How To Make a Male-To-Male USB Cable? (Easy Step-by-Step Guide)

Do you want to learn how to make a male-to-male USB cable? Usually, such cables are required to connect a USB device to another USB device or a PC.

A common USB cable has a male connector like USB-A that is present at one end of the cable and mini-USB or USB-C at the other end, whereas the female part is the port or socket for that connector. Now, if you need to connect two devices and both of them contain sockets for the male USB connector, then you must have a cable that contains a Male USB connector at it both ends.

Do You Need to Make a Male-To-Male USB Cable?

If you’re looking to connect two USB devices, then the simple answer is YES. You can use male-to-male USB cables for many things like connecting one device directly to another or connecting one with a PC. These days you can find many male-male USB cables of different lengths pre-made, so you don’t have to make them. But you can always make one with the help of this tutorial and save money by doing it yourself and also learning something new in the process.

Process Of Making Male-To-Male USB Cable

To make a male-to-male USB cable, you need to cut and splice two USB cables together. So, let’s see how do you connect two male USB cables together. These simple instructions will guide us through a step-by-step method to make a male-to-male USB cable within a gif.

Requirements:

First, let’s see what things do we require for the procedure.

1. 2 USB cables, or 1 USB cable and 1 USB-A cable plug
2. Soldering iron
3. Electrical tape/heat shrinks tube
4. Superglue/hot glue
5. Wire strippers
6. Cutting pliers
7. A continuity tester or a multimeter

How do we connect two USB heads:

Step 1:

• Take two USB cables
• Cut both of the cables into half with the help of scissors or cutting pliers.
• Now you have got clean ends to work with.

Step 2:

• Take a one and a half-inch sized piece of heat shrink tubing.
• Place it over one side of the sectioned cable.

Step 3:

• Cut an inch of the outer protective cover of USB cables from the ends.
• By doing this, four smaller wires that were inside the cover will be exposed.

Step 4:

• Take a multimeter.
• Figure out the correspondence between these small wires and the pins of the USB plug by using this multimeter.

Step 5:

• You will see that each of the four small wires is different in color.
• Solder the wires with matching colors by twisting them together.
• Carefully solder the wire corresponding to pin 2 of cable 1 with the wire corresponding to pin2 of cable 2, similarly solder all four wires.
• This is called splicing.

Step 6:

• Cover the spliced portions of each of the small wires with the help of electrical tape.
• The electrical tape will insulate the wires and will ensure that the connected wires will not disconnect.

Step 7:

• Now move the heat shrink tubing over the spliced wires.
• The colored wires will now be completely covered.

Step 8:

• As the name suggests, the heat shrink tubings shrink when exposed to heat.
• Take a hairdryer and set it at low speed.
• Run the hairdryer over heat shrink tubing.
• Allow the heats shrink tubing to shrink around the cable.
• The heat shrink tubing gives a fine finish to the cable.

Here you are; you have made the male-to-male USB cable successfully. But what now, where would you probably use this not-so-common kind of cable.

Let’s go through a few uses of these type of cables:

Male-To-Male USB Cable Uses

1. If you want to connect two devices, both having the ports for the same type of male USB plug. In these cases, you need to have a cable that has a male USB head at both ends.
2. The male-to-male USB cables can be used to connect various devices with a PC for upgrading or transferring data.
3. These types of USB cables can be used to link a TV set to a computer when you want to play a video.
4. They can be used to connect modems, external hard drives, or printers to the computer.
5. These cables can also connect two PCs.

Check Out This article on: Uses of double sided USB cables

These types of cables are not used very commonly. They are also called “Bridge cables.” Generally, we have seen professionals or technicians making them and using them with certain devices.

I hope you have learned from this tutorial on how to make a male-to-male USB cable. If you have any suggestions or want to add something to the tutorial, please leave a comment. Thank you for reading!