Recovering a cloth cord

[cloyd]

I have some old cloth covered cords that have intact cloth on the wire inside but the outer covering is tattered and crumbling.  Is there a way to recover an old cord?  Maybe it just isn't worth the time or there is a lack of covering material available.  What do the rest of you do with your old cords?

Tina Loyd

[Holtzer-Cabot]

  I hate seeing posts with so many views and no replies..

[TelePlay]

Well, the interior wires were first cloth wrapped using a spinning/weaving machine. The number of conductors needed in a cable were then wrapped with the outer cloth cover using the same spinning/weaving machine but with solid colors, black/brown and then colored. The end result are 2/3/4/5 or more color coded conductors inside of a nice looking outer woven cover.

I just bought some cloth covered single conductors to rewire my AE stick and subset because I don't have a box full of trashed cords and wires. Cloth singe conductor 20-24 gauge wire runs $0.50 to $1.00 a foot in 10' to 25 foot lengths on eBay. If the cloth cords are shot, the inner conductors have value to you, and maybe somebody else.

I just saw a box of various short cloth conductor cords on eBay for real money. Keep in mind that both telephone and radio rebuilders like the old cloth covered conductors, solid or stranded.

Hope that helps.

[Argee]

I've recovered a cord using a hollow shoelace.  The result looks OK, but is a bit baggy.  Theoretically you might be able to shrink a cotton shoelace after application to get rid of the bagginess, but I haven't tried that yet.

[TelePlay]

I've recovered a cord using a hollow shoelace.  The result looks OK, but is a bit baggy.

Yes, other members have tried a few different things. Shoe lace is new to me. Isn't the lace a bit "fuzzy" as a covering?

I was in Hobby Lobby looking for some brown waxed cotton string and a card of Paracord caught my eye. Thought it might work. At $5 for 50' it was a good deal and I could always use the cord for something else. I needed to make a wiring harness for a stick so thought I'd try this to see how it worked out. The weave is not as fine as true cloth covers but it is not "fuzzy" and worked well. It's not cotton, it's polyester.

Cut a length, pulled the white nylon center out, took a little longer piece of Cat 5 vinyl coated wire, bent one end over to make it round and smooth and fed it through the Paracord. Only issue is the ends of the Paracord unravel easily so melting a freshly cut end with a lighter to secure the cuts worked well. Used normal spade lugs on one end and left the other end base wire to solder into place. I put a drop of water thin super glue on each end to secure the cord to the wire. That worked well to keep it in place. I then put a small piece of colored shrink wrap on each end (different colors) so I knew which lug to put on different terminals. The first picture below shows the final result. Not bad for something that will never be seen. Not factory but functional, and cheaper than using the real stuff.

Second picture shows the cord as purchased. It's not a fine weave but worked as a one conductor sheath. I don't think I would use this where visible and it is not big enough  for multiple conductors, maybe two, three would be tight. Anyway, not being woven tinsel wire, the "new" cord is stiff as the wire inside the Paracord. Worked well for my invisible application.

Posting this as another thing tried to cloth cover a conductor.

[TelePlay]

Just found this image in an eBay listing. It shows two internal jumper that are similar to the Paracord. However, the weave is more fine than the coarse Paracord and the cotton does show a bit of fuzz. The jumpers appear to be original to the 1939 D1, which makes me feel a bit better about using the Paracord as a cover, it wasn't that far out of line with original cloth cords.

[Dan/Panther]

I've found nylon brown curtain sash cord at a fabric store.

D/P