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How to twist wires together ... and how we used to do it.

Was browsing though YouTube when I saw (but don't advocate) this vid entitled 'Awesome Idea! How to twist electric wire together!': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHoyF4yKhjU

Well, reminded me of how I was taught to solder joints on power cables, and also part of a book I have in my collection, entitled General Electrical Engineering edited by Philip Kemp MSc(Tech) MIEE AIMechE (which is undated, but I believe is from the late 1940s or early 1950s).

I hope I'm permitted to post the extract of the two pages I had in mind, as it's a very old publication:

Certainly of interest, and shows there's a lot we used to know ... and how much depended on the skill of those who installed electrical equipment in days gone by.

Parents
  • I love these old skills, but how would a young (apprentice) electrician expect to join cables nowadays? Wagos?

Reply
  • I love these old skills, but how would a young (apprentice) electrician expect to join cables nowadays? Wagos?

Children
  • Probably most similar to crimp splices, as they are joints not terminals ... screwless terminal connectors are really more a replacement for choc-block.

    As a teenager, I was taught to prepare a splice for soldering using the married joint or Britannia joint method first. I think it was the end of an era really. I was also taught techniques like lacing ... a dying art even then, unless you were working with military, controls, or other very expensive kit.

  • I had to do lacing on control panels which I assembled for Bailey Meters many moons ago. It would stop the wires vibrating about and made the job look neater. Even back in the 70s at college the "T" shaped joint was consider by us students to be redundant. "Where would you use that Sir?" was the cry from the workshop gang to the old teacher. But, it may just have been a test of manual dexterity and soldering skills.

    Z.