[GreenKeys] [External] Re: The most annoying part of Teletype restoration.

[Jones, Douglas W]

From: E. [hanyou at xsmail.com] -- Friday, December 18, 2020 1:52 PM

> Well, I can’t say my way is authentic, ...  I use tiny but a bit fatter zip ties every inch or so on a bundle of wires

Zip ties began to displace cable lacing in the 1960's.  The PDP-8 computer I've been working on was built in 1965, and all the wire bundling in that machine is done with zip ties.  So is the Flexowriter I've been working on, from 1968.

Lacing tape (not really string, the cordage involved is a flat braid about 3/32 inch wide) remained in use for a long time in areas where standards are rigidly defined and change slowly.  Lacing tape is also still used in some specialized applications such as binding the bundled windings of motors where they make their turns at the end of the motor stator.  I've done partial rebuilds on several
induction motors where I've had to re-lace the motor windings before reassembly.

The art of cable lacing is somewhat of a lost one.  Few people know how to do it anymore because zip ties have replaced laced cable almost everywhere.  Teletype corp began this quite early, using vinyl tubing slipped over their wire bundles before crimping on the cable terminations.

         Doug Jones
         jones at cs.uiowa.edu