The Bob Crump (Asylum) Power Cord

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Assembly   This cord is very easy to assemble. The only potential "complexity" is that you will have to solder a bit. The IEC end requires you to solder the wires directly to the metal connectors in the interest of improving the contact between the two. The Schurter IEC has screws to tighten the wire in place but the resulting contact is not that good, hence the need to solder the wires on. If you have never soldered before, or if you want to avoid soldering altogether you may opt for a different IEC, like the Marinco one used in the VenHaus Power Cord. But then (strictly speaking) you are deviating from the "recipe" of the designer. Personally I think the Marinco is a better quality IEC but it's also more expensive. At the end you may not be loosing anything if you do decide to use other IECs so feel free to experiment. The Belden 19364 is significantly more flexible than its brother, the 83802 used in the other project. The 19364 also sports a ground wire as an integral part of the cord, so you will not have to wind an additional length around the cord as you had to for the VenHaus Power Cord project. 19364 is also shielded with an aluminum foil that conveniently has a drain wire for you connecting needs. All in all it's an easier cord to work with and one that will be ready "as is" for power cord assembly.   Cut the cord to the desired length. In my case I cut two pieces to standard lengths of six feet each. Strip off an inch and a half of the outer jacket and separate the color-coded wires within. Do this at each end of the cord. Just score the cord and work your way around being careful not to cut the internal wire insulation in the process. The aluminum foil is very thin so you will probably cut that with the outer jacket too. That's OK you don't need the foil anyway. At the wall plug end (Pass & Seymour plug end) cut off the re enforcing rope ends but be sure to leave the drain wire intact. The drain wire is the thin braid of silverish wire strands that have no insulation around them. This is because the drain wire is meant to be in contact with the aluminum foil shield, and instead of having to twist the shield into a drain connector you just use the drain wire to the same effect. It just makes the whole assembly much easier. Cut away one half inch of insulation from each wire exposing the 14 AWG multi-strand copper wiring. Make sure you don not snip away some of the strands in the process. Twist the drain wire snugly around the ground wire strands. Twist the other two as well so as to make them easier for insertion in to the plug. Avoid twisting with bare hands/fingers, use gloves or lint free cloth - this will prevent you depositing moisture and natural oil of your fingers on to the copper strands. Align and insert the wires into the plug making sure they go fully in. Tighten the plug connector screws and slide the back end of the plug into place. Close up the plug and tighten the cord relief end too.   next page: