Re: Curly Cord

[Jim <alarminex@xxxxxxx>]

On Thursday, August 30, 2012 1:36:25 PM UTC-4, Bob La Londe wrote:
> I am looking for a decent length multi conductor curly cord. So far the m=
ost I have found is 10 conductors. Its for a custom built remote for a CNC =
machine, but if anybody knows wire its this group. I can get by with 10, bu=
t 12 would be better allowing my to run a separate common for critical item=
s like an emergency stop circuit. I'ld like conductors large enough to tin =
and put in a screw terminal, and a fair amount of straight jacket at each e=
nd. If the curly part easily stretches to about 4 feet with a max of 5 or s=
o it would be perfect.

I know that nowdays you can buy just about anything that you can think of b=
ut years and years ago when I was working for a manufacturer we needed a co=
il cord (only one for a custom made one of a kind product) I was shop forma=
n at the time so I had the responsibility of getting the end product made.=
=20

I found a coiled spring about 18 or 16 ( forget) guage spring steel, about =
2 inches in diameter and one foot long retracted. I located some of the typ=
e of wire they use in telephone coil cords. ( woven with thread ) but it wa=
s 22 guage wire.  I threaded some thin teflon tubing over the spring (to av=
oid abrasion) . I had discovered somewhere that if you soak vinyl tubing in=
 Methyl Ethel Keytone that it will expand and when it dries out, the tubing=
 will recover to it's original diameter. I picked a size of thin wall tubin=
g that wouldn't be too thight and pulled the teflon covered spring and the =
12 strands of wire through the expanded PVC and let it dry in the coiled po=
sition. I wound up with a fairly tight 3 foot (retracted) coil cord that wa=
s being used daily maybe five hundred to a thousand expansions a day. As fa=
r as I know, the system was still functioning 5 years later. It was only be=
ing pulled out to about 4 to five feet, so it didn't get that much wear.  T=
he hardest thing in the whole project was terminating that damn wire. I doe=
sn't solder or crimp easily.