the end of the cable without unwinding and you don't (usually) get tangles.
Show threadEhproque has movedOct 1, 2024
@Pheebe @s0 sounds like I need to try this... with my garden hose
Show threadaardvarkOct 1, 2024
@Pheebe @s0 came here to make sure this got said!
Show threadJoe Hill 🇵🇸🇺🇦Oct 2, 2024
@Pheebe @s0
Hold the connector between thumb and index finger and cradle the coil in the other three. I once tossed a 50’ mic cable almost completely across a stage, although it’s much easier with 10’ and 25’ mic cables.
Show threadLockpick ExtremeOct 14, 2024
@Joe_Hill @Pheebe @s0 I read thru this entire thread to see if rodie cable throwing made an appearance. Thank you.
Show threadJoe Hill 🇵🇸🇺🇦Oct 14, 2024
@LockEx @Pheebe @s0
NP. LOL
Show thread@stevewfoldsOct 1, 2024
@s0 Coiled hoses, cords and ropes in twist/kink free figure-8s since ‘60s. Over/under is the same.
Show threads0 Is Not A SysadminOct 1, 2024
@stevewfolds slower, but has a certain zen elegance to it, I concede.
Show threadAndreas, DJ3EI, he/himOct 1, 2024

Excellent advice by @s0 how to coil stiff cable! See 🧵 resp. https://cathode.church/@s0/113230694766080041 .

For years, I've been adding one loop to the left side of the coil and the next loop to the right side. This also produces no twists - if unwound in exactly the same fashion.

This is much better!

s0 Traingirl Era (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image This is your regular PSA to learn the “over-under method” of rolling cables! Coiling a cable the ‘normal’ way, whether just in your hands, around your elbow, or somewhere else, imparts a 1/2 axial twist to the cable each time. That’s the main thing that causes your extension cables to develop kinks and degrade! If you use the over-under method, the 1/2 twist is counteracted by a -1/2 twist every second loop, so the cable is kept flat and unstressed. This can hugely increase the lifetime of your electrical cables, to upwards of 20 years of heavy use, without kinks or twists. (GIF credit hosatech.com) :boost_requested:

Cathode Church
Show threadLROct 1, 2024
@s0 this is fantastic and i will from now on forget about it immediately
Show threads0 Is Not A SysadminOct 1, 2024
@lritter ah, the Poster’s Creed
Show threadDandelionOct 1, 2024
@s0 ooh, is it weird that I'm excited to learn this 🤣
Show threads0 Is Not A SysadminOct 1, 2024
@dashlion if anything it’s weird you think it could be weird to find joy in learning a new fact or skill, one of the most human things. Be curious!
Show threadecharlieOct 1, 2024
@s0 it is not possible for me to retoot this enough. Cables, ropes, just do this with everything stored in coils.
Show threadSander van KasteelOct 1, 2024
@s0 As an ex-sound engineer, this THE BEST way to roll cables!
Show threadJoe Hill 🇵🇸🇺🇦Oct 2, 2024

@me @s0
You misspelled “only.”

First question to my local crew on load out: “Show of hands, who knows how to back coil cables?”

Show threadSander van KasteelOct 2, 2024
@Joe_Hill @s0 For my own cables, yes...

For rented cables..... Ehhhhhhh.............
Show threadThomasOct 1, 2024

@s0

This is one of the first things you have to learn at a shipyard.

Working every day and all day long with electric extension cables, gas hoses, welding equipment cables all over 50 yrds, you are totally lost if you don't know how to left-right roll your stuff!

Show threadInari Oct 1, 2024

@s0 I worked in television for over ten years, and we always wrapped using the figure eight method, which does exactly this as well. Granted not everyone has the storage space to keep wires coiled in a figure eight, you can still fold the coil over in the middle and it will achieve the same thing - so long as you tie off both loops.

Fibre techs do figure eight loops as well, when they're doing large pulls.

Neither way is wrong, both achieve the same goal. One may be easier for some.

Show threadBen BrunzelOct 1, 2024
@s0 I had to get a #hamradio license to learn this!
Show threadAnthony Thompson (they/it)Oct 1, 2024
@s0 I once worked on a production and got chewed out by the gaffer for over-undering the power cables to his lights. I’m still confused about that to this day.
Show threads0 Is Not A SysadminOct 1, 2024
@themgineer huh. There’s a few funky myths about coils of cable when they’re under power, which might have been related. But sounds like a run-of-the-mill contrarian control-freak.
Show threadAnthony Thompson (they/it)Oct 1, 2024
@s0 yeah, this was during wrap while packing up his kit. It was otherwise a decent production 🤷🏽
Show threadmirabilosOct 1, 2024
@s0 … this video (not a GIF, it’s a video) is too heavily 3D and too fast for me. I think I need that explained in more detail…
Show threads0 Is Not A SysadminOct 1, 2024
@mirabilos it sure is a GIF in the form I’m crediting — it’s just that mastodon force-transcodes gifs to h264 video to save bandwidth.
Show threadmirabilosOct 1, 2024
@s0 ah, ouch…
Show threadDavid AdamOct 1, 2024
@s0 my knots book shows this and notes "The perfect coil yields twisted rope - the twisted coil yields perfect rope"
Show threadsteve mookie kongOct 1, 2024
@s0 @eco_amandine I love this method.
Show threadRhett RogersOct 2, 2024
@s0 been doing that since I became a sound tech in high school. 👌🏻
Show threadMike FraserOct 2, 2024
@s0 A low voltage cabling guy showed me this year's ago although with a less scientific explanation. He said cables just want to he recoiled in the same way they were originally coiled. I've been doing this ever since.
Show threadRalph058 (S/he/it) AF4EZOct 2, 2024
@s0 There's a butterfly-wind you can do with your hand and elbow that allows you to do this really, really fast.
I learned this some 55 years ago and used it for about ten years while I worked in the broadcast industry. Don't ask me to do it today.
Show threadJoe Hill 🇵🇸🇺🇦Oct 2, 2024
@Ralph058 @s0
After 30 years as a sound guy and probably 100 miles of coiled cables, I can back coil a cable really fast without even thinking about it.
Show threadJWcph, Radicalized By DecencyOct 2, 2024

@s0 Having handled a lot of cable in both music & AV production I concur; good tip, definitely - although it should be noted that you can totally coil up a cable without twisting it; just imagine how it would move if you were rolling it onto a drum & emulate that.

Also, here's a tip that works well for me for getting those "packaging kinks" out of new power cables etc. 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2UDnQILG_s (as you can clearly see the cable is coiled but not twisted) 😊

Un-kinking Chords & Cables - Dub'ya Shorts

YouTube
Show threadDaveOct 2, 2024
@s0 alternately, after each loop you shake the rest of the cable until either (a) it nicely untwists itself or (b) you wang yourself in the head with the plug at the far end and stop caring.