Have you ever owned a wirewrap tool? (poll) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Housedad
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 05:17:12 am
content: it is a dying art, for sure. But I was wondering if any of the younger crowd (say, under 30) have ever created a circuit with wire wrap. I mean real wire wrap wilth a twist tool, WW dip socket posts, etc. I did thousands of connections back in the day, and it provided not only the breadboarding but the final circuit finished. Only problem was it was delicate and thick!!See if any of these apply to you1. Used a hand wirewrap tool?2. Used a power wirewrap tool?3. Owned a wirewrap tool of any kind?4. Accidentally stepped on a upside down wirewrap dip socket and had to go to the hospital to get it removed?5. Slammed your hand down onto a dense wirewrap board in anger and then instantly regret it for multiple reasons?6. Wish you still could wirewrap7. Glad you don't have to do it ever again8. WTF is a wirewrap tool?

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 05:36:17 am
content: There is a whole flame war thread on this subject somewhere around here. I don't feel like repeating it againHere it is:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/is-anyone-still-using-wire-wrap-for-prototypes/

author: Housedad
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 05:45:21 am
content: no, I missed that thread, and I don't want to start a flame war. It is a dying method. i guess they can just close this thread.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 05:47:36 am
content: First you've got to define "younger crowd"Perhaps you should start a poll to see if anyone admits to having owned or used a hand or powered wirewrap tool. In addition to the four owned/used hand/power choices, and the obvious 'No', it might be amusing to add the choice 'WTF is that?'The thread Ataradov linked is pretty constructive. It doesn't look like a flame war in any shape or form, even if there is a slight flavour of 'We have better options now'.Edit:1 & 3 - I've still got a hand wrap tool with stripper in the side of it and keep a limited selection of wire and pins. Its still a good option if you need to configure a dev-board with male headers in a way the designer never anticipated so didn't provide jumpers for, and want something more robust & reliable than a plug-on F-F flywire.

author: Housedad
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 05:57:53 am
content: Actually, that poll sounds like a better Idea. Maybe I'll rename this thread and add the poll? Sound good?

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 06:34:40 am
content: I have used three levels of WW tools.1) Full mains-powered (like a mini hand drill)2) Hand-powered. Pull the "trigger" and it produces the proper n-count of wraps.3) Full manual. A small pencil-size tool where you had to do all the turns yourself..In the mid 1960s, was the WW tech for a small computer company ("Tempo Computers") which was gobbled up by GTE and then Reuters, et.al. All bright yellow Kynar insulated 30 AWG solid wire wrapped around 0.025 square socket posts.I got daily printouts (long continuous-form paper from the line-printer) of changes to make. And you avoided "daisy-chain" because if you had to remove a connection in the middle of the chain, then you had to remove and replace perhaps a dozen wires. It was state of the art back then, but like most "old tech", good riddance. I'm glad we're not stuck with that dinousar technology anymore

author: Paul Moir
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 06:52:20 am
content: I've had one of those old Radio Shack wire wrap hand tools for probably 30 years now. It's primary use has been a container for the little 30awg wire stripper that came with it. It has successfully prevented me from loosing it unlike practically every other tool I've had even half that long. I use that stripper constantly for point-to-point rats nest one-off construction.Back then Radio Shack, or more correctly the Canadian Intertan version, carried perf board, wire wrap wire, the wire wrap tool but no sockets. They were kind of useless like that.

author: Harb
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 07:14:16 am
content: Wire Wrapping was done in many spacecraft.........Apparently solder joints of the day were aerated which would case failures in the vacuum of space.......

author: @rt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 07:16:14 am
content: I’d hardly call the other thread a flame war.Yes I know about it well, and have unwrapped many wrap boards for salvage,have never owned or used the tool,would perhaps be in it if it were still appropriate to begin with it at this time.Have always appreciated the art of it, and have often admired the original Amiga prototype,where the wire wrap is just the boards that were reduced to the custom VLSI chips in the production.http://www.computermagazine.com/syndicated/amiga-is-30-23-unseen-images-of-rare-commodore-amiga-prototypes/Images 13-17 were massive cubes that in the end, just plug into chip sockets as the production VLSI chips would plug into

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 07:30:24 am
content: Quote from: @rt on April 22, 2017, 07:16:14 amYeah, it is more benign than I remember.

author: Nusa
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 08:11:17 am
content: 1. Yes.2. A few times. Not recently.3. I still own a pencil-type wrap/unwrap/strip tool.4. Nope.5. Nope.6. I still can.7. Even today, there's an occasional use for it. For instance, connecting a couple header pins to ground pins on the back of a repurposed server power supply to power it on. Header pins aren't wirewrap pins, but they work well enough for a single wire.8. Bzzt. I'm too old for your survey.

author: intabits
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 12:28:39 pm
content: Did a lot of it on S100 bus with Z80 and 6809.Manual only.No accidents.Don't miss it.Wish I were 30.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 03:14:53 pm
content: Quote from: Housedad on April 22, 2017, 05:57:53 amYou do know you can add a proper "poll", don't you?

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 03:50:46 pm
content: Sure, I own a Gardner-Denver cut-strip-wrap gun and have used it extensively. These days very little is wire-wrapped so I don't think I'll be using it again. Back in the '80s, it was the hot setup. This isn't the '80s...

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 04:08:59 pm
content: Yes on 1, 2, 3 and emphatically 7.No on 4, 5 and 6.Duh? on 8.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 04:32:40 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on April 22, 2017, 05:36:17 amI disagree about that being a flame war. It's fairly civil. For an example of that, look at the current vs voltage control of a bipolar transistor or a brexit thread.Anyway, I've never used wirewrap myself. I suppose I'm too young. However, I've seen real life examples of wire-wrap before. I agree: it's a very reliable technique and the main downside is it isn't compatible with the vast majority of modern components.

author: tecman
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 05:16:54 pm
content: 1-3 yesrest nopaul

author: firehopper
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 05:43:13 pm
content: 1&3 yes, no to the rest

author: MarkF
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 05:52:09 pm
content: I have 2 pencil type and 1 manual (squeeze handle to wrap) tools. And I just wire-wraped a small prototype board this year.

author: retrolefty
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 05:54:59 pm
content: Quote

author: ZeTeX
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 07:22:02 pm
content: >>1. Used a hand wirewrap tool?Nope2. Used a power wirewrap tool?Nope3. Owned a wirewrap tool of any kind?Nope4. Accidentally stepped on a upside down wirewrap dip socket and had to go to the hospital to get it removed?WTF? no..5. Slammed your hand down onto a dense wirewrap board in anger and then instantly regret it for multiple reasons?no..6. Wish you still could wirewrapI like soldering7. Glad you don't have to do it ever againI never did it8. WTF is a wirewrap tool?For some reason they still force students to use wire wrap on perfboard... High school..<<

author: Housedad
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 08:48:21 pm
content: The reason for questions 4 and 5 was because they are both a YES for me.I was making a 8088 to be used as a controller and the pins were the long type. I was at home and in my socks wire wrapping away when I was called to get some lunch. As I got off of the tall drafting chair I knocked a couple of dip sockets onto the floor and stepped right down on one of them into the ball of my foot. Complete penetration and I could not pull it out. Stuck in bone. I have 16 small scars on the bottom of my foot that fit a integrated circuit perfectly.My older brother just loved to get my goat or aggravate me. He came over to the house and told me something that really pissed me off one time while I was troubleshooting a wirewrap circuit that I had made. I got so angry that I slammed my hand down on the table in frustrated rage. When I picked my hand back up the circuit came with it. Still have those scars too. The circuit was toast between the smash and the blood.I did some really stupid stuff in my 20's. But at least it wasn't drugs...

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 09:16:50 pm
content: Never owned one but have used one. I work in telecom and every now and then I might have to go run a jumper on the frame. Most of the blocks are punch down but we have a few that require a wire wrap tool. We use the manual ones, one you have to twist manually, the other is like a gun. It's kinda neat to use, but I can see why they moved to punch down as it's faster. Never used it outside of telecom though. I would maybe find an excuse to use it at home if I had a tool, but would not really go out of my way for it. Could be handy if doing point to point circuitry.This is similar to the one I used:

author: Cliff Matthews
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 22, 2017, 10:42:35 pm
content: 1,2,3 and 7 and using a gun like above post. Did whole telecom cabinets in the 80's. Don't miss wiring mid-frame cross-connects one bit either, where my body had to be half inside the cabinet. Many times additions were made on working frames with cold air roaring up from the under a raised floor (making already numb arms ache and giving you a cold). The 210 jackfields required lots of work. Eventually, a lot of stuff went modular and we had to learn how use an Amphenol butterfly tool to make custom 50-pin m/f cables.Who has used one of these?*edit - Here, the color/order guides are set to Male (you'd flip them over to do Female amp connectors)

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2017, 01:36:32 am
content: Quote from: Housedad on April 22, 2017, 05:17:12 amI'm a "Greybeard", & I can count on the fingers of half of one hand how many times I've used wirewrap.(Handwrapping "jumper" wire around terminal blocks in Comms stuff doesn't count!!)As RF dweebs, I, & most of many of my colleagues hated the whole idea of them.Dirty great lengths of jumper wire, far from ultimate dimensions for HF, Stray L & C everywhere!I did have to repair a few wire wrap circuits later, but never really lost my disdain.

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2017, 02:49:17 am
content: 1, 3. I suppose I might one day wrap something. I saw an old stereo receiver the other day that had some wire wrapped connections inside it. So, who knows. I might come across a repair that needs it. I've still got a pencil-style manual wrapper, just in case.

author: alsetalokin4017
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2017, 05:25:52 am
content: Used it just a couple days ago. I see that I'm about out of wire, though. Stuff is expensive but my local supplier actually does stock it, in about 6 different colors IIRC.

author: Housedad
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2017, 06:21:01 am
content: i was pricing it out last month to buy a roll for my electronics bench and I found that Amazon of all places had the best price.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 23, 2017, 06:41:10 am
content: Never had anything to do with wire wrap.About as close as I ever got was this: I did wonder about how come it was so well regarded until I came across a piece (somewhere) which had a diagram with explanation. I thought "Oh, OK. I can see that."That was it.

author: tablatronix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2017, 02:28:26 pm
content: simple answer YESI am 40, but I have been wirewrapping since I was about 11 with a basic screwdriver style ( RS type ), You get really good at it after a very short amount of time.Up until recently when I got a real soldering station I mostly wirewrapped everything, as solderingwasIS a pita with a pencil iron, trying to keep it wandering all over the desk or straight up falling off, fighting with the damn cord, and waiting for it to heat up, id just throw some headers and put it away then start wirewrapping, which you can do on the couch if you wanted to, and no burns.I use a hakko now, being able to flip a switch and solder a single wire in a matter of seconds with no setup is worth it, but wirewrapping provides some level of that if you do not have dedicated electronics space or dedicated work bench.Lack of a garage or basement to a hobbiest is tough.

author: tablatronix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2017, 02:37:30 pm
content: Can't figure out how to get full editor for editing a post. hmmwirewrapped nodemcu

author: Gregg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2017, 10:07:53 pm
content: Wirewrap is still fairly common in the telco industry; believe it or not there is still a lot of copper wired telephone circuits still in use.1. Used a hand wirewrap tool?Yes, thousands of connections, but never more than about a hundred in any session. It gets old fast.2. Used a power wirewrap tool?Yes, usually more trouble than it is worth, the OK Industries manual one squeeze gun shaped ones are relatively easy3. Owned a wirewrap tool of any kind?I still own a bunch of them, do you want any?4. Accidentally stepped on a upside down wirewrap dip socket and had to go to the hospital to get it removed?I have stepped on one and had to remove it from my shoe, but never have done wirewrapping barefoot5. Slammed your hand down onto a dense wirewrap board in anger and then instantly regret it for multiple reasons?I may have had lapses of my senses but never that bad!6. Wish you still could wirewrapWhat do you mean, I still can; the wrapping is usually easier than unwrapping7. Glad you don't have to do it ever againI’m glad I’m retired and don’t have to deal with management of major greedy corporation anymore.8. WTF is a wirewrap tool?There are many different wirewrap tools from the size of a mini screwdriver to the size of a small electric drill. The bits and sleeves need to be in good shape for success and some lubrication on the moving parts of mechanical wrap tools helps a lot. The bit has to be the correct size for the gage of wire. Tin plated wire tends to make better lasting connections and the tin plating lends a bit of lubrication to the wire sliding down the bit as it is wrapped.I have also laced cables with waxed linen cord; another dying art.The typical telco situation uses beds of pins spaced about as closely as possible and 48 VDC nominal potential between pins positive earth grounded. The current is quite low but a hand on the sharp pins will readily convince a timid person not to do anything rash. I mostly used wirewrap to connect equipment alarm points to existing copper wire based reporting systems (things were slowly changing to IP based reporting, but the wiring was already in place and the old mentality of monopoly based management was skeptical of anything newfangled). If I was making wirewrap connections anywhere that maynot have ideal environmental conditions like a battery room, I would coat the stripped end of the wire in some no-ox id electrical grease. No-ox id is all over the place in the telco industry and it really works.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2017, 05:44:59 pm
content: I've used wire wrap to connect stuff to header pins on a number of occasions. Always wanted to wire wrap a whole board but the sockets and pins are so expensive I've never done it.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2017, 06:52:15 pm
content: Got the lacing twine, a few rolls of it, and the needles to work with it as well. Nice to finish off a mesh sleeve with some of it, and then make it all neat and tidy.

author: Housedad
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2017, 07:30:31 pm
content: I only did lacing twice. Zip ties were too available after that, but it does look fantastic when done right.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2017, 08:16:18 pm
content: Since I didn't have anyone to mentor me in electronics as a kid (born in 1980), I didn't learn about wirewrapping until it was pretty much gone. (I remember seeing the stuff in the Radio Shack catalog, but didn't know what it was.)Quote from: Housedad on April 24, 2017, 07:30:31 pmI need to take pix of the inside of this DIY power supply I picked up from an estate sale recently. It's simultaneously a thing of beauty and horror.

author: bson
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 24, 2017, 11:41:45 pm
content: Yes to 1-7. And never having to pay ridiculous prices for machined wirewrap sockets ever again. Never mind board edge connectors and basic fiberglass boards weren't cheap either... And then, PCBs that actually are correctly wired to begin with, priced at a few dollars each, dirt cheap SMD parts, at a ridiculous fraction of the size and bulk. You'd pretty much need a card cage to hold wirewrap boards while a modern SMD PCB can hang off the JTAG cable...

author: iamjanco
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 03, 2017, 03:12:13 am
content: Quote from: Housedad on April 22, 2017, 05:17:12 amNoobie here (actually oldie), thought I'd introduce myself somewhere, and then I found this thread. Cracked me up and brought back some memories I hadn't thought about since the early 90s.A little background:Did a 20 year stint in the Air Force, starting out in "Radar" (search and weather) Shop on C141s. Back then the field was officially called "Navigation Aids," and included maintenance of systems like ILS, TACAN, VOR, etc. The field was eventually merged into communications, after which we were called COMM/NAV.Anyway, retired from the military in '92, and my first real job after that was for a company called Advanced Systems Development, Inc. (ASDI), as Systems Integration Tech/Field Service Engineer (read: grunt on digital/rf) on their AMES II platform (Advanced Multiple Environment Simulator). Great experience, learned far more than I ever did in the Air Force.Now about those wire wrap boards...ASDI had a maintenance contract with the Navy at the time to build an additional number of these little, portable simulators they had built for Navy subs earlier on in their history. All wire wrap (like their earlier AMES I), and I was assigned the pleasure of testing/troubleshooting the new boards that came out of production.Btw, before you ask why they didn't just redesign the boards and do away with the wire wrap, there just wasn't enough money in the contract, nor available resources to spend a lot of time on the effort. They were a 100 person company, and busy working on the development of their AMES III.Anyway, I had never used a manual wire wrap tool before, but became proficient using it fairly quickly after a bit of practice, and was actually somewhat proud of my wraps once I got good at it. Funny how stuff like that comes back after all these years.ASDI went on to get bought out by Amherst, which was eventually picked up by Northrup/GrummanAs for me, becoming a single dad forced a career change, and I moved into technical documentation. Did that until 2010 for a number of companies, after which I moved from what was a hobby I was very good at into full-time web development, design and server maintenance, which I now do to pay the bills as a consultant. Currently building a custom PC of my own, which is one of the reasons why I am now here (I'll get into that elsewhere).As for the answers to the poll:1. Used a hand wirewrap tool? Yes. Who over the age of 60 hasn't?2. Used a power wirewrap tool? Tried them, hated them, never did have a knack for pistol grips3. Owned a wirewrap tool of any kind? Company supplied, for a time stuck in my shirt pocket. Lost more than one.4. Accidentally stepped on an upside down wirewrap dip socket and had to go to the hospital to get it removed? Nope, but I could see how watching that in a YouTube video might be humorous.5. Slammed your hand down onto a dense wirewrap board in anger and then instantly regret it for multiple reasons? Not in anger, but by accident. Same effect.6. Wish you still could wirewrap. Not really, don't think it would impress the grandkids.7. Glad you don't have to do it ever again. Sort of ambivalent about that.8. WTF is a wirewrap tool? LOL.Lastly, been researching oscopes for the computer project I mentioned. Lot's of great info here, and damn glad to meet you....uh, is it okay to use "damn?"

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2017, 03:34:05 am
content: Lets not forget that perhaps the first leading-edge super-computer (Cray 1) had wire-wrapped backplanes...

author: yada
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2017, 05:07:22 am
content: I love wire wrapping, it relaxing. I have the hand tool that I put 30ga in. Then my favorite part is soldering those perfect little coils as they suck up the solder. Wish every thing was wire wrap. Its the perfect size. I'm going to do some big huge project all wire wrap here soon. I like wire wrapping bus bars.I lost mine from when I was a kid and the cheapest one I could find (real metal one with both ends) was 30CAN rupies. I don't know why they were so much.

author: Housedad
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2017, 05:18:00 am
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on May 03, 2017, 03:34:05 amThe memories.. Back in the day, there was a electronics junkyard that had one of them. Had to have been one of the first ones as it came from the University of PA. (I think) I spent hours ripping chips and stuff out. It was a real rats nest. But at least the wrap around seats Were still there to lay on and be lazy. Two of the panels were broken out by somebody. At the time, it looked like it came from the year 5000.

author: tablatronix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2017, 03:43:45 pm
content: Nice , when I was a kid always wanted a cray I as a couch, thought it would be neato. I guess i could build a replica as furniture, might be fun.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2017, 08:43:28 pm
content: You don't need expensive sockets to do wire wrap. First off, you don't hardly ever need to do wire wrap, even on protoboard. On intraconnects, within the same board, you generally do not need strain relief. Direct solder connections are fine. The main benefit, then is where you need high density of connections, esp for ground/power points, where you may put 5 or 6 wires onto the same pin, using wire wrap which saves on the real estate.But rather than buying expensive socket, all you need to do is solder the chip (or a regular socket) to a protoboard and solder a row of pin header next to it. You can also do this on a breadboard, simply sticking extra long pin header next to your components. The main place I use wire wrap is either for interconnects or for breadboarding. Wire wrap on a breadboard saves a lot of space and a lot of time, in the long run, once your circuit is any bit more complex than a few transistors. It saves time debugging, because you can way more easily see what connects where. It saves time trying to wiggle in the last few connections. It always leaves an easy to access test point (the pin itself), rather than trying to dig in a rats nest to get a test connection. I use the plug and play jumpers only for very simple tests and/or when they take the place of a "switch." Personally, I leave very little slack on any of these wire wrap connections on the breadboard. Tight as a guitar string is fine. You do not have to dig under a jumper. The connecting points are the pins. High rise towers above the streets. Once all your components and pin headers are placed, you do not need access to the ground level, anymore. Tight connections are easier to trace by eye and keep everything tidy. This is a luxury you cannot have when soldering on a protoboard where you need slack to solder additional connections.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2017, 01:39:58 am
content: Your comment about a wire bonder brought another technology to mind.How many of you have ever been afflicted with stitch wire? Another technology from roughly the same time as wire wrap, used something that looked a lot like wire wrap wire, and spot welded it on small buttons on the bottom of the sockets. Spot welded right through the insulation, so you could daisy chain similar to wire wrap, and consumed far less height than wire wrap. Software was available to automate the stitching process.Unfortunately the welds weren't particularly good, and finding an intermittent weld on a large board was a nightmare, particularly since there was only one color of insulation. Probing for the bad weld often created new intermittents so it was a gift that kept on giving.

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2017, 02:07:31 am
content: See if any of these apply to you1. Used a hand wirewrap tool? Yes2. Used a power wirewrap tool? Both a semi automatic and full automatic3. Owned a wirewrap tool of any kind? Yes4. Accidentally stepped on a upside down wirewrap dip socket and had to go to the hospital to get it removed? Nope but have pulled out DIPs and such by hand before.5. Slammed your hand down onto a dense wirewrap board in anger and then instantly regret it for multiple reasons? No, too much time invested to do something like this6. Wish you still could wirewrap? I wire wrapped the controller for my transient generator using a Motorola 6801, just for fun.7. Glad you don't have to do it ever again? For larger scale boards, it would be pointless.8. WTF is a wirewrap tool?This video shows some of the boards I WWed years ago.

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2017, 02:15:30 am
content: I want to say the wire was called Zeftel. Teflon. Gun was a slit wrap. I could run a bus in minutes with this. The other semi-auto gun had a manual wire stripper mounted to the side. You had to inset the wire for each joint. A real pain but fast than by hand.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2017, 02:38:23 am
content: The original Mac prototype was wire-wrapped by Burrell Smith. Then they taped-out the first prototype PC board., But Steve thought the memory section wasn't "pretty enough". So they spent another $5K to re-do the board design. But (as predicted by the real engineers) the "pretty" version didn't work and Steve relented.Source:http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=PC_Board_Esthetics.txt&showcomments=1

author: macboy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2017, 02:32:24 pm
content: Yes, I own a wirewrap tool, and an unwrapper, both manual. I literally just bought a new spool of wire wrap wire yesterday from Radio Shack along with a few other 60% off things. I much more commonly use the wire for soldering up prototypes on pad-per-hole PCBs though. It's also great for bodging a fix onto a PCB. That wire is a staple, something I don't want to be without. I haven't tried the radio shack stuff yet, I hope it's good.