This is what building electronic instruments must have been like in the 60s/70s - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: dentaku
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2013, 01:36:03 pm
content: Not a ribbon cable in sight... now that's a lot of workAssembling the mechanical parts of this synth just requires the correct tools and a good degree of accuracy but wiring this thing seems like quite a tedious job.It's amazing that in the 60s and 70s people actually sold commercial products built exactly the same way.The wiring starts about 25 minutes into the video.http://youtu.be/9srLonLwwfY

author: jancumps
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 23, 2013, 02:25:07 pm
content: I gave it a

author: jancumps
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 23, 2013, 02:51:59 pm
content: When I worked in automotive industry, the wiring bundles were pre-wired on big boards. All the wiring for a truck would come in as one package including all connectors. If you cunningly unfolded the tangled package the right way, each connector ended up at the right location.

author: andtfoot
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 23, 2013, 03:12:15 pm
content: I wish I had that kind of patience...I'm still trying to figure out what he was using the solder wick/braid for though; I only ever use it when pulling stuff apart.

author: Shock
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2013, 03:33:49 pm
content: The 1960s was primitive compared to that video. This was high tech in the 60s.

author: PaulAm
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2013, 03:56:24 pm
content: Automated wirewrap was being used on mainframe computers well into the 80's, at least.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 23, 2013, 05:36:39 pm
content: Quote from: dentaku on September 23, 2013, 01:36:03 pmIt's not that different now.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2013, 05:45:33 pm
content: wirewrap is for wimps.go look at the wieing in a Cray 1. all twisted pair and matched length...

author: nitro2k01
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2013, 06:14:28 pm
content: The '60s? Try the '40s.

author: KJDS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2013, 07:06:56 pm
content: About 10 years ago i worked on a military product that was about a quarter of that size with about four times as many interconnecting wires. Because it was a military product, every wire was pink.

author: jancumps
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 23, 2013, 07:16:36 pm
content: Quote from: KJDS on September 23, 2013, 07:06:56 pmwimps

author: notsob
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2013, 10:20:20 pm
content: Quote from: free_electron on September 23, 2013, 05:45:33 pmHave a look at the ancient Burroughs B4800 backplane all twisted pair wirewrap, all short lengths, BCML logic, a form of ECL, difference between logic low to high was approx 0.4V

author: dentaku
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2013, 03:01:30 am
content: Quote from: Pippy on September 23, 2013, 02:34:39 pmWhen you look inside old synths it's amazing that some of those things ever worked. It's just a mess of wires.I'm not saying all electronics where that way, but synths that obviously weren't being made in large amounts because they're specialty products.If I was to build a large synth I would make sure that I have some ribbon cables with nice connectors for the parts that can use them. That way everything isn't just soldered together and boards can be removed easily if needed.

author: dentaku
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2013, 03:15:15 am
content: Yeah, you're right. I guess that synth is more like 70's/80's-ish and too modern to be compared to 60's hardware.It must be a pain to replace a single board in something like that which doesn't have connectors anywhere.Quote from: Shock on September 23, 2013, 03:33:49 pm

author: marshallh
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 24, 2013, 03:17:54 am
content: Source :http://users.monash.edu.au/~ralphk/burroughs.html

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2013, 09:02:21 am
content: Military stuff I used used white PTFE wire wrap wire, and for added pain and reliability they also soldered each wire wrap joint and placed a shrink sleeve over them. then they used the chassis as a heatsink by placing some of the TO66 and TO38 package power devices from the power supply board on them. So as not to use different wires for high current they simply doubled the wires on power pins, and used multiple pins for power distribution. Thus at one point there was a star ground for all the boards, with around 80 wire wrap wires coming into a large crimp connector, again crimped, soldered and heatshrunk in white. the good news though was that all this made cleaning the board after one common fault, which cooked the power block into charred epoxy and delivered it via the internal fan all over the inside quite efficiently until the final failure of the 1A mains fuses.Fun was tracing a broken wire............... Or replacing a faulty wire wrap pin. i did replace some that burnt, was not going to unsolder a 60 pin socket just for one faulty pin or socket that was possible to remove without breaking the housing, and the new pin came out of a new one that was ground down to carefully break it out of the GRP moulding.

author: Steffen
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2013, 07:11:49 pm
content: Sometimes these old wirewrapped devices still work better than modern PCBs routed on the PC. This cobweb art style with many crossings caused low influence between wires. Some devices are still in operation - for decades! Even for protyping WW-wire is still nice to use. Direct point to point soldering, no short circuits in dozens of layers without care of any grid limiation and fast.

author: mmagin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2013, 11:49:16 pm
content: Another part of electronic music history, from before analog synths with patch panels:(Delia Derbyshire, original Dr. Who theme.)

author: dentaku
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2013, 01:45:50 am
content: I recently watched a new documentary called I Dream Of Wires. The first 1.5 hours is all about the history of electronic instruments (mostly modular synths).It's fascinating stuff.Someone's working on making a DIY synth documentary right now too.http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=91550&start=allQuote from: mmagin on September 24, 2013, 11:49:16 pm

author: coreybus
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 06, 2013, 11:54:48 pm
content: Looks like a bit of a head ache