Wire wrapping type tools, for lashing "Tinsel Wire"

[ScottBouch]

Hi all,

As recently discussed in this thread, tinsel wire requires a thin wire to be lashed around the conductor in order to produce a "solderable" end, as you can't solder tinsel wire directly.

Tinsel wire is typically found inside telephone cables (vintage and modern), and in military aircraft intercom/radio headset cables from WW2 to modern day, buy they are typically crimped instead of lashed these days as it's much easier/quicker.

I manually lash tinsel wire, but it's a fiddly faff, takes forever and produces inconsistent results regarding the spacing of turns/neatness.

An example of one of my hand-lashed wires here: https://scottbouch.com/aircrew-uk-he...oration-01.htm

A very neat properly lashed tinsel wire example attached, this is the cable harness from an early 1950's leather Type C flying helmet, the lashed ends are formed into a loop to allow fitting by screw/stud, as a compact alternative to ring crimps.. This tinsel wire is much thicker gauge than my repair example.

I imagine in a factory production environment lashing many cables per hour, there may have been some form of tool / machine to help with applying the lashing, and to maintain consistency?

I know that automatic wire-wrap tools exist, but these depend on a rigid "post" to wrap around, so is unlikely to work on tinsel wire as it's very soft and flexible, which is why I'm throwing this question out there to the group!

Cheers, Scott

[ScottBouch]

This is another example of my own lashing by hand. This DEF-STAN (still to find the actual standard number for this cable) cable type is used in the intercom/radio system of many military aircraft for aircrew connections. I was using this with a NATO plug (photographed) to make an adaptor cable.

In this instance I carefully stripped the insulation away, leaving a section of insulation to hold in one hand so I could pull it tight while applying the lashing with the other, I used a vice to clamp the main cable.

Cheers, Scott

[David Simpson]

Hi Scott,
Perhaps some of your colleagues on the Lightning & ARC52 projects are ex RAF & may have passed through my hands(not literally, as I'm ex RAF, not ex NAVY) as an Instructor at RAF Cosford in the early 70's. The trainee apprentices & fitters were given in-depth practical instruction in the very skills required for this thread. Plus Ross-Courtney terminations, and looming & lacing etc. So if any more projects involving Intercom systems(1961 Amp) &/or Mic/Tel systems pop up - get them to remember all that they were taught, back in the day.
Mind you, who am I to talk, having done a 3 week course on third-line maintenance/repair on ARC52 at RAF Feltwell in 1966 - - bolloxed if I can remember much at all - 56 years later. Mind you, I was the SGT i/c Air Comms for a short while in 1973 on 111Sqdn at Wattisham, & had already forgotten a fair bit. I just oversigned the work done by the J/T's & Cpl's.

Regards, David

[jackrae]

As an apprentice starting out over 60 years ago the stock phrase by the technicians of the day was "Son, I've forgotten more than you'll ever know" Some 60 plus years later I now understand exactly what they meant !