On Tuesday, August 10, 2021 at 1:31:58 AM UTC-4, David Farber wrote:
On 8/6/2021 5:22 PM, Michael Terrell wrote:
On Wednesday, July 21, 2021 at 7:59:34 AM UTC-4, legg wrote:
If ever you've come across original phone jacks from before ~1960,
you've seen hardware that still works into its 7th+ decade.
These incorporated ring terminals and threaded machine screws
with lock washers, internally.
You can make anything in a shoddy manner. Price rules.
Largest source of failure in current product - even molded
assemblies, involves lousy strain relief and physical manhandling.
I always used Switchcraft. I've had idiots drive over their inline 1/4" plugs and jacks while mated. The only damages was a few scratches on the body. I still have a few NOS WWII surplus telephone switchboard plugs that were made from unplated brass
These saw heavy use in telephone service and on military radios without failures. If left unused for a long time, you had to use metal polish to remove the oxide, but daily use prevented any buildup.
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/switchcraft-inc/280F/7672094 has a flexible strain relief, instead of just a clamp like the one to OP listed.
Hi Michael,
Thanks for the details about the Switchcraft plug. I think it's worth a couple of extra bucks to get a part that will stand up to some heavy use
and some rough handling too.
They always served me well. Some dislike their product line because you need a 1/8" screwdriver to open their XLR cable connectors, but they were a huge improvement over both Amphenol and the original Cannon designs were the screws weren't captive. I've
had people tell me that Neutrik were better, but they only clamped the cable, there was no strain relief. I was in the sound rental business. Some of our cables were so old that the rubber jackets were cracking but the Switchcraft connectors were moved
to more modern cable as they were retired. Some of out 70V speaker cables were 250 feet long. They were made with Belden ribbed cable that didn't twist, We would take a step backwards as each turn was wrapped around your hand and elbow to pull the cable
towards you. The coil would lay completely flat, after that, and could be quickly laid down by dropping loops as you walked away from one spot to the next. I had three high school graduations, in three cities one day. I did all three with one system, and
two helpers. It would have been impossible with low grade cables. Sadly, Belden no longer makes that grade of ribbed cable. It was used on many power cords used by HP and Tektronix. I lucked out recently and bough 25 new six foot ribbed replacement power
cords on Ebay for under $2 each. They will replace the power cables n a lot of my older test equipment.
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