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

gkenyon

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 particularly like the following statement regarding removing the insulation:

    Cables usually strip very clean, and should any of the vulcanised rubber insulation still adhere to the conductor or conductors this mav be easily removed by means of a rag soaked in petrol or benzine.

    I think H&S Advisors would have kittens with that one today. Petrol speaks for itself, and benzine is considered a very nasty carcinogen. It doesn't seem that long ago (although I forget occasionally that the 1990s is 25-30 years ago Astonished) we openly used tins of 1,1,1 trichloroethane spray for cleaning PCBs during repair, but that's also now considered a very nasty carcinogen.

  • in reply to gkenyon

    Ah well, we also had a dry cleaners that used to smell highly intoxicating and bottles of Thawpit as well.  (Carbon tetrachloride being really good for grease and tar spot removal, just not very good for you or the planet.)
    But I am very muhc with you on 1990  feeling quite recent - but as the youngsters at Scouts keep reminding me I am some sort of  dinosaur from the last century.
    Mike

  • in reply to gkenyon
    gkenyon said:
    we openly used tins of 1,1,1 trichloroethane

    Also available in Tippex.

  • in reply to Chris Pearson

    It was definitely in Tippex and Liquid Paper, but I think not used any longer (at least in the concentrations it was, if at all) because of its carcinogenic classification.

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  • in reply to Chris Pearson

    It was definitely in Tippex and Liquid Paper, but I think not used any longer (at least in the concentrations it was, if at all) because of its carcinogenic classification.

Children
  • in reply to gkenyon

    I should have added, "long ago". Trichloroethane was a wonderful solvent. I once spilled some Tippex thinners on my desk and it promptly glued my keyboard to it. If it used to be in PVC solvent glue, it isn't any more.

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