30AWG Teflon Coated Wire Available Soon

Isn't this the wire used with wire wrap tools on bread board back in the day?  Another alternative is to use magnet wire which is coated with a fairly tough insulated coating that can be scraped off for soldering where necessary.

I'm not old enough to remember that (only 73). Magnet wire is good for a lot of applications except where it is passing through metal as it will sometimes rub on a metal edge and short out. Sometimes a lot of aggravation. Better to use the Teflon coated where you are dealing with metal structure.

Dave, LBR

Wire-wrap wire is 30 gauge, but it is solid. I still use it on lighting projects, especially when I don't want to solder(some LED applications).

This is stranded copper wire with a Teflon coating.

Dave, LBR

What are some of the applications for 30 gauge wire?

aussteve posted:

Isn't this the wire used with wire wrap tools on bread board back in the day?  Another alternative is to use magnet wire which is coated with a fairly tough insulated coating that can be scraped off for soldering where necessary.

Way back the larger diameter (AWG???) wire wrap wire was teflon coated. Later the smaller .014" wire is kynar coated. I have a few thousand yards of the small stuff and its what I use for LEDs, opto sensors, etc. hopefully Dave will be offering appropiate wire strippers. A lot of strippers will have trouble with teflon.  I use No Niks which work great but may be NLA.

Pete

CharlieS posted:

What are some of the applications for 30 gauge wire?

Mostly used for LED's and small electrical motors where limited space is problematic.

Dave, LBR

Norton posted:

aussteve posted:

Isn't this the wire used with wire wrap tools on bread board back in the day?  Another alternative is to use magnet wire which is coated with a fairly tough insulated coating that can be scraped off for soldering where necessary.

Way back the larger diameter (AWG???) wire wrap wire was teflon coated. Later the smaller .014" wire is kynar coated. I have a few thousand yards of the small stuff and its what I use for LEDs, opto sensors, etc. hopefully Dave will be offering appropiate wire strippers. A lot of strippers will have trouble with teflon.  I use No Niks which work great but may be NLA.

 

Pete

We probably, at some point, offer a wire stripper but at present not. IMO the No-Niks strippers are great but cost prohibitive at $40.00 or more each.

Dave, LBR

This is encouraging that a hobby dominated by "old, white men" per the WSJ, has such a demand for small gauge wire.  

ALL SCALES: 26AWG Super Flex Wire Soon

ALL SCALES: L.E.D. ultimate hook up wire

32AWG SUPER FLEX Electrical Wire Soon

30AWG Teflon Coated Wire Available Soon

Maybe we're not that old after all.

aussteve posted:

Isn't this the wire used with wire wrap tools on bread board back in the day?  Another alternative is to use magnet wire which is coated with a fairly tough insulated coating that can be scraped off for soldering where necessary.

I use #30 wire-wrap wire, works great and the insulation is very robust.  However, wire-wrap wire is solid wire, not stranded.

CharlieS posted:

What are some of the applications for 30 gauge wire?

I realize you're not asking a trick question, but here's a trick answer.   Another application of 30 gauge wire is to make stranded wire.  For example, 22 gauge stranded wire is typically made with 7 strands of 30 gauge wire!

Norton posted:

 A lot of strippers will have trouble with teflon.  I use No Niks which work great but may be NLA.

 Still available Pete, Ripley Miller Wire Stripper, No-Nik, .021", NN.021

I have a pair of these for #30 wire that must be at least 30 years old.

What type of connectors are used if soldering is to be avoided?

wb47 posted:

What type of connectors are used if soldering is to be avoided?

We always solder  We never use connectors 

Dave, LBR

aussteve posted:

This is encouraging that a hobby dominated by "old, white men" per the WSJ, has such a demand for small gauge wire.  

ALL SCALES: 26AWG Super Flex Wire Soon

ALL SCALES: L.E.D. ultimate hook up wire

32AWG SUPER FLEX Electrical Wire Soon

30AWG Teflon Coated Wire Available Soon

Maybe we're not that old after all.

aussteve,

     I too am quite amazed at the response for this size of wire. Lots-O-Orders makes us very content 

Dave, LBR

CUSTOM "O" DECALS posted:

We always solder  We never use connectors 

Dave, LBR

I like the solid wire since it is easier to form into a shape and have it stay put.  I can route it away from pinch points and it will stay there.  I don't worry about the current carrying capability of the stranded wire versus solid wire cause my LEDs are running at such a low frequency (not much of a skin effect).  I would advise against using either magnet wire or teflon coated wire in applications where fret abrasion or physical pressure is a concern.  But you can always slip shrink tubing or other insulation over the coated magnet wire for extra protection if there is a pressure point. 

Stranded wire or flex circuits are better in situations where there is movement.  The solid wire will fatigue and eventually fail.

aussteve posted:

I like the solid wire since it is easier to form into a shape and have it stay put.  I can route it away from pinch points and it will stay there.  I don't worry about the current carrying capability of the stranded wire versus solid wire cause my LEDs are running at such a low frequency (not much of a skin effect).  I would advise against using either magnet wire or teflon coated wire in applications where fret abrasion or physical pressure is a concern.  But you can always slip shrink tubing or other insulation over the coated magnet wire for extra protection if there is a pressure point. 

Stranded wire or flex circuits are better in situations where there is movement.  The solid wire will fatigue and eventually fail.

Where do you get shrink that small? We can only find 1/16" shrink.

Dave, LBR

eBay # 220773326550

 0.8MM 1/32" Polyolefin 2:1 Heat Shrink Tubing 8M

One of many listings for small heatshrink.  Comes in a variety of colors as well.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

eBay # 220773326550

 0.8MM 1/32" Polyolefin 2:1 Heat Shrink Tubing 8M

One of many listings for small heatshrink.  Comes in a variety of colors as well.

 

Thank You  

I realize you're not asking a trick question, but here's a trick answer.   Another application of 30 gauge wire is to make stranded wire.  For example, 22 gauge stranded wire is typically made with 7 strands of 30 gauge wire!

I asked because I have an old spool of 30 gauge cloth covered solid wire and a spool of 28 gauge plastic covered stranded wire. The stranded roll is silver. I purchased it at a computer show, where I was told it was for wiring backplanes. (Who knows?)

I've used some of the 28 gauge for something or other, I have never used the 30 gauge.

As far as strippers go: After using a friend's, I purchased a set of Klein strippers. I think they work great. I just stripped a bit off of the ends of my spools to see whether they were solid or stranded.

This one does 10-20 gauge.
And this one does 20-32 gauge

When you use this size wire do you put a .5 amp fuse on it to protect it. A friend has a lot of lights with fine wire like this.  

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Norton posted:

 A lot of strippers will have trouble with teflon.  I use No Niks which work great but may be NLA.

 Still available Pete, Ripley Miller Wire Stripper, No-Nik, .021", NN.021

I have a pair of these for #30 wire that must be at least 30 years old.

Nice tool.  I have the poor man's version below, acquired at a Rat Shack  a few years ago.  It's adjustable (via the nut and bolt fixture on it) to allow the strip opening to be micro tweaked to get it to precisely the right size.   That the good news. 

The bad news is the only way to effectively  set the opening to said " precisely the right size" is through trial and error testing on the given wire being used.  Ergo, I inevitably end up wasting an inch or two of wire in that adjustment phase whenever I use it. 

The No-Nik tool is pretty specialized. Each tool is sized for a particular wire gauge and meant for very thin insulation. Back in the day it was used for wire wrap wire with thin kynar insulation. Not as good or even useless if the insulation is too thick.

Pete

I use my No-Nik all the time, the #30 wire-wrap wire is perfect for lighting in shells.  It doesn't take up room, and can be routed easily and just tacked in place.

I got introduced to the No-Nik tool in the 60's when wire-wrap was king, don't see it much anymore.

Doesn't .012=#30 ?

This table says #30 is .0100 inches

Odd CW. Which one is correct?

http://www.benedict-miller.com...y_id/103/page_id/141

Dave, virtually all the tables I find say that #30 is .01" diameter, and the .012 diameter is #28 gauge.

I think Dave is looking at the chart for Birmingham and Stubs Iron. On this side of the pond we use AWG (American Wire Gauge) which says #30 is .010"

Two people separated by a common language.

Pete

Great. I purchased a .012 No-Nik, on the Bay this morning, cause I went by the chart I found.

Odd CW. Which one is correct?

I got out my "Machinery's Handbook".
Unfortunately, there are six different standards listed in one table for wire gauges
For gauge 30:

American Wire gauge (AWG), also called Brown & Sharpe   .0100
Steel Wire Gauge (U.S.)   .0140
British Standard Wire gauge, also called Imperial Wire gauge .0124
Music or Piano Wire gauge .080
Birmingham of Stub's Iron Wire gauge .0120
Stub's Steel Wire gauge .127

Then to make things more complicated, there are a number of other tables for sheet metal.

As has already been posted, I believe the proper table to use here is the USA is the American Wire Gauge (AWG) table.

I guess one has to be careful when purchasing material that is sold in thicknesses defined by gauge.
These last few posts on gauge reminds me of the last time I purchased some angle stock at a local home center. When I got it home, I checked the thickness and thought it was too thin for the gauge it was labeled. I think I probably used the wrong table to look up what it should be.

Dave Zucal posted:

Great. I purchased a .012 No-Nik, on the Bay this morning, cause I went by the chart I found.

Dave, what kind of insulation is on your wire? If its Kynar then the tool you bought may not work but if its just about anything else (read thicker) then you might be OK.

Pete

If your budget for a Kynar stripping tool is $0, here are two methods.  I have used both methods and they really work!  These are not my videos.

Here's a close-up of my modified nail-clipper.  The donor needle is shown at left - note how it too gets deformed (note nicks near tip).  A couple suggestions.  Start from the tip and work up the size of the hole.  Obviously you are trying to make the hole a tad more than the 0.01" wire diameter, but less than the ~0.02" insulation diameter.  Unless you have some insanely stiff steel needle you won't be able to make a perfectly round hole.  When you finish making the hole, I suggest you "de-burr" the edges so as not to scratch/scrape the bare wire as you pull the insulation off.   

I think the .012 No-Nik should work with .010 wire without too much issue. 

AAMOF, that's what I use on he .010 wire, I just checked.  I never even gave it a thought previously, they've worked flawlessly for #30 wire for years.  Note the diameter of the wire and the designation on the strippers in the shot below. 

Ignore the red pointer, that's for metric measurements, it's a dual-scale caliper.

Gotta ask, what does aamof stand for?

C W Burfle posted:

Gotta ask, what does aamof stand for?

As a matter of fact  

Let Me Google That For You

Bub posted:

When you use this size wire do you put a .5 amp fuse on it to protect it. A friend has a lot of lights with fine wire like this. 

No. Unless you intend to run a higher than usual current for this size wire. An LED connected to this wire is perfectly safe. The LED will require only 20 milliamps of current max. As GunRunnerJohn pointed out somewhere else, the size of wire required for this small amount of current is not visible to the naked eye. A fuse is not necessary just because the wire is small.