Cord Tip Pliers

[Doug Rose]

I got my today....cleaned up great with steel wool......Doug

[wds]

Got mine today also.  I'm waiting on them to warm up before I clean them.  Attached are jpeg and pdf copies of the instructions.

[wds]

If you look inside the handle, (pocket H) there are some spare blades!

[unbeldi]

Surely an interesting tool to have for the sake of it at this price, but it seems to me that the telephone makers didn't use such a tool, but soldered the tips instead.  Not WeCo, not Leich... hmm, who used it?

Where does one get new tips?

[poplar1]

Oldphoneworks (AKA House of Telephones) must have NOS cord tips for about 25 cents each + $9.75 postage each.

[wds]

I've tried soldering some of those old cloth wires, and they don't seem to take the solder.  Even the spade lugs are pressed on, not soldered.  Is there a way to solder those old wires that I'm missing?

[unbeldi]

I've tried soldering some of those old cloth wires, and they don't seem to take the solder.  Even the spade lugs are pressed on, not soldered.  Is there a way to solder those old wires that I'm missing?

Soldering old wires is always a problem, and tinsel cords especially. It is hard to solder tinsel directly and it often causes breakage close to the solder. I think a workable way is to use very thin bare copper wire and wrap it around the stripped cord leads very tightly and dense in one layer, then the solder should flow easier and encase the conductors.

[Doug Rose]

Oldphoneworks (AKA House of Telephones) must have NOS cord tips for about 25 cents each + $9.75 postage each.

Why David...how you exaggerate. .... Doug

[DavePEI]

Hi Guys:

Answers to a few questions posted below...

When I got mine years ago, I was told that the Military and Telcos used these for installing replacement phone tips Pre WWII - the tips they used had insulation piercing contacts that pierced the cord and the tinsel, and compressed the outer portion of the tip around the wire. This was all done by the action of the tool.

As mentioned below, I never had any tips to play with doing connections, but I was told they did a great job.

Insofar as soldering tinsel lead, the best way I know of is to take a thin copper or brass sleeve, and crimp it over the tinsel bearing portion of the wire. It can then be easily soldered into a connector. There is another discussion on the Forum where we found several suppliers of suitable brass rings:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=8209.msg89418#msg89418

I have taken the documents from below, cleaned/straightened them up, and placed both in a single PDF document you can download from the link below.

Dave

[JohnInWI]

Oldphoneworks (AKA House of Telephones) must have NOS cord tips for about 25 cents each + $9.75 postage each.

Actually Old Phone Works has them for $1.50 each + $9.80 postage!

[JohnInWI]

Surely an interesting tool to have for the sake of it at this price, but it seems to me that the telephone makers didn't use such a tool, but soldered the tips instead.  Not WeCo, not Leich... hmm, who used it?

Where does one get new tips?

The seller originally had a few tools in the box.  I've attached a photo of one of his earlier Ebay listing photos.  It appears that they are Navy surplus.

[Sargeguy]

Mine arrived on Saturday.  They are a little rusty and the ball chain came out of the cap when I tried to pull it off.  I'll have to soak them in penetrating oil for a week or so an try again.

[unbeldi]

.

[wds]

thanks for the picture.  I was tempted to take mine apart, but was worried I would never figure out how to reassemble it. 

[DavePEI]

Until I get my new tip pins, I thought I would upload this drawing which shows how the tip crimps work. I have tried this with an de-soldered pin, but it still had some solder on it, resulting in a poorer crimp that one would get with a new pin.

When the handles are depressed, the blades cut three slots in the barrel of the pin, and push the cut ends in to contact the tinsel conductor. Simultaneously, the upper part of the barrel of the pin are crimped inward to hold on to the cloth cover of the wire.

I do think that if you were to strip the wire covering 1/3 inch back before inserting it into the tip connector, it might give an even more reliable connection, as the end of the tinsel center would then also contact the small pin formed above the pin portion of the connector. Then it will have both that, and the barbs created by the tool to maintain a good connection. I think of this as insurance only.

The result, a good no solder connection. When my new pin tips arrive, I will do one crimp and get a photo of it so you can see the finished product. To me, I think this is pretty neat design for 1942 - they went to a lot of trouble to figure a way to install phone tips without solder!

These tools are quite scarce now - I got mine about 6 years ago, then a couple of years ago, a lot of 40 or so were found and sold by an eBay seller. A number of CRPF members picked up one at that time.

Dave