Wire Wrapping

I've been cleaning out and packing up the house my parents lived in when I found a bunch of father's electronic parts and equipment. I've been sorting through trying to decide what to keep and what to junk.

One thing I found that intrigued me is a wire wrapper. There are several spools of wire for it and a couple of small wrappers that look similar to a precision screwdriver (from Radio Shack). I had forgotten about wrapped wires and haven't seen anything wrapped in a long time.

I hadn't tried the tool but wondered, is it really worth using? I'm re-learning about electronics so I'm not a professional -- does anybody on the forum use it?

Joel

I still use it for prototype work. If I need to work out a circuit with possible changes I prefer wire wrap. Overlapping wires is easier than making multiple layer pcb's. I find it more reliable than classic Experimentor(tm) proto type boards. I also use wire wrap when I need to run a temporary component to a board, like using a pot to simulate a resistance sensor. Good quality wire wrap wire is great for making corrections to PC boards. Silver coated teflon wire wrap takes soldering heat without melting. . The fine wire is easy to solder to thin traces.

I guess I'll hang on to it then and give it a try one of these days. Do you use this little tool that Radio Shack sells or something else? Looking around most of the manual tools look more substantial than this.

jmricker said:

I guess I'll hang on to it then and give it a try one of these days. Do you use this little tool that Radio Shack sells or something else? Looking around most of the manual tools look more substantial than this.

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The Radio Shack tool will work if you don't have more than a few dozen connections to make. For production work they use manual, trigger-operated wire wrap guns which complete the wrap with one pull of the trigger, or electric wire-wrap guns.

There are also unwrappers that look similar to this tool. I used to use them back in the 70s doing prototype design work. They were still being used right up to the 90s in telephone exchanges

Am I the only one here who pulled his hair out using that radio shack hand wire wrap tool. Connections were not all that great.

I have a battery operated wrapping tool that anyone can have for the shipping and paypal charge. I would rather start with a PCB and run a few air wires (same wrapping wire) then stock and mess with the wire wraps sockets etc.

It either came with an AC adapter jack or I installed it. Quite possibly from radio shack. Does not have a spool holder. You still have to cut and strip the wire. If it was great I would not be giving it away. But better then the hand tool.

EDIT: I like eagle. I start with a schematic. When I add an air wire I modify the schematic. When I go to the next rev of the PCB Eagle will make sure the air wires make it to the PCB artwork. Never have to check to see if the schematic and artwork are in agreement. Never have to check the board against the schematic.

It helps that I can make my own PCBs and have a CNC to drill them for me.