h a l f b a k e r yThe leaning tower of Piezo
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random
news, help, about, links, report a problem
browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
register,
|
|
|
You carefully coil up the lights at the end of the Christmas season and place them back into the box so that NEXT year they wont be tangled up, but somehow the little crochet fairy gets in there and twists it all up so when you re-open them the next year you have to spend hours trying to untangle the
web of wires and lights again.
This time saving device prevents all of the above frustrating tomfoolery!
Its a folding plastic board that has little clips on it so as you wind the cord around it the clips hold the cords in place, so each wrap around gets clipped down and held, the it rolls up to save space. This is now a tangle free zone and can be placed into a box with hard outer surface and soft interior (to protect the bulbs) all ready for next year.
Hoooray i want one now!
Please log in.
If you're not logged in,
you can see what this page
looks like, but you will
not be able to add anything.
Annotation:
|
|
I used the inside of a kitchen paper roll and just wound the wire around it complete with a few slips of cellotape then popped the whole thing in a plastic bag. |
|
|
([Wags] Can I borrow your finger for a sec?) Wags finger. (Adopts a Leslie Judd appearance) |
|
|
One of the common mistakes people make when winding cables is that they put twists in; by holding the thing the cables attached to, and wind the wire onto it. (replaces Wags finger. Hands him some glue, in the same way they used to do in Blue Peter). |
|
|
(as po points out) Take a cardboard tube. Get a grown up to cut a little notch at one end, to hold the start (near the plug-end). |
|
|
With both hands holding the tube, rotate the tube, and wrap the cable around, like this. (Puts the tangled mess to one side, and get a beautiful one from off camera) |
|
|
Here's one I did earlier. |
|
|
- If you're using an old cable, dangling the cable from a high place while wrapping, allows the twists which a are already in the wire to drop out. |
|
|
BTW-A similar technique can be used for winding Yoyos, without putting twists in the string. |
|
|
(While shaking Shep off leg, inadvertently kicks Petra.) |
|
|
A figure 8 winding puts no twist in it. |
|
|
Except it doesn't work for yoyos. |
|
|
If you usually wind right-handed, wind left-handed. |
|
|
I usually leave these out every year in the nearest tree
and a bird comes along, like what it sees, and makes a real
nest out of it. I then stretch out an extension lead and
plug it in again... the birds love all that extra heat from
the bulbs and they look great at night. |
|
|
Martha "po" Stewart. Excellent idea! I'm gonna try that next year when you email me and remind me to do it. |
|
|
I don't change my decorations: I just change houses. |
|
| |