atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems 1A2 and Comkey Telephones & Systems My 1A2 project

Semi-retired means you really don't have enough hours in the day to do what you have to do.

@ Jim...

How true, how true. :-)

Sent the covers out today!

Thank you all for the great suggestions and information on this project of mine.

Here is my next question:

When I go to wire the KSU to the first block using 25 pair, should I remove enough jacket on the 25 pair cable so that the bundle of pairs (minus jacket) will come up from the bottom of the KSU box (on the inside) up over the hook in the upper left corner, then down to the punchdown block, or should I simply take the wire bundle from the bottom of the KSU box on up the right side of the block.

I hope that this question makes sense... :-)

My second question is, should the other end of that 25 pair go under the first punchdown with the individual pairs coming up the side through their appropriate slots or should the bundle come up along the side of the block?

Thank you again for all the help!

Joe

here you can sort of see how I routed the cable for my KSU...
[img]https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/jeffmoss26/1068.jpg?t=1294619229[/img]
This is an old picture and the cables now come in from the top as I have rewired.

Strip enough sheath off the KSU end so that the stripped part begins just inside the mousehole. Then take the entire bundle of wires and go up and over the brass-colored hook at the top, then down to the appropriate pins on the 66 block, leaving a small amount for mistakes, moves and changes. There won't be many, but it pays to look ahead, as if you were doing a real installation. Jeff's picture shows it perfectly.

At the other end, the cable enters the "tunnel" between the 89B bracket and the 66M50 block at the bottom, and the stripped pairs get pulled through the spaces on the bracket, and get fanned out along the first (left-most) column of pins on the block.

Some brackets are different from others. You need to either send all the pairs through the central space, or half the pairs (12) through the top space and the other half (13) through the bottom space.

Neatness counts.

Hi again!

Here is an update on my project...

So far, I have been given a short bit of 25 pair cable, and followed Arthur's guidlines and connected the KSU to the first block.

Photos below.










Please comment and critique. I take all suggestions seriously, and please do not worry about hurting my feelings. This is the first time that I have ever done this, so I am sure that there is much room for improvement. I will tell you that I would be fired from the old phone company, as this took me hours to do, as I kept checking my color code chart and block number. I tried to be as neat as possible, and to leave extra wire for future use or re-doing. I could not find any grey electrical tape anywhere, so I had no choice in using black. The big thick black ground wire will be removed and replaced with a green one, though I realize grey is the correct color. I again, cannot find any grey solid 10 ga wire anywhere.

Now, the next step is to install the station blocks, the Melkor unit and its' block, and connect everything together.

One thing so far that I have learned is this... always use a bigger back board than you think you need.

I attached the 25 pair cable to the back board with these fiddley Weco dumaflopies that a phone man at work gave me. He took them off of an old Bell System installation, and they are basically a little strap of mild steel with a hole in the middle of them to screw them onto the backboard with. The tabs are then bent around the cable. They are the proper Weco grey, but were not the most cooperative thing to work with.

I want to thank everyone who has helped me so far, and especially Arthur who has given me some excellent advice on wiring this thing.

Please feel free to comment and criticize, and I will attempt to correct anything that might be not up to snuff.

Joe

A +

I can send you gray tape and #10 ground wire, as soon as I can find my barn under the snow drifts.

asAs far as taking the time to do it right, remeber the old Union vs management adage:

"Never enough time to do it right, but plenty of time to fix it."

I enjoyed seeing your project. We used to call it a "Lunch Box". We used only yellow/blue for our co feeds (T/R) and buzzer/misc. wiring and 3 pair jumper wire for T1/R1, A/A1, LG/L leads.
We did not care for the White/Blue because, at least in our case, it was a larger diamater and not as flexable thus harder to work with.

From your pictures I see your making the wiring neat and orginized. Usually they looked like a rats nest when you opened the cover!

Good Luck.

Hi again,

Thank you Arthur for the A+. That is a real compliment coming from you! I will send a PM shortly.

I have thought of several new questions now.

First, I realize that the ring generator was supposed to be mounted inside, but that the bracket that was meant for that use is now non-existant. I was thinking that I might fabricate a bracket out of angle aluminum, and mount it outside of the KSU and bring a sheathed 2 wire cable into the lunchbox to hook it up. What are your thoughts?

Second, (this is a silly question) where do I hook up the ring generator to in the KSU?

Next, I have suddenly come to the realization that if I am going to take the hobby of Weco keysets seriously, that I ought to find an Amp "butterfly" tool to terminate the ends of the cable runs. I have looked for new ones and they run almost a thousand dollars. I have found others on E-bay for fifty or sixty, complete with plastic case and instructions. If I go this route as opposed to buying premade cables (which would pay for a tool in a few runs), what should I look for in a used one?

Again, thank you for entertaining the questions of someone who really has no idea what he is doing! :-)

Best to all,

Joe