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Shoutout to the old guy at the air show in Oshkosh who showed me his wire marking system
Honestly, I was just walking through the vintage aircraft area last summer, looking at a restored DC-3. This guy, must have been in his 70s, was doing some work on a panel. I asked him about a bundle of wires he had out. He pulled out this little plastic box, the kind you'd keep fishing tackle in, but it was full of different colored heat shrink and tiny printed labels. He said he's used the same system for 40 years, one color for power, one for ground, one for data, and he prints the circuit number on the label before he shrinks it. He told me, 'A clean wire is a happy wire, and a marked wire saves the next guy a headache.' I went home and spent maybe $80 on a label maker and a bunch of sleeves. It adds maybe five minutes to a termination job, but ngl, troubleshooting my last install was way faster because I could trace everything at a glance. Has anyone else picked up a simple trick like that from an old timer that just stuck with you?
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lee_barnes7016h ago
That old guy's system sounds way better than my usual method of just remembering which wire is which, which never works. Kinda like how @grace926's grandpa knew about oiling leather, some of that old-school know-how just makes life easier. I mean, my uncle showed me how to use a chalk line for straight cuts, and now I feel like a pro even though it's just a piece of string covered in blue dust. Those little tricks save so much time and cussing.
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