How to dismantle old coloured wires?

[Kay Pirinha]

Hi,

here's something that may sound like a beginner's question, but believe me, I really don't know how to: I've got some old transformers from Hammond organs. Their leads are isolated by some white plastic material covered with coloured cotton (?) fabric. How do I remove the isolation successfully? I tried my insulation stripping pliers that works well with modern PVC and silicone isolations, but fails here. Using a knife always leads into cutting some of the braid wires. How do you guys proceed with that?

Best regards!

 

[Michael Bean]

Can you post a picture?

 

[GM]

Probably asbestos if old enough, so 'discretion is the better part of valor' and the only thing that worked was burning it off with a gas torch, so was done in front of the paint department's huge air filtration system. 🙁

 

[techtool]

You could put heat-shrink tubing over the old wire insulation and use different colors to maintain the wire idenity. This will provide an extra layer of insulation if the old stuff is breaking down and improve the appearance if that's a concern.

 

[daqvin_carter]

You really want to pull the transformer covers off and replace the wires with something new that meets the voltage rating. The insulation can crack and short in various ways.

 

[PRR]

coloured cotton (?) fabric.

Does it burn?

Cotton will burn right off, and smell like a bad day with the clothes-iron.

Asbestos (seems unlikely in an organ) won't burn but the binder will burn and leave white/grey dust (don't breathe!).

I remember asbestos/cloth insulation in large hot theater lights in the 20th century. But in general transrformers don't like to be run hot enough to need asbestos.