A modern military-spec connector from France meets an ancient Bakelite connector from Japan. It’s love at first sight! The two are joined together in eternal conductivity. Not by a priest, but by eleven 3kV silicon wires surrounded in a lustrous braided sheath…

… Or so goes the story. There are other accounts, but we like this one best!

Diversity and distinction

Serious readers will have recognized the above harness, as it was used in Exo series Oscilloclocks such as the recently featured Exo 3KP1.

The Gold standard

We’ve crafted all kinds of harnesses for other Oscilloclock models. This one below takes the cake! Check out the chrome connectors, gold-plated pins, IP68 compliant clamps, and fray-resistant sheathing.

Simple and functional

Coming back down to earth, we have a less extravagant, highly functional connectivity solution for the Model 1 series:

Crazy cabling

NO single Oscilloclock used more cabling than the infamous AfterShock Clock! This consisted of two complete Oscilloclock Core sets integrated together to drive a dual-gun CRT.

The harnesses supplied in this first delivery were… raw, to say the least.

Later, as [Atif] worked on his AfterShock Clock’s case, he ordered a set of production quality cabling: two CRT harnesses, and one custom interconnect cable to join the two control units together. Beautiful!

Fixated on the affixed

At another point on the spectrum of craziness are harnesses that are not fully removable. Below we have the incredible OscilloBlock Summer Dusk Edition, where the cabling enters the Lego-built Control Unit via a grommet:

There are more designs to show. But let’s move on to an important topic!

A safety consideration

Some Oscilloclocks, especially those in the Exo series, are designed to physically expose the CRT as much as possible to the happy owner and his/her entourage of vintage electronic aficionados. They can touch. Feel. And even listen. (Yes! Some CRT electrodes can even emanate sound!)

But many readers may also know that cathode ray tubes operate at high voltages. In fact, in the baseline Exo 3KP1, some pins of the CRT are supplied with roughly 2,200 volts compared to other pins.

Now, clever readers may have noticed in photos of the assembled Exo 3KP1 that there is a slight gap between the socket and the base of the CRT. The metal pins are slightly exposed. If someone or something somehow bridged that gap – with prying fingers, paws, coffee, or dust – the results could be serious.

Never fear! There is an insulating o-ring (gasket) that was not installed at the time the Exo photos were taken. It’s a very basic but effective solution. See these instructions from the Operating Manual:

We don’t have enough hours in the day to talk through all the safety considerations. But they include:

• usage of high voltage tolerant silicon-sheathed wires
• selection of military-spec connectors rated for high-voltage use\
• a clever pin layout that minimizes the voltage difference between any given pin and its neighbors

We’re proud of our harnesses. And you can be too.

And that’s a wrap!

Are YOU haplessly hooked on harnesses? Does capably-crafted cabling captivate you? Stay tuned! Next time we craft up a CRT harness, we’ll snap a few photos along the way. It’s a surprisingly deep topic!