Spinneyhill Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 (edited) When did Dodge Brothers change their wiring looms from being clad in asphalt fabric (cotton?) duct to braided? With the asphalc cotton duct, they appear to have used metal pressings to form branches. How did they seal the duct into the metal pressings? Is there a supply of these metal pressings? Edited November 8, 2016 by Spinneyhill (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylormade Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 My 32. Still had the impregnated cloth cladding. The new loom I got from Rhode Island Wiring had the correct covering and matched what was left of the old loom perfectly. There were no metal pressings at the branches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Lawson Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 Spinney Hill My Aussie bodied 2249 Senior had remnants of the asphalt ducting on the chassis from the rear up to the steering box There was not any of the metal branches that you ask of but I have seen them on a 29 Chev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullfrog_eng Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 My 1928 DA had the asphalt ducting WITH the metal branches. When I had a new loom made up (by Vintage Wiring Harness in Australia), I was asked to supply the metal branches, which I did, although from memory I needed to scrounge a couple from another loom, as some were a bit rusty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted November 8, 2016 Author Share Posted November 8, 2016 So the metal pressings were two pieces, spot welded? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted November 8, 2016 Author Share Posted November 8, 2016 Taylormade, I was looking at the photos of your loom on page 10 (post 234 etc.) of Daphne's thread. How did they bind the branches? It looks like there is thread wrapping or lashing around them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArticiferTom Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 My '31 Dodge truck has the metal joint at junction by steering box . Looks to be one piece stamped mirror image, on of sheet metal with half of the diameters of loom pressed in each side along with middle void . Part is then folded over and has tab on one half that bend over others edge . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Zetnick Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 My '29 DA originally only had looped clamps on the water jacket plates and loom was asphalt fabric. I got another wiring harness off eBay for a '29 DA and it had the metal pressings, but still in the asphalt fabric loom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylormade Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 Apparently they use a machine that actually "weaves" the material around the wires. They actually offered to weave a wiring harness for me if I wanted to make the harness myself and send it to them. The guy explained it's done by some machine that is probably as old as the hills. I found this out when I was considering making a harness as a DIY project. I was looking at the wrappings or tubes or whatever they are that are sold to cover or enclose the wires. I, too, wondered how to handle the branches and called Rhode Island Wiring, and that's when I found out how it's done. My wife ended up buying a harness for my birthday so it became a moot point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 I went to an auction at a defunct restoration shop, and they had two of the wiring loom machines. Each was much bigger than the one pictured here, they use spools of thread and the whole thing bobs and weaves and rotates to weave the thread around the wiring harness....very neat, and that's what the main wiring harness shops are still using.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted November 8, 2016 Author Share Posted November 8, 2016 Braiding machines can have 16, 24, 32, 36, 48 or 64 threads and weave or braid around the wire bundle. More threads can work on larger diameter bundles of wires. The Maypole dance, where a pole is decorated by people moving around the pole with a coloured tape, is actually braiding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted November 8, 2016 Author Share Posted November 8, 2016 Daphne's harness looks to me like it is braided, in the photos in post 234 p. 10. How did they terminate the asphaltic covering at terminals to stop it unravelling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted November 8, 2016 Author Share Posted November 8, 2016 Braiding is essentially circular weaving. The yarns go over, under, over, under etc. each other. In Trimacar's photos, the bobbins are mounted on pins attached to circular plates that rotate. At the same time they move from inner to outer circle with every second bobbin going clockwise around the centre (the wire bundle) and the others going the other way. There are a number of hand tools to do variations of braiding, such as the marudai and tachadai. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullfrog_eng Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 (edited) For the DA (the ones I have been involved with), the branching pieces were one piece and pressed around the asphalt covering to make the join. The tabs were then crimped together. In other words, the branching pieces hold the Asphalt covering in place. Hope the photos show that. Rust holes optional extra! Edited November 8, 2016 by Bullfrog_eng (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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