I have a few feet of 20 AWG fine silver wire that needs to be insulated. I went to McMaster Carr today and got some 20 AWG teflon spaghetti tubing. Has anybody been successful with this stuff? I can only feed about 4 inch increments before I get a kink. Do you think I would be better off getting some 3M shrink wrap and using that as an insulator? I hear that the 3M shrink is a "warm and musical" insulator. Any input is appreciated.
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dnsey said:FWIW, you might have used PTFE tape, as used in plumbing joints. Would need to be tightly wound, though, to prevent it from unravelling.
Indeed. Winding your silver wire around a plastic tube, perhaps using a cotton rope core, and using plumber's PTFE tape to separate the windings, can get you a first class cable.
Carlos
amisdad, this is news. the only teflon plumbers tape i am familiar with has no adhesive. it relies on its peculiar stretchiness and a tight wrap. what i am referring to is mostly for tapered threaded fittings. is your adhesive teflon for the same purpose?
how thick is it? the teflon tape i'm familiar with is quite thin and you simply tear if off by exceeding its stretch. is your adhesive teflon more like a 'scotch tape', or has a peel off backing, or what?
how thick is it? the teflon tape i'm familiar with is quite thin and you simply tear if off by exceeding its stretch. is your adhesive teflon more like a 'scotch tape', or has a peel off backing, or what?
amisdad said:I am using this silver wire internally on my GC as hookup wire.
Then is there any real need for them to be insulated? Will they have to be crossing over other wires or something? Gainclone's about as simple as it gets and shouldn't be too hard to do a layout using bare wire.
se
It is possible that the wire might not touch. They are semi-stiff and you can bend the wires to route them away from eachother. I like to play it safe and I would also like to reduce corrosion. I'll use the silver wire that I insulated with the 3M polyolefin for the recitifiers to amp boards. I will use the leftover 4 feet of Homegrown teflon insulated wire for signal path. Is there a reason why I shouldnt do this? I thought it was my best solution. I mean, are my ears going to regret this?
It is not such a good idea to use uninsulated wire as hookup, even if it's stiff. Look at the thread on safety elsewhere else.
There seems to be a teflon tape you know that has some kind of adhesive. The Scotch teflon tape has none soever. Do give it a try.
People that use that tape to do DIY cables are also worried about adhesives or any other product reaction with the metal you are using. Go have a look at Chris VenHaus interconnect here:
http://www.venhaus1.com/diysilverinterconnects.html
He used plumber's tape and he is as serious as it gets.
Carlos
There seems to be a teflon tape you know that has some kind of adhesive. The Scotch teflon tape has none soever. Do give it a try.
People that use that tape to do DIY cables are also worried about adhesives or any other product reaction with the metal you are using. Go have a look at Chris VenHaus interconnect here:
http://www.venhaus1.com/diysilverinterconnects.html
He used plumber's tape and he is as serious as it gets.
Carlos
Hi,
I agree if you'd use it to carry PS voltages but it would work fine as IC for the input though.
High purity Ag hardly oxidizes at all. Unless you happen to live in a highly polluted area you won't notice any oxidation at all for the next 10 years or more.
Air is the best insulator you can get and...it's free.
Teflon tubing is readily available and when you use a few gauges more than the wire thickness, most of the insulation will be air.
You can still seal the ends of the leads if you'd want to but I'm certainly not paranoid enough to bother.
Cheers,
It is not such a good idea to use uninsulated wire as hookup, even if it's stiff.
I agree if you'd use it to carry PS voltages but it would work fine as IC for the input though.
High purity Ag hardly oxidizes at all. Unless you happen to live in a highly polluted area you won't notice any oxidation at all for the next 10 years or more.
Air is the best insulator you can get and...it's free.
Teflon tubing is readily available and when you use a few gauges more than the wire thickness, most of the insulation will be air.
You can still seal the ends of the leads if you'd want to but I'm certainly not paranoid enough to bother.
Cheers,
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