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PCMCIA Strain Relief

A PC card with an attached cable tie
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The cables connected to my laptop and the sockets into which they are plugged are in pretty bad shape: the USB ports are not as firm as they used to be, the headphone jack is loose and wiggly, and the power cord is hanging on by the merest thread.

If only there were a loop of Velcro attached to my computer, I could use it to tie up the cables and prevent the connectors from getting shocked, strained, stretched, and bend every time I move my computer. Unfortunately there isn’t, and there’s nothing to attach one to. Therefore, I propose a piece of plastic that slides firmly into one of the PCMCIA slots and has a loop of strain-relieving hook-and-loop tape on the end that sticks out.

AO, Mar 02 2005

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       PCMCIA slots are delicate, and can ruin the system board if strained. Fishbone.
-----, Mar 02 2005
  

       <points at [AO] and whispers> there he is. that's him. don't make any sudden movements. he might disappear. </pa[AO]aw>   

       I have no idea what you're talking about [AO], but I'm delighted to see you. How you been?
k_sra, Mar 02 2005
  

       I don't think mounting the strain relief to the slot will fly, but I sympathize.   

       I deal all day long with rapidly engineered, insufficiently restrained cable group assemblies, and if I ever come up with an inexpensive universal cable-to-connector restraint system I'll become a vendor.   

       I've got a few ideas, but as usual, the real world makes impractical most of my halfbaked approaches.
normzone, Mar 02 2005
  

       Generally I favor the loose and wiggly. But being a Helpful Soul may I suggest you crazy glue this plastic loop to the computer? Alternatively, take some conventional phone cord (no-one plugs in their laptop to a phone line anymore, do they?), plug it in, cut it off, tie a loop, and use that for mooring.
bungston, Mar 02 2005
  

       How about the attach point for the security cable that most laptops have?
bristolz, Mar 02 2005
  

       I'm going to agree with the security lock point as a good place for this -- stress won't be transmitted to the silicon, like it is with a modem slot.   

       Alternately, break-away cables (Ex: Xbox controller cables) could be used; that may invite its own set of problems, but at least you won't get your laptop pulled off the desk when someone trips on a cord.
Chrontius, Mar 03 2005
  

       Yeah, they send all those unsecurable ones to the third world countries.
bristolz, Mar 03 2005
  

       Am I the only person who still plugs his computer into a phone line? After closely examining my laptop (my computer, I mean) I’ve discovered the grill in front of the radiator exhaust fan thingy makes a pretty good anchor point.   

       (I have been well, [k], though I also have no idea what I’m talking about.)
AO, Mar 09 2005
  

       A phone line? You mean that thing I sometimes have to talk through? Why would you plug a computer in there?
bristolz, Mar 09 2005
  
      
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