I was working on a small machine with a handheld remote (push button station). The client was going to use a heavier cable like this. I ended up with just a round cable between the handheld and control panel. It was just for looks anyway.

For some reason I can not make a cable like yours in Inventor. What's the basic logic to the model? From my attempts I am obviously missing something.

This is a function that solidworks has built into its sweep function.

If i was doing this in inventor I would use the same approach i have used for my Square spring

Doing that in Inventor using 3d Sketch would take a lot of work... You can do a simple coil and then use the 'Bend Part' tool to bend it several times. Check it here: Telephone chord