In message , MEvans1027 writes >Hi All -- > Is anybody out there old enough to remember the Vector P-173 wiring >pencil? >-- Mel Evans mevans1027@aol.com 813/595-7685 > Old enough, of course not. What you are describing sounds like a wiring pen made(?) by RoadRunner Electronics in the UK. It is available through Farnell Electronics (www.farnell.co.uk) and consists of a plastic pen (mine is white) with a wire reel at the top that is dispensed via a stainless steel tip. You can route the wire around the ic pin and then through plastic 'combs' between the legs. The insulation is QSE, quick soldering enamel, that vapourises with a hot soldering iron (bit hotter than normal). Vero do/did a similar thing (catalogue now Electrospeed) with a pink wire. RoadRunner had 4 colours, different gauges etc. I like this stuff a lot and did a 6309 board plus 2 peripheral boards with it. Have to be a bit careful debugging since a probe short can fuse a whole channel full of wires. This evokes another blast from the past - Redo from start Regards -- Dr. Steven Crook Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Salisbury District Hospital phone +44 1722 336262 x 4120 Salisbury, UK fax +44 1722 425263 S.Crook@mpbe-sdh.demon.co.uk