Anyone remember this???

[Sowhat]

Way back in my 1970's aerospace days I designed lots of handwired test equipment and we always used a cool grounding turret lug somewhat like what is pictured here.



You could stack these on a chassis stud and get lots of ground wires on them without violating the 3 wire rule and achieve a star grounding architecture easily. I have searched grounding turret lugs, ring lugs, star lugs and whatever I could think of on the internet and can not find anything matching what I remembered. I can of course fabricate my own but it would be nice if I could find a supplier, or for that matter even the correct name for these things... any of you old timers out there ever remember something like this or know who makes them or where they can be found?

[Austin]

From the pic, looks like a big washer (I think they call them "fender" washers even) from the hardware store drilled with a drill press might work. Washers are usually made of pretty hard metal and hard to drill though ime.

[Sowhat]

Yeah Austin, that may work, however if I need to make one I will make it out of .040 copper and tin plate it, this is not really a problem for me. I know for a fact that this is or was a manufacturered part at one time which was copper with tin plating and is actually like a T-washer because it has about a 1/4" standoff attached where you can't see from the picture. This allows these things to be stacked 2, 3 or as many high as you might need. They also came in 8 hole or 12 hole versions. I'm just looking to identify the part and possibly find a supplier if they are not long obsoleted already because they are just that cool! I'm a bit astonished that all the handwire guru's out there don't seem to use these things, we certainly did at Northrop, TRW, Hughes and Rockwell at the time.

[Enzo]

Companies like Keystone and Eagle make things like solder lugs. WHy not contact Keystone and ask if they make multiple solder lugs, include your picture. If you can think of several things to call them, include those names, just to help them know what you are talking about. I never saw ring ones like that, but I do recall lugs with a central hole and more than one tag projecting out to the side.

[Sowhat]

Thanks Enzo, that was my fallback plan, but this forum is so chock full of old time expertise I had to give it a whirl first. I know I can't be the only old guy out there who remembers these things, it's worth a shot.

[J M Fahey]

this forum is so chock full of old time expertise

Young boy, thanks for the "expertise" bit, but if you repeat the "old time" stuff once more, I´ll beat you with my cane or bite you with my denture, heh heh.

[Enzo]

ANd I'll kick your ass too, if I still remember later.


I remember stuff like that, but that doesn't mean they still make them, that's why we gotta ask them. Stuff that was common 50 years ago like multiple grounding points on a chassis have largely disappeared. Star grounds are now mostly on pc boards with a chassis ground at some corner mount screw. The main earth ground from the power chord just need a single lug.

[Sowhat]

Sorry guys, I ran out of Donepezil a few days ago too... I think?

[Enzo]

I( have to refill my bottle of Mycoxafloppin.

[big_teee]

We had lots of stuff like that in the Telephone Office environment.
We had little copper Terminal strips with multiple tie points.
The Terminal Strip might mount on a large copper Ground bar.
Been trying hard to forget most of it, since my retirement.
I'll keep looking.
T

[R.G.]

You could stack these on a chassis stud and get lots of ground wires on them without violating the 3 wire rule and achieve a star grounding architecture easily.

The safety standards guys caught up to you. It used to be accepted to use a chassis-grounding stud for other stuff too; this is the set of rules under which a transformer mounting bolt could be used. Then the ground lug had to be flat on the chassis, but there could be other lugs on the bolt and still pass.

My best understanding of the requirements today (and, for the record, this is just my opinion from reading the standards) is that the fastener for the third-wire safety ground lug must be used only for the safety ground wire, not other stuff as well.

Nothing keeps you from using a second stud for a flying-saucer ground disk like that, though.

Even though it's parenthetical. If the grounding is correct, one wire from the chassis anywhere to signal ground would work as well, as there would be no current through it, and therefore no voltage drop across it.

... if the grounding is correct...