I just made the paper template version.. took me about 3 hours, the wire I was using was a little too thick... but It worked great the 1st time... with the exception I currently only have one channel audio.... but this is a temp fix until the real cable comes out anyhow.... I admittedly gave less attention to the audio wiring...
I do believe that I can improve on this plug.. It takes patence to get it right, and THANKS A TON for the template... what a life saver...
for others trying this.. here are a few tips.. Remember to read the official unofficial guide.. this is a suppliment...
I used electrical tape instead of scotch... (that's for drink'n)
go ahead and do the plastic reinforcement before starting on lining up the wires on the template... the flimsyness of the paper is one of the biggest problems.
depending on the wire that you're using, you may need to cut some of the braids out of it... my wire was thick, I think about 8 braids... I found that 3 braids of this wire lay out to exactly the size of the black lines on the template.. at any rate.. don't try to stuff more wires onto that line than will fit.. In fact, I probably would have had an easier time with just one, or two braids...
cut very thin strips of electical tape.. tape each wire in at least two places for stability... I did this one wire at a time... if you try to do all the wires at once you will fail. once a wire is pretty much where you need it, tape it well.. you don't want to have to re-do it..
After all of your wires are in place, AND properly alligned, cover as much of the plug in electrical tape as you can, wraping it over the wires, and around the back.. the only part of the wire that needs to be exposed are the raised leads that you've created. I suggest pressing the tape firmly down between wires with the dull side of an exacto blade, or tweasers to make sure you get a good stick.
At this point you should be running low on scotch, and getting very anxious to plug it in, and go... Slow down. building the leads is time consuming... but if you mess it up now, there won't be any saving the plug...
Remove your Wii from its home, and take it to a bright place (unplugged) to do your test fitting.. do one side at a time, plug it in, or trim it so that it can be plugged in, and watch your audio leads (pins 1-2) if you can see the lead of top of Wii side, you can line up the bottome of your plug with that..
once you're sure that the leads are lining up properly, go ahead and stick in both sides at once... ensure that they're lined up perfectly, and tape it together.. (make sure that you have a way to identify the mess of wires sticking out of your newly made plug)
pull out your plug, look at the lead end of your new plug, and make sure that your leads line up.. pins 1-2 should be perfectly on top of each other, as should 7-8 & 9-10.. if all that checks out, you can be reasonably sure that the plug is good...
Lastly, hook up the cables to the new plug.. use those cool pinch connectors if you have them.. if not, then at least tape up the twisted together wires... souder is good too
a good connection here is paramount for quality... we have HD tvs... quality matters. And don't skimp on the ground.
Plug it into your wii.. checking alignment one more time, then plug it in!
If something isn't right at 1st, check your connections.. especially if you've done the twisted wire technique... with proper attention, the plug should be the last thing that could go wrong...
I may make another one for a friend... if I do, I'll take pics this time... Next time, I will cut a "U" at the top of the folded paper template and run the wires strait out the back...
