Lutro0’s stiffline sleeving was supposed to be a temporary stopgap until Lutro0 got his final “Teleios” sleeving finalized. However it is a fantastic sleeve in it’s own right that a lesser company would be extremely happy with. Previously the de facto standard of sleeving was MDPC-X. It came in a variety of colors and was easy to work with, had a tight weave and was just the right size to fit in a connector. This review will compare Stiffline to MDPC-X. Bear in mind that Teleios is supposed to be even better! As Stiffline was a stop gap there’s a good but not extensive selection of colors:
So let’s compare the stiffline to the MDPC-X that I bought huge spools of not so long ago. Top is stiffline, bottom is MDPC-X:
It’s hard to see the white on white background, so here are some more colors:
Top to bottom: Stiffline Red, MDPC-X Red, MDPC-X Color X. Now for the greys/silvers:
Top to bottom: Stiffline, MDPC-X Grey, MDPC-X Titanium Grey
Top to bototm Stiffline, MDPC-X
From the black sleeve it’s easy to see that Stiffline is a tighter denser weave that doesn’t loosen up as much as the MDPC-X. It’s a big smaller in diameter before you pull it tight. The next step is to see how well it hides wire color:
Even with the sleeve loose, it’s impossible to see the white wire through the sleeve. Stiffline is just an incredibly dense weave!
The sleeve was then tested on an 8 pin connector using the “heatshrink-less” method. It was just as easy to work with as MDPC and I had no problem using either 16 or 18AWG wire with it. Here are the results of that sleeving comparing both MDPC and Stiffline with both black and white wires:
Top to bottom: Stiffline Red with Black 18AWG Wire, MDPC-X Red with Black 18AWG Wire, Stiffline Black with White 16AWG Wire, MDPC-X Black with White 16AWG Wire.
It’s hard to tell from far away which is which. The truth is they are both good products and both perform very well. I would give the edge to Stiffline simply because it’s higher density, cheaper and much easier to buy. On the other hand MDPC still has more varieties of color, however I expect Teleios will eventually compete with that too.
Stiffline is therefore heartily recommended and I look forward to seeing Teleios – it’s hard to imagine how it could be better still!
Where to buy: Lutro0 Customs
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[…] of strands that didnt quite make it and required a second attempt. On smaller/tighter sleeve like Lutro0′s Stiffline however it was the perfect fit. For larger sata cable style sleeve you’ll need multiple cuts. […]
Please will you do an update with Teleios?
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