Sorry, but the splice instructions are wrong.

For stranded wire, as shown in the tutorial, you should open the strands and mesh them into each other before twisting together. This is much stronger and not prone to uncurling, as a simple twist is.

For solid wire, look up the “Western Union” splice, which uses two different twists for strength and stability.

@Joe, I have to disagree with the meshing of individual strands. The method described is plenty strong and does not slip apart when done correctly.

dropbox pages literally take like 30 minutes to knock offline, and that’s just a single attack machine not ddos. Of course this is the case with all ‘free’ webhosting.

Just thought I’d mention it. People get these cheap or free hosts and act like it’s a sophisticated attack when it ends up tanked.

Forget “spearing yourself on stray strands”.

I was wiring Co-ax one day and a small coil with a stripped end slipped out of the attic and the core actually got stuck (embedded) in my scalp.

It must have been bent like a hook at the end, cause I couldn’t pull it out at first.

Moral? Watch out wiring heavy sharp wire overhead.

If I recall correctly Blackberry trackballs (at least Pearl and Curve) are removable and cleanable. I consists of the trackball in a squarish assembly with rollers and magnets. All of the assembly is quite submersible in rubbing alcohol. All that is needed is to pop off the ring with the appropriate prying tool of your choice and the assembly will lift out. I could be wrong on some models, but I can personally confirm this on the Pearl and Curve series. Other series may have this too.

@DETN8R

I add a twist (hook the wires together and then twist the overlap back on wire). I also don’t solder before hooking, just twist the strands together. Then solder the joint solid and wrap with tape/shrink wrap. Have yet to have any of those joints give up… and some are going on 15 years old.

Usually the wire gives out from movement/vibration before the joint will, even with the simple twist shown here.

Sounds like they’re laughing at your pain there, Osgeld :P.

Oh Osgeld, you really must be bored sometimes :p

the blackberry tip is exactly the same as the one you posted long time ago about fixing the “broken” one button apple mouse scrolling ball

It’s good to know that I’m not the only one that knows this as a “Western Union Splice”

http://www.tpub.com/neets/book4/12a.htm