STEP FIVE

5A)  Using the needle-nose pliers gently pull the grey cable cover out of the strain relief. If it is hard or stuck, soak it in hot water to release the glue they use. 

5B) 28-29:  Here is the first step that makes this process different on the SC-28 and SC-29. On the 17 the strain relief is a separate added component and held in place by a soluble glue.  Highly reusable.  On the 28 and 29, the harness is a molded one part component.  In their infinite wisdom, and to make things more difficult, the strain relief is not removable, it is molded in place.

Thats why all the guys simply had shorter cables made for the 17 and had a good business making them shorter. Kirk charged 80 dollars.  I found the easier way, no cable and charged 25. No one will make cables for the 28-29 because of the investment in cables. So we have to do this as explained below.

5C) The strain relief will have to be recut and reshaped using the following:  A dremel with suitable cutters and grinding wheels, and a lot of handheld skills in shaping plastic. I have used Dremel's, Vigor's and Dental tools all my life on projects and this one is the most frustrating. This shaping guarantees no two will ever be the same. 

STEP SIX

6A)  REVIEW, CHECK PROGRESS and BODYCOUNT.
This is what you should be looking at. If not wrap it all in a plastic bag and send it to me with forty dollars and we'll fix the mess. Maybe.

If I do it SC-17  $25.00.  If you screw it up, it's forty.

6B) If I do it SC-28-29 $40.00  If you do it and mess it up, estimate needed.

STEP SEVEN

7A)  The ground tray will simply slide up and out. Remove the black heat shrink, just slide it off and de-solder the braided ground cable. 

7B)  Leave the excess solder intact. You might add a small drop to freshen it. Rosin type, no acid, and 60/40 Lead  is OK. You can use a lower temp antimony/tin 95/5 but the 60/40 is just about right. This stuff is 22/24 gauge wire and like a magician will vanish with too much heat.

7C)  Avoid silver solder as the heat needed for silver solder is too much. 

STEP EIGHT

8A)  In this picture we have cut the wire to the appropriate length, stripped it back an inch and a quarter, cleaned the terminal ends and pre soldered them.  

8B)  WARNING: This is not a job for the plumbing solderer. We do not sweat the joint, it is more like a touch with pre-tinning.  This is delicate fast joints or you will melt the wire. 

8C)  You trim the braid to the length needed to work with, tin it,  as shown and slip the protective cover or shrink tube back in place. 

8D) HERE IS THE MOMENT OF TRUTH:  You need hairspray.  Hint: to get the wire back into the strain relief you will have to lubricate it with either hairspray or soap as a lubricant. Hairspray is used by bicycle shops all over the US to replace rubber handlebar grips because as soon as it dries it turns to glue.  If you are not comfortable with hairspray due to your shaved head or the use of Pantene Mousse, use soap, not Dawn.  Solder the end of the braid to the horseshoe as it was before.

STEP NINE

9A)  In the final steps you de-solder a color and with the shortest least amount of solder on the tip relocate the new wire of the same color that was replaced.  

9B)  This is why you pre-tin everything. Those tits sticking up are very small and have springs inside. Too much heat and you throw the whole thing away. I use a forceps as a heat catcher so as not to burn the wire.

9C) In the illustration I am using a solder holder made for bread boards that I customized, cut down and made slits to fit the part perfectly, since I do hundreds of these things. But any type of jig or holder will do if you are comfortable with it. 

TOOLS:  I use WELLER and UNGAR temp controlled solder guns 25-30 watts with needle tips and almost any known brand of soft 60/40 clean rosin solder. Radio shack is fine. I also clean after with 96% 0r better ISOPROPYL LKG 99% Brand alcohol, (never ever use rubbing alcohol) 

I also have Xcelite pliers and nippers for the tight stiff, a GB stripper for the 22ga. wire, a bunch of bench knives or X-actos several 000 forceps my first wife gave me. She worked for a surgeon and about twice a day he would throw them at the walls and he said I could have them. Great, I resharpened, and reshaped them hoping to get some lobotomy work on weekends.  You will also need a needle nose continuity tester to test the connections.

STEP TEN  (28-29 ONLY)

"A" Modified Strain relief

"B" Shortened Length

"C"  Removed strain Relief Parts.

SC-28-29 QUITE DIFFERENT ISSUES

This is a different scenario.  This is the most popular mess-up I get sent. Basically the process is the same, you open the part, camera side,  shorten the cable and re-solder,  then put it all back together. Sounds simple enough BUT:

A)  You now have seven or eight wires to contend with.

B)  The contacts are buried three layers deep and with pre wired cables easier to build,  hard to modify. You would have to unscrew the whole mess and hope with your smallish hands, I'll bet a beer, the smallest girls in China get this job.  Small screws, small parts and springs, a disaster looking to happen if you don't lose all the parts, thats why they Loctite them in.

C)  You are now looking at the nightmare, getting a strain relief back on so it looks good. from the illustrations, get out a straight industrial razor blade. I place the molded strain relief on the table and hit it with a hammer slightly after the first indentation.  With a series of Dremel cutters and stones, I reshaped and enlarged the opening. 

Note:  It's an artistic challenge. If you are Bulbar the Barbarian, this is not the place to experiment as I have had difficulty finding that part to replace. The other solution is the rubber grommet but they are too thick to fit in without modifying the plastic case and that can lead to ruination. 

D)  Then I came with the solution to the electrical pollution.  When I cut the cable I leave a 3/4 inch tail on all the wires and with a light solder gun tin both wires, color match and and then use 1/32 shrink tube and end joint the wires.  Clean all the joints with a cue-tip and the Isopropyl.  End jointing is slipping the shrink tube start with 5/8 in length, 1/32 dia. over the two parallel wires shrinking it and while hot I take a pair of flat sided pliers also a little hot from the heat gun and press the ends to seal the tube.

E)  Do this to all the wires. You don't have much room,  so this is not sloppy work. It just about fits back together.

F) Also solder the patch cord end to the ground end, and reassemble the four screws, making sure all clear the wires and you don't crimp or create any shots.

G) With a continuity tester make sure the individual leads are not making contact with anything else. Just select one point and make sure it only lights or buzzes only one corresponding spot on the other end.

THE TENTH COMMANDMENT and the LAST WORD:

1)  This is not solder 101 or "Soldering for Dummies". Start with toasters like I did, for my grandfather when I was six years old with a blow torch and handle tips. Weller wasn't born yet. I am a very strong believer in K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid. It's better than K.Y.A.G. "Kiss your ass good-by".

2)  If this is beyond your scope, pass, and let me do it. You can easily make a sixty to eighty dollar cable into junk if this is not your forte. 

3)  You may get it to the point where I cannot fix it or it becomes unreliable. 

4)  The SC-17, I would call a three in difficulty on a five scale. Nine for the SC- 28 and the SC-29 which have even more wires, three times as hard to do because they glued a lot in place and I'm not even suggesting you try it. I can do them if you ask nicely and really need to be in the mood to tackle them. Much abusive language is utilized when doing them.

5) Use the tools and solders I suggest.

6) Turn around time is based on what else I have to do. 

7) There are more expensive ways to do this with small dins and more connections, but seriously I'm not about to spend more on a cable than to shoot off cable with a transmitter. The more complex the rig, the more St. Murphy-Lawe is involved. Though I am  big fan of direct wiring, more and more is edged toward transmitters and that will be the next headache.

8) UPSCALE MULTIPLEX RIGS: I do not wish to make this process any more complex than it is, I have seen all these hit and run complex answers to elaborate multi connections and unfortunately I have also seen them fail. 

If you need a complex rig, there is only one guy I trust. Michael Bass ( Michael Bass.com) is the real guru of these micro cables and dual rigs etc. But be prepared for a (pun) doctor size bill. You see he's a Dentist and these rigs can get very complex. He can squeeze things into parts, I could do, but I don't wish too. I'm in the power business thank you. You would not want me drilling your teeth. For use on a bracket as shown, this works fine and is reliable. Complex multi-plex units, transmitters and cabling I have learned to stay away from because in my world of Paparazzi and events, more is dangerous. I leave that to Michael.   

9) Canons are easier because of the loose molded retainer.

10)  Some aftermarkets are quite good and the same effects can be achieved with those clones similar to the SC-17.  Also for a low cost alternative to needing a really long extension, see ZEBRA CABLES. They have low-cost alternatives from the Chinese and so what the SB-28-29 is made in China too, probably in the same plant. Some I saw actually looked quite nice from PRO.

AL JACOBSON