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instructions....

The type of RCA is usually called (at least in my realm) a 'tiffany style' RCA.

First thing put the knurled screw top up the IC wire, threaded side so it can screw into rest of parts.
Then up the wire place the six slot short barrel with the slot side up the wire. (the 'apparent' threads in this part are to grab the IC outer casing for stress relief, the fat bump end will press on the loose ground wires.) These parts MUST be placed IN ADVANCE. Forget? hah hah hah (been there done that)

Strip the outer and inner IC wire to allow the center to be bare wire about 7mm usually. Cut back the outer sheath a bit more, maybe an additional 2mm. (this is really to keep the hot and ground at a distance from each other, not much, but a little.)

Solder the center wire to: the (usually) Teflon barrel, the fat white barrel with the male prong sticking out. This is what the hot IC wire is soldered to poking in from the back (White barrel end), (most often the male prong has a hole in the visible side to easily solder the hot wire in)
The center hot should have the shield still intact directly next to where it sticks out of the white barrel with male pin. (adjust your bare hot wire length so this is the case before soldering in in) Soldering at the hole in the pin.

Then spread out the woven ground wire mesh so it is splayed all to the sides evenly 2mm back from the now soldered center. (I usually unweave the wire, so they are straight wires not a bunch of clumped up mess. I use a tiny jewelers screwdriver for this)
Then trim the bare ground wires outside circumference so it is a circle of bare wires sticking out away and about 5mm wider than the IC hot wire with shield. (yes it should be wider than the total circumference of the finished RCA barrel, at least a little bit at this point.)

Place the barrel tube with the four slots slot side out (the slotted area is the grabbing part to hold on to the female outer shell in the completed RCA)
SO the white part fits into the solid end of the four slot part (the male part peeking out in the slotted area)

Bring up the finish (labelled) outer barrel up the assembly.

Bring down the six sided barrel from up on the cable (where you put it IN ADVANCE.. if you forgot? start over!) and let the fat bump end rest against the splayed out ground wires
Bring down the upper screw top (again, if you forgot, or placed upside down, or in wrong order, STOP, unsolder and start over)
Press the srew top, and the screw outer shell together and screw top down into the outer bottom finish barrel.. And screw them together, compressing the six sided barrel bulging part down against the ground wires trapping them into a gas tight seal as you tighten the top out part.

I like RCA with a slot which a wrench can fit on. rather than the pictured type of knurled area. Usually the knurled area gets scratched to hell trying to make the unit tight.(If you have very high hand strength, then you can finish by hand. Weak hands not good for this)
A top with a wrench face does not get marked up so easily.

(My favorite RCA is Vampire (brand) tiffany style. They come in a full variety of IC wire sizes of 4mm 5mm 6mm 7mm 8mm 9mm 10mm
A close match of wire to opening is the best (so the built in strain relief works well

Added: One thing about this design. Do NOT take it apart to 'look' at the results. Opening it back up really messes up the ground connection, for good. YOU would need to start over to get back to a gas tight good seal.
So do it once, and leave it alone!
I have one which are 15 years old and still in use...
I LOVE this RCA design. Way more than any do it yourself solder to ground type. (even WBT, though I like factory made WBT! and Cardas too)



Edits: 01/26/17

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