I travel frequently — both for work and leisure. My travel backpack during these times is generally full of gadgets and accessories. I generally carry my MacBook, iPad, multiple smartphones, Kindle, headphones, smartwatch, wireless mic, and a bunch of other things. Thankfully, all of these devices charge via a USB-C port. Owing to this, I can technically get away with carrying a single USB-C cable and adapter to charge all of them. However, that's not an ideal situation, as I often have to charge multiple devices simultaneously. I plug in my iPad, smartphone, and smartwatch overnight so that they're fully charged by the time I wake up. Throughout the day, I charge my Mac and a few other smartphones at the same time. This means that I usually have to carry three to four cables in my backpack at all times.
As a result, I have to deal with a lot of cable clutter inside the bag. I use long cables that easily get tangled, resulting in a not-so-pleasant experience when I pull them all out of the backpack. I tried using cable ties to solve this, but that solution was rather unintuitive. Well, my 3D printer came to the rescue yet again — thanks to some handy models available on several 3D-printing websites. A simple search resulted in me printing a bunch of cable winders that now have a permanent place in my backpack. If you travel frequently, here's why you absolutely need them.
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Prints in no time
Doesn't need supports or brims
To be fair, I got the idea for this project from a product sold by Ugreen. The brand has a retractable USB-C cable with a simple mechanism, and I love how convenient it is when traveling. While the 3D-printed version involves slightly more work to retract the cable, it comes pretty close in terms of convenience. Moreover, it costs pretty much nothing, and you can use your existing cables at home. If you search for a cable winder on any website that houses 3D-printing files, you will find several options.
Among those, I picked the portable cable organizer by squinn. The primary reason behind choosing this specific model is that it prints without any supports or brims. Additionally, the model is available in various sizes, allowing you to select the most suitable one based on the length or thickness of your cables. I printed the medium-sized variant for a 1-meter braided cable, and it works perfectly well. If you have anything longer, I would recommend printing the larger variant. You can also pick other similar models, like the USB cable winder by TinkrMakr, or the Samsung Galaxy Watch charger holder and winder. Once you print the winder, pass each end of the cable through either side, and wind the rest of the cable in the center. Before that, ensure you break the mechanism free by turning the knob on the underside.
Extend to your desired length
Not just for travel
Once you wind the cable, close the top of the case, and the contraption is ready to go. Every time you wish to use the cable, pull one end of the cable, and it gets extended on both sides. When you're done using it, turn the knob on the underside to wind it up to its original state. An advantage of this design is also that if you're in a small space where you don't need the cable to be its original length, you can extend it to any required length and use it. I've printed one for my car, where I don't unwind the cable at all when connecting my own phone. When passengers in the back seat need to charge their phones, I extend the cable. This ensures there are no loose hanging cables in my car.
Of course, everything's not perfect with the accessory. For starters, the length of the cable reduces slightly even in the fully extended state. This is because a small part of it remains wound inside. Then, there are times when you tug at the cable too hard, and it gets stuck. Every time this happens, you have to open the contraption, remove the cable, and wind it again. This is a slight bummer, but considering the overall convenience that it adds, I'm willing to make the compromise. Notably, it also doesn't work with all cables. If you have a cable with a rough or sticky surface on the outside, it gets stuck when pulling it out. I would also recommend smoothing out the internal surface with sandpaper to ensure the winding and unwinding are smooth.
Carrying cables is now a breeze
If your laptop has multiple free compartments, carrying a single cable in each of them isn't that big of a deal. If cables aren't stored together, they obviously won't get tangled. However, the issue arises if you have a backpack like mine, where there are larger compartments without any separators. With that sort of design, you have no option but to store multiple cables together. Thankfully, that's no longer a problem with the 3D-printed cable winder. Wind up your cable once, close it shut, and then tug on the cable every time you want to use it. When you're done, simply twist the bottom until both ends have retracted. Once you start using this mechanism, there's no going back!