There is a modder in every one of us. If you have ever taken something apart and created something else from the parts, then you got what it takes to be one of us. Our latest Modder in the Spotlight comes from Italy. It gives me a great pleasure to introduce to you Alessandro Falco Renzulli. He is one of those modders which no one really knows to much, but soon will. Alessandro has unique ideas and has impressive skills in cable modding (sleeving). What attracted our attention is the braided cables he is designing. Without further ado, an interview with Alessandro.
MI: How long have you been a modder?
Alessandro: I’ve been working on cables for 6 years. But I really don’t consider myself a true modder, as I otherwise have no experience with a lot of other types of modding like painting, metal or acrylic works, etc.
MI: We noticed your custom cable work and designs. Can you elaborate a little on what inspires you to make custom braided cables and their design?
Alessandro: It’s mostly trial and error, trying to make something different and bringing new ideas and possibilities in the community.
MI: How did you come up with braided cable idea?
Alessandro: I’m really not the inventor of braided cables…. The first one I ever saw doing it was Xien16 on the Million Dollar PC #37. MDPC and that build in particular have inspired me a lot during my growth as a modder and still do today. After that, I tried a few small things and also saw few attempts, but most of them to be fair were not that good looking once mounted in the PC.
What got me into trying seriously was when I understood that braiding is not just a gimmick – it can be a whole new dimension of cable customization. On top of choosing the color scheme, now you can also choose the shape. However, like with color schemes, not all shapes look good so the trick really is to experiment with finding out which ones are nice.
The nanosuit-inspired braided cable came up that way 2 years ago. I just did some long cables, and started twisting them in a lot of different ways to see what would look nice.
MI: What kind of cables and sleeves do you use?
Alessandro: I use exclusively PET, both standard imported and MDPC-X, and I’m gradually shifting all inventory towards the latter. As for electrical cables, I use mostly UL1007 AWG18 wire on sleeved sets; I also do non-sleeved sets with something I call the “silver wire” – which is AWG15 aerospace-grade cable, plated in silver and insulated in transparent FEP (kinda like teflon). While the material is ridiculously expensive, it makes for cheaper sets that look unique specially in very lighted and RGB setups.
I am also getting soon a small batch of a cable similar to the silver wire, just tinned and with colored insulation, to test a line of budget extensions that will compete in price with industrial sleeved cables.
MI: How much time does custom braiding takes, lets say for the 24pin?
Alessandro: Depends a lot on the braiding, the 2-cable spiral doesn’t take that much of an extra once you get into a proper workflow. The nanosuit one…. Well, that’s a whole other level of complexity. Trying out new shapes also takes a lot of time, reason being it’s a 100% trial and error process.
Do you have difficulty keeping cables in place?
Alessandro: There’s a few details to figure out when braiding, once you do things right the braid itself acts kind of like a cable comb. The only issue is that they are a bit stiffer and have to be tailored a bit more to the curvature that they will have to take in the case.
MI: Do you have a plan to open a cable mod store?
Alessandro: It’s already in the works and will hopefully be online within a month, not only for cable modding but modding in general.
It was a pleasure speaking with Alessandro and we thank him for his innovative work that he is bringing in to the community. Make sure to keep an eye out for the new store which is in works. I have a strong feeling that we will hear more from Alessandro in the near future.
