Modern Electronics (was Re: List charter mods & headcount... ; -))

From: David V. Corbin <dvcorbin_at_optonline.net>
Date: Mon Jun 21 07:09:02 2004

>>> > My father was one of the most respected engineering wiremen of the
>>> > 1960's. He was highly sought after for making harnesses by many
>>> > companies. The art of hand lacing a harness is basically lost.
>>>
>>> No it is not, although not many people use it. It is still
>>> used in the AT&T and some MCI telephone world. In fact, the
>>> very first AT&T Worldnet dialup equipment was hand laced
>>> (by me). I ran into many not-so-old timers that still would
>>> lace up cables by hand perfectly.
>>>

Good to hear there are others who have/do hand lace. Just a few questions
out of curiosity...

Were these true harnesses or were they cable assemblies. The difference
being that a true harness is completely assembled prior to installation
[usually on a board] where a cabble assembly is the use of lacing (or other
methods) to "dress" simple cables [Simple in the respect that they are
usually point to point [2 connectors] or have few branches]?

Did you use spot stitch, running stitches, or locking stitches? I can still
do a decent spot or running stitch, but struggle with getting a decent [even
spacing, high tension, low torsion] stitch.

If these were board build harnsesses were they "rigid"? I remember being
young [a kid actually] and being amazed when a harness [made with 22 or 24
gauge stranded teflon wire] could be lifed off the board, held vertical
[often well over 6 feet long] from the bottom and completely retain its
shape without any droop in the extended side branches....

David
Received on Mon Jun 21 2004 - 07:09:02 BST