Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Incidentally, all this wiring is essentially 10-guage, silvered, solid copper wire with either a black, or red cotton sleeve, loosely slipped over the cut pieces.

It will be "Tinned copper wire" Mouser sell it as "Busbar Wire" but you don't want to know the price!

On the other hand, there's the "Scientific Wire Company" that supplies 500gram or 1kilogram quantities in a variety of sizes, see:

https://www.scientificwire.com/acatalog/tc-wire.html

The varnished cotton sleeving ("Systoflex") seems to have disappeared decades ago, to be replaced by synthetics.

In the photos I have available, most of the switchboard wiring is this original stuff, but about one quarter of the wiring has been replaced with more modern red, or black, plastic loomed, 10-gauge solid copper wire. So the missing pieces of wiring I have to make up replacements for, will look appropriate when done.

I've just had an unissued British switchboard delivered (bought on eBay) and the wire is all plastic sleeved (no dates on it). It was also extremely heavy, which raised my suspicions... I thought the switchboard was a plastic laminate (there was a lunatic in Italy trying to sell a scrapped, dug up, one for ridiculous money, it had a chunk broken off one corner and looked as though it had delaminated while in the ground), but this new one feels more like a paving slab, and I think it's actually _slate_! That might explain why the lettering is stencilled rather than being engraved and wax filled.

I suspect the slots in the top and bottom bearers are for airflow. (To allow any heat to dissipate and also to prevent condensation that might cause corrosion of the wiring and switches.)

Anyway, I now have one with four mounting screws, and a second one with the brackets and studs, etc. in a cloth bag that make it demountable.

Best regards,
Chris.