removing enamel from magnet wire

[Pjotr]

Originally posted by Zero Cool


Actaully, this was from a guitar pick up from the 60's so it may not have been new wire! But good to know.

With older magnet wire: If you start tinning from the end where there is a small area of blank copper at the cut, solder will creep slowly under the enamel. With some patience you can sometimes tin it when using generous amounts of usual flux cored solder.

[Geek]

Originally posted by lineup
hehe. Coca-Cola
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonated_water
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonic_acid

In school we did an experiment and left a 4" (or was it a 3"?) nail in a jar of coke - it was gone in a week

[MJL21193]

Originally posted by Zero Cool
any suggestions for removing enamel from magnet wire without scraping the wire???

Lacquer thinner. Dissolve the varnish right off of there, then wipe with a cloth or paper towel.

Acetone maybe. Nail polish remover.

[Iain McNeill]

An aspirin eh? That's a non-intuitive trick - must try it.

Hi Greg!, I've noticed that on newer magnet wire as well - good call. If you can get the iron to make contact with the copper - even at the bare end where the wire was cut, you can get the coating to peel back with the solder/flux.

If that doesn't work then I usually just resign myself to several minutes of gentle scraping with a scalpel blade - usually against a bare finger for protection.

MJL: does lacquer thinner work on the polyimide coatings as well? Something like turpentine or are you thinking ketones or some such? I thought I'd tried isopropyl alcohol unsuccessfully but that's a pretty weak substitute.

[Wavebourn]

Originally posted by Iain McNeill
An aspirin eh? That's a non-intuitive trick - must try it.

Yep, especially fixing dynamic microphones and making microphone transformers when the single error means the total failure.

[MJL21193]

Originally posted by Iain McNeill

MJL: does lacquer thinner work on the polyimide coatings as well? Something like turpentine or are you thinking ketones or some such? I thought I'd tried isopropyl alcohol unsuccessfully but that's a pretty weak substitute.

Lacquer thinner has acetone and toluene in it - a couple of pretty heavy solvents.
I have a sheet of polyimide (Kapton) that I've been unsuccessfully trying to use as isolation pads to try it on. Darn stuff is nigh on impossible to punch a clean hole in.

[Geek]

Hi Iain,

Originally posted by Iain McNeill

If that doesn't work then I usually just resign myself to several minutes of gentle scraping with a scalpel blade - usually against a bare finger for protection.

A zip knife works too and is less dangerous

Some careful work with 400 to 800 grit sandpaper is also good on stubborn (read: old) enamel magent wire of tiny gauges.

Cheers!

[Vishchoxi]

There is one company named International Electrochemical Company which manufactures enamel removers.
I havent tried it.

[Magz]

Dremel with a stainless steel wire brush, medium speed - I use it to strip the enamel off litz wire and it works like a charm. Just make sure the brush rotates toward the end of the wire to avoid tangling.

[BudP]

For magnet wire that is class B or F (130C or 155C for300k hours) you can use a "weak tea" solution of alcohol thinned, liquid flux from Kester and others. The large amount of alcohol will ablate the coating and the small amount of flux will clean and adhere the solder. You should squeeze the wire in a cloth shop rag made of cotton just to remove the last bit of burned insulation. Set your solder pot for 600 F for this. You will get solder balls from this process, they will splatter. This is the easiest and quickest way to completely strip Litz wire, which you want in and out of the pot in under 5 seconds.

For the armored wires a Rush Brush wire stripper or the trusty metal wire brush in a drill bit are fine, along with scraping with a sharp razor style blade. Boron works too, but that's so dangerous you don't really want to try it.

Bud