[RVRC] KB6NU's Column for February 2011

[E Drew Moore]

Hi, all--

Here's my column for February 2011.  I hope you enjoy it.

73, Dan KB6NU



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The Lost Art of Cable Lacing

By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU

The Make: magazine blog is a wealth of information for amateur radio operators. Recently, they ran a post on what they consider to be on the "lost technology" of cable lacing <http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/07/lost-knowledge-cable-lacing.html>.

The blog post does a great job of explaining the technique and includes several illustrations. One of them <http://cdn.makezine.com/make/blogs/blog.makezine.com/upload/2009/10/lost_knowledge_cable_lacing/cableLacing6b.gif> is a drawing from an old ARRL handbook. There are also a link to the Wikipedia page on cable lacing <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_lacing>.

Nowadays, we mostly use zip ties to bundle cables, but there are disadvantages to using them. For one thing, to apply them properly, you should have a tool that controls how tightly the zip tie holds the wires. This is to prevent crushing the insulation.

Also, I've found that zip ties don't do so well when the cable has only two or three wires. They're just not designed to hold so few wires. I think that cable lacing would do a much better job of keeping a small bundle of wires together, say wires that connect front panel components to a PC board. 

Cable lacing certainly looks much cooler than zip ties. This is the perfect technique for those homebrewers that want to make their projects look great as well as work great.

I asked on my blog, "Now, where can I find the 'wax-impregnated cotton or twine'?" and my readers came through. Hamilton said, "Apparently you find wax string here: http://www.kitkraft.biz/product.php?productid=1496. I remember using it for something as a kid, but I can’t place it." Ron McKenz wrote, "I notice that a number of telco vendor sell waxed lacing cord. Here are a few URLs: http://www.sourcetelsupply.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=27, http://www.tessco.com/yts/resourcecenter/pdfs/clablelacing-FAQ.pdf, and http://www.oelsales.com/product.cfm/267/. 

Ned, WB4KBO, said, "I would suggest a large roll of dental tape and a large-diameter curves sewing needle for fabricating harnesses. I was told that this was the material of choice for lacing harnesses when i worked at Heath Company many years ago. Makes sense to me. Buy it at Meijer for an occasional harness, or a dental wholesale supply house if you are going into production. Also great stuff for kite rigging, vine lacing and many other things."

Mike, WA6ARA wrote, "What you want is Mil-T-43435. It is better than a cord, it is a flat weave tape, nylon, and waxed. It is made for cable lacing but is use now in the parachute industry as “super tack”. Item T1050 at http://www.paragear.com"

So, there you have it. Links to show you how to do it, and a couple more links for where to find the lacing material. I now expect all of our homebrew to look a lot neater.

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When not worrying about how to lace cable instead of using zip ties, Dan, KB6NU, blogs about ham radio at www.kb6nu.com, teaches ham radio classes, and operates CW on the HF bands. Look for him around 7.030 MHz or e-mail him pictures of your beautifully-laced cables at cwgeek at kb6nu.com.

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