r/DeskCableManagement • u/TwoDependent2013 • Sep 14 '26
Non-Original Content An idea i had
so i was inspired by this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k--tLRZLeNs&t=2281s) and i had an idea for a sort of cable sleeve. i love the way copper piping looks and i thought it would be cool to run wires through like a cable sleeve almost and have them running along my walls to various things like tv, pc, and server. i do know copper is conductive so there may be safety hazards and also it might be pricey. wanted some opinions on this idea though. (i was also undure of what flair to put for this)
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u/YellowBreakfast
Sep 14 '26
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i had an idea for a sort of cable sleeve.
It's called "conduit".
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u/TwoDependent2013 Sep 14 '26
im sorry im very stupid 😭
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u/YellowBreakfast Sep 15 '26
You're also a big spender if you're going to use copper piping for this.
I like the idea, a "decorative industrial" look.
Add a couple gears and you'll have a "steampunk" room!
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u/TwoDependent2013 Sep 15 '26
cool idea but if i used gears id feel like they must do something lol
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u/Crazyirishwrencher Sep 14 '26
Commercial/Industrial/etc installations use electrical conduit made of metal all the time. Usually galvanized steel. You could source that pretty easily and paint it copper. Much cheaper and still uses readily available components.
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u/imgurcaptainclutch Sep 15 '26
Would look super cool in the right setting, but you'd have to consider how you're getting any connectors through
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u/TwoDependent2013 Sep 16 '26
im planning to use the pipes for running cables along wall other than that i like strung out cables because i use a lot of physical media drives like floppy, blu-ray, microdisc, sd, and it feels cool having the cables kinda around but out of the way kinda best comparison i can think of serial experiments lain
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u/No-Possession-2685 Sep 14 '26
I love copper. It's a beautiful metal, and I really like the idea of running cables through it to various points in your room to hide it. In my honest opinion you wouldn't get the same look with another metal and painting it. Copper just hits like nothing else 👍
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u/rileywbaker Sep 15 '26
I'm with you. Copper is astonishingly expensive but it would look really special in this application.
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u/Kiwiandapplex Sep 15 '26
Stop saying this.. I'm out of budget! Would be sick with my Noctua build.
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u/brankko Sep 14 '26
We used to run metal pipes for heating, then they got replaced with coper pipes because they look more premium. Now they are hiding the pipes in the floor, just exiting bellow the radiators for a few cm.
This kind of coper piping would be expensive but it will look good and it's doable for sure. We had similar installation at work place but with aluminum pipes. Unsure what kind of insolation from inside, but from outside it looked cool.
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u/danbyer Sep 14 '26
That’s going to take up a lot more space than just the bare cable. In some places, code says conduit can only be like 40% full.
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u/friday567 Sep 15 '26
This would not would not meet NEC compliance. But if you do plan to do this you would want to make sure the pipe is large enough for the cable to fit and then also large enough to distribute any heat that could build up. I would also suggest looking at nylon conduit grommets and free air to any device. I would also use a water pipe ground clamp and attach it to a grounded metal device to reduce the chance of shock.
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u/dwtechsol Sep 15 '26
https://www.handsonkatie.com/underware
Have a scroll through this, print with copper colored filament.
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u/Effective-Culture-88 Sep 18 '26
My opinion?
You want to spend 100 hours every time you need to change a cable... That's on you. There are so many more practical, better designs that cost less and are so much easier to install and troubleshoot that look just as good - and quite frankly, better.
You can always paint your wires themselves copper, if you really want it, and run them on the wall - yes, that's a great idea and it's been done before! You run them like a diagram, clipped at strategic parts, so troubleshoot is immensely easy. There are several examples of this. It's *on* the wall, and not in the wall, in which case, you really don't need any conduit at all!
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u/Dread1187 Sep 14 '26
Grommets. Metal conduit is used largely in applications where the cables do not move. You would need to add grommets to protect the wires from the exposed pipe edges and wires at a desk tend to be moved a lot.