[GreenKeys] The most annoying part of Teletype restoration.

Fri Dec 18 17:22:33 EST 2020

That is known as spot tying, and is really the high class way to do tying.  It is still used in aircraft work, especially behind panels,  Spot ties don't make you bleed when you snag your hand on them!
With practice, one can spot tie faster that one can apply and cut a zip tie.

-----Original Message-----
From: greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net <greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of Richard Knoppow
Sent: Friday, December 18, 2020 12:18 PM
To: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] The most annoying part of Teletype restoration.

    Two at once, dental floss does not work for lacing. You really need lacing cord. It was made in both round and flat versions. For larger cables the flat kind works best.
    Some kinds of fishing line work OK. This is the same stuff used for restringing dial cords.
    I find it interesting that Collins used single ties made of lacing cord. A sort of early version of cable ties. Lacing cable was done when it was common to build the cable separately. This can be done of a frame or a board with nails in it to locate the wires. When the wires are in place they are laced together with the cable. One can find instructions in some old books. The direction of the tying is important, the cord needs to be threaded to that a strain will tighten the cable rather than loosen it.
    Laced cable can look very neat but its a PITA to work on since getting an individual wire out can be very difficult and re-lacing a cable in place can be nearly impossible. Cable ties are much more practical. Cable ties can look very neat if done carefully. One suggestion is to either use a tool for tightening the tie and cutting off the stub or learn how to stretch the stub a little when cutting it so that the end of the stuff is flush or actually pulls into the slot just a little. That eliminates having sharp edges on each tie. Working on someone else's sloppily done cable ties can be both painful and bloody.
  Cable conduit of various sorts is another good way to run cables. The slitted tubing mentioned earlier in this thread is good. Square conduit with snap on tops is available for wiring in racks and large chassis. Looks very neat but is easy to access if you have to change or move a wire.
    BTW, on a tour of a Bell System plant many years ago I noticed that a lot of the wiring was just haywire run in trays. 
The older wiring was laced cables that looked like they grew that way. I was told the haywire was not only less work but had less cross-talk than the cables. Sometimes neater is not better.
    Collins had a special knot used on their string cable ties. I don't remember how its tied but I think its described somewhere in the stuff on the Collins Collector's site.

On 12/18/2020 11:52 AM, E. wrote:
> Well, I can’t say my way is authentic, but it’s at least halfway practical ;p .  I use tiny but a bit fatter zip ties every inch or so on a bundle of wires… not too loose but not too tight.  Wires end up supporting each other without cutting into the lines.  Easy to cut off too, if not too tight, for rewiring.
>
>
>> On Dec 18, 2020, at 2:48 am, Clay Archer <carcher at parkcity.net> wrote:
>>
>> I would lace it up with waxed string.  That was a common way of dressing wires, especially on military electronic equipment.    This would let you see the multi-colored wires where it would be hidden with the spiral tubing.  If done correctly it looks really cool.
> ______________________________________________________________
> GreenKeys mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net
>
>>>> Jordan Spencer Cunningham's GreenKeys Search Tool: 
>>>> https://teletype.net/gksearch 2002-to-present greenkeys archive: 
>>>> http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/
>>>> 1998-to-2001 greenkeys archive: 
>>>> http://mailman.qth.net/archive/greenkeys/greenkeys.html
>>>> Randy Guttery's 2001-to-2009 GreenKeys Search Tool: 
>>>> http://comcents.com/tty/greenkeyssearch.html
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email 
> list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to 
> 1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com

--
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL

______________________________________________________________
GreenKeys mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net

>>> Jordan Spencer Cunningham's GreenKeys Search Tool: 
>>> https://teletype.net/gksearch 2002-to-present greenkeys archive: 
>>> http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/
>>> 1998-to-2001 greenkeys archive: 
>>> http://mailman.qth.net/archive/greenkeys/greenkeys.html
>>> Randy Guttery's 2001-to-2009 GreenKeys Search Tool: 
>>> http://comcents.com/tty/greenkeyssearch.html

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to scottjohnson1 at cox.net