widely used conductor material; however, tough pitch copper, certain copper alloys and copper coated steel core conductor are also used.

Wire Finishes.

Silver plating and tin plating are the most common finishes used. Silver plated wire is more frequently used for automatic machine wrapping applications.

There is no evidence that indicates that a wire wrapped connection is better as a result of either tinning or plating the conductor. Many people specify tinning or plating on their wire so they can use the same wire for soldering as well as wire wrapping.

Preferred Conductors for Automatic Wiring Machines.
Silver plated OFHC copper conductor has certain characteristics that make it easier to use in the automatic machine. It forms a better pattern and lays in the channels formed by the rows of pins because it has less memory than the high tensile conductors. Higher run rates are usually obtained using OEHC copper conductor which in turn means Jower wiring cost to the customer.

Wire Insulation Materials.
“Kynar”, “Milene B”, TFE “Teflon”, and “Kapton” (H film) are the most widely used insulations.

We estimate that 90% of the wire used today for wrapping is “Kynar” insulated but each of the above mentioned materials has certain characteristics which may make it more appealing to use on some applications than others. The table below shows a comparison of the properties of the most commonly used wires:
there is very little benefit derived from this due to the uniformity of wiring that is achieved by the automatic machine.

Commonly Used Wire Sizes.

There are certain wire size, terminal size and terminal spacing combinations and limitations with each of the aformentioned methods which are described in the section on hardware. However, the following list shows the wire sizes that are within the capabilities of each method:

AUTOMATIC WIRING MACHINES
SEMI-AUTOMATIC MACHINES
MANUAL WRAPPING
26-30	Gauge
20-34	Gauge
20.34	Gauge
Wire Properties for Automatic Wrapping.
There are certain physical properties that are critical to automatic wrapping. They are:
	I.	Insulation diameter.	6.
	2.	Insulationconcentricity.	7.
	3.	Insulation bond strength.	8.
	4.	Insulation surface finish.	9.
	5.	Insuiation elongation.	10.
Insulation cut through.
Minimum curl.
Continuous length.
Conductor elongation.
Conductor tensile strength.
Wrapping “Twisted Pair”.

We can wrap twisted pair with our semi-automatic machines or manually. The automatic machine cannot handle twisted pair.
NOTE:	Additional information on any specific wire type may be obtained by contacting us.

dataCon inspector performs 7X microscopic inspection of wire wrap board.

Wire-Wrapping: A Background
Interconnection technique popular with military.

T
he wire wrap process, an interconnection technique conceived in 1948 as an alternative to solder connections, is undergoing changes as it too comes under pressure from competing technologies.
In light of this trend, several companies are working together to shrink wire and pin size to accommodate the decreasing proportions of large-scale integrated (LSI) and very-large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuits.
Traditionally, the business of producing the highly reliable wire-wrap has revolved around automatic and semiautomatic wiring heads that wrap 1 0-mil O.D., 30 AWO wire around 25-mil square pins on 100-mil-centers. But this design is too large to handle LSI and VLSI circuits on chip carriers whose input/output pads are on SO-mu-centers.
With board density becoming the unifying interest among engineers, leaders in the wire-wrap industry are now introducing semi-automatic wrapping of 34 AWG wire, with a 63-mil O.D., on 12-mil pins with SO-mil centers. As this becomes more widespread, the benefits of wire-wrap, a proven 30-year-old technology, should make 34 AWG an accepted interconnection technique appropriate to many high-density circuit applications.

Over the past several years, engineering concerns related to cross talk and propagation delay have kept designers from utilizing wire-wrap in a number of high-speed applications where wired panels were appropriate, even superior to multilayer PCBs.
This has occurred due to the aforementioned perceived restrictions and because currently-educated engineers find developing technologies more attractive in principle. However, a new automatic point-to-point wiring reduces cross talk (i.e. x-y routing) and results in shortest path signal wiring, which cuts down on circuit delay and helps maintain
clock speeds. This new concept, along with the time-proven methods of special wire insulation, twisted-pair and coax wiring, in conjunction with Schottky and ECL wire-wrap paneis, can accommodate high speed applications.
The most striking evidence of this high speed viability is the fact that today’s largest and fastest computer, built by Lawerence Livermore Lab, uses wire-wrap as its interconnection method. Wire-wrap panels built for Schottky and ECL logic operate at speeds of up to 100MHz -
In current production practices, VLSI chips are packaged either as surface-mounted devices or pin grid arrays with 100-mil-centers. If chip carrier dimensions are further reduced to SO-milcenters, as trends indicate, leadless chip carriers will then require a larger number of PCB layers. In these instances, 34 AWG wire on 50-mil-centers will solve the density problems of multi-layer boards and will prove more flexible and reliable than surface mounted devices. This application will also provide four times as many connections as the 30 AWG companion.
The perpetual merit of wire-wrap as an interconnect method continues to be reliability — wire wrap is 32 times more
reliable than soldering. This is supported by military document 217D. When added to the benefits of heat dissipation, improved density, and easy implementation of changes, the new wiring approaches of automatic point-to-point and 34 AWG wiring ensure that wire-wrap technology will not only serve increasingly demanding IC packages, but in many cases will outperform the advancing technologies.
Further exemplifying wire-wrap’s value regarding updating, manufacturing productibility and short-run cost effectiveness is the increasing role wiring fulills in the prototyping of circuit designs.

Networking of prototyping services is also a practice available to large customers on a specialized basis. Firms that own their own CAD system, yet are in need of breaaboard and prototyping services, can communicate via telephone modem with CAD/CAM production systems, transmitting their net-list and device placement data. The host computer at a wire-wrap service company then produces optimized drive tapes and test tapes for numerically controlled, automated machines in a matter of minutes. Physical delays in moving data files are eliminated, as well as the time spent manually entering device-

placement information and placing orders.
While wire-wrap continues to be refined as a time-tested interconnection method capable of handling state-of-the-art packaging, both its service features and high speed logic capabilities secure it as a heavily relied-upon product for present-day applications.

Tat and photos prepared by dataCon, Inc. Burlington, Massachusetts. They are currently providing services for the following military contractors: Raytheon, Litton, Sanders, Teledyne, ITT Martin Marietta, IBM TRW Hughes, Honeywell, Westinghouse and
JPL.

dataCon, Inc., Americas largest wire wrapping company now offers you
America’s premier line of wire wrap boards, backplanes and associated enclosures and interconnect hardware. With the acquisition of the interconnection sub-system product lines from the Garry Electronics Division of BRintec Corp. inJanuary 1989, dataCon provides the world’s most comprehensive range of wire wrap products and capabilities., with levels of responsiveness, accuracy and customer support unsurpassed in the business.
Ultimate Interconnect Now...a single source for all your interconnection packaging needs: dataCon

Standard Wire Wrap Boards - . .ready to go dataCon now offers thousands of standard wire wrap hoards in bus-compatible, system-matched configurations for every popular (and some not so popular) systems, including VME, Multibus, PC bus, VXI, S-100, Q-bus, STD and dozens of others. High speed Schottky and ECL boards. Single and multiple layer boards. Mini, modular and metric boards. All with or without I/O connectors. All with your choice of one-, two- or threelevel wire wrap posts. Plus mounting racks and backplanes.

Custom and Prototype Boardt..made to order, fast dataCon’s complete in-house circuit design engineering and hoard production capabilities give you fast turnaround on custom and engineered prototype hoards to meet even your most highly specialized needs.

Even .050’ Boards..ior ultra high density dataCon now even offers a VLSI wire wrap board with pins on .050” centers, quadrupling the packaging density of conventional boards. It uses AWG 34 wire on posts that permit up to three levels of wrap at is the height of conventional three-level wire wrap posts. And dataCon can give it to you complete with .025” center connectors, cable and enclosures.

Mil Spec Press-Fit Backplanes... multi-layer with compliant pin contacts dataCon now produces press-fit backplanes with NAFi-type
compliant pin contacts per MiL-C-28859A. These boards are
produced in configurations ranging from two to 26 layers in full accordance with MIL-P-55110.

Packaging the System... the final wrap-up dataCon helps you wrap up your interconnect sub-system with a complete range of standard and custom mounting racks and enclosures, plus cable and harness systems.

Concept to Completion. ..advanced design, production and test capabilities dataCon can design and produce even the most complex, high speed, high density wire wrap boards and backplanes rapidly and efficiently from inputs as minimal as raw logic schematics. From in-house artwork digitizing and
computerized artwork generation. --to computer-controlled drilling. - , to photo etch or silkscreen imaging.. - to special laminating for multi-layer boards. - , to precise nickel and gold plating. - , to automatic pin insertion, dataCon has everything it takes to produce wire wrap boards and backplanes to meet your most demanding specifications.

Loading and Wrapping it Up dataCon also provides loading of boards with all required discrete and surface mount components and associated circuitry and interconnections. And, of course, we continue to offer the complete, fast-turnaround, Mil-approved automatic and semi-automatic wire wrapping services for which we’ve been renowned since 1971.

dataCon: your ultimate single source
No matter what your needs are—standard bus-compatible or custom boards, single or multi-layer boards, Mil-Spec backplanes, fully loaded and/or wire wrapped boards or complete packaged systems—dataCon can give you the right solution. From initial design to final test. Fast. Precise. On time and on budget. Call us today and let us wrap up all your interconnection sub-system needs

dataCon
Interconnect Sub-Systems
Corporate Headquarters
Eastern Division
60 Blanchard Road
Burlington, MA 01803
(617) 273-5800
Outside Massachusetts:
(800) 332-WRAP
FAX; (617) 273-4809

Mid-western Division
502 Morse Avenue
Schaumburg, IL 60193
(312) 529-7690
FAX:	(312) 529-6624
Western Division
20150 sunburst Street
Chatsworth, CA 91311
(818) 700-0600
(800) 283-3266
FAX:	(818) 700-0936

Mid-Atlantic Division
207 Witmer Road
Horsham, PA 19044
(215) 443-8400
FAX:	(215) 672-9867

sales Office
80 Orville Drive
Bohemia, NY 11716
(516) 589-1100
FAX: (516) 589-1207

0

ire wrapping
with no ifs, ands, orbuts.

Doing any job - big or small -better than anyone else. Fast. At low cost. And no excuses.
This is how dataCon (Datacon Inc. and Data Connections Inc.) got to be the largest independent wire wrapping company in the world.
No competitor can
match our experience. Indeed, many of our people have been with wire wrapping since its inception.
And our equipment?
The best. Computer-controlled semiautomatics. Gardner-Denver 14 FV
automatics. No job is too complex or difficult for our machines, or our skilled people.
Today, we can produce over 70,000,000 wires annually. But tomorrow, we’ll be able to wrap even more, because additional machines will be arriving as part of our continuing expansion program.
This is not our whole story, however. Our software capabilities and programming assistance are unmatched in the industry. We have the ability to constantly monitor pro-
grams and to completely control input and output, thanks to our intelligent remote terminal system. Priority runs can be turned around in minutes - normal runs in a matter of hours.
All of these things — experienced management and supervisory staff, skilled technicians, machines that will handle any job, and sophisticated software - add up to a quality product at low cost as well as on-time deliveries for jobs no matter how big or small.
So contact the dataCon companies. We can beat any competitor or in-house operation for quality and economy. With no ifs, ands, or buts.
r
The Challenge.
Yes, I want to learn more about how the dataCon companies can do my wire wrapping jobs better than anyone else.

Name

Address
ml. ______________________________ Ext.
U      

dataCon
TheWireWrappers.
The dataCon companies: Experts in automatic and semi-automatic wrapping. 4oCummings Park,Woburn, Mass. 01801,Tel(617) 935-7200
6301 DeSoto Ave., Woodland Hills, CA 91364, Tel. (213) 340-l200
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