teflon wire

[ApexJr.]

Yes, I have a White 18 Awg and a White 16 Awg
Rest is in 22 Awg and 24 Awg

Steve @ Apex Jr

[Fischerman]

I had always used RG-174 until recently. The RG-174 is good stuff but it's just soooo sensitive to heat that I would prefer to use something with Teflon insulation. Sometimes I remod a mod that I modded before and I feel more comfortable with something more resistant to heat.

I ordered my wire from Steve but I ordered the wrong coax. I can't remember if I got RG187 or RG178 but the center conductor was just too thin for what I felt comfortable with. I always wondered why we have to have our wire strippers at work calibrated...lol...now I understand why!

I ended going to some dude in an ebay store (I got the link from this site but can't find it now) and got some nifty looking blue Mil-spec wire that's about perfect. It's quite small, decently flexible, and the center conductor is fat enough that I don't feel like it will break at the slightest tug...I think it's 20 or 22 gage.

Here's a pic of my latest kludge (SLO clone) with some of the blue coax (on the left coming from the MVs...also connecting the Volumes on the right to the sockets...also to the FX loop jacks at the right rear). The rest of the wire is in the pic from Steve (all 18 or 20 gage stranded).

[img:800:600]http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n4/m ... ntGutR.jpg[/img]

[Structo]

For you guys using the solid core wire.

Do you ever have trouble with it breaking?

When I was building my first amp, I had a bunch of solid core wire and due to mistakes and component swapping I had a few break at the solder joint from too much bending.

If Fact one wire was broke but the jacket kept the wire in place.

I had a hell of a time tracing that down when it was intermittent.

So I switched over to stranded teflon.

[Fischerman]

I've had a few breaks...same reasons as you. I had read that some guys use solid because they think it sounds better. I'm sure a lot of folks use it because that's what KF used (I know that's why I started using it many years ago). But I've just heard too many great amp builders have success with stranded and I feel better knowing it's more durable. My order to Steve was all stranded...and I bought like 1000 feet of wire...so stranded it is for a while!

Oh yea - the stuff Steve sells is EXTREMELY easy to strip. Easiest wire to strip I've ever used. Everybody said how difficult Teflon wire is to work with and I have experienced exactly the opposite...very EASY to work with imo.

[kineteks]

Has anyone tried these guys?

http://www.powerwerx.com/product.asp?Pr ... CtgID=1002

...it's stranded

[Bob-I]

I use ApexJr/s PTFE stranded 20AWG. I had trouble with breakage with solid core, and trouble with other stranded wires not staying in place. This wire stays in place well, doesn't break and is easy to strip.

[Richie]

with the solid core wire, try not to score the wire when you strip it,if you do it will break alot easier. Also only try to bend it 1 time,if you bend more than that, its more likely to break. if you go by this, then you shouldn't have any problems.

[dartanion]

I've never had that problem with solid wire. I use an auto stripping device, which helps prevent nicking the wire. I also use 20 or 22 awg, so it's pretty sturdy stuff.

[Structo]

with the solid core wire, try not to score the wire when you strip it,if you do it will break alot easier. Also only try to bend it 1 time,if you bend more than that, its more likely to break. if you go by this, then you shouldn't have any problems.

Yep, if you nick the wire where the strip happens, it will break there for sure.

I suppose if I was building something over and over and was sure of the design solid core would be fine.

But on something where I am swapping components or lifting boards out to make changes, stranded is the only way to go.

Before I heard of Apex Jr. I had bought teflon wire from http://www.mcmaster.com/

Their prices are a bit higher but not too bad and they have a huge variety.

[Noel Grassy]

My wire has always come from a local joint that's the equivalent to Mecca. Spool after spool of PTFE and PVC hook-up wire, shielded multi-cond to esoteric NASA spec stuff. I once bought a 500ft unopened spool of Litz wire for a sawbuck. There's two lifetime's worth of tonearm and headshell leads. I bought a large spool of that waxed lacing. I'm determined to learn that slick Old School wire buss design.

The best part is there's such a selection of wire that I can have my choice of old stuff for restoration and the trick stuff for where it's desired.

[CaseyJones]

As for 1 cond shielded solid core, I have never seen any
and would suspect it would be special order.

Video cable springs immediately to mind. If I had me wits about me I'd be able to remember Belden's item number for it. RG59/U? It's bulky and useless for tube amp applications but there's yer solid core w/ shield.

I bought a large spool of that waxed lacing. I'm determined to learn that slick Old School wire buss design.

You need to take a drive up to Mendocino or Casper. There are a ton of old hippies in them thar woods just in from the coast. If you can do macrame lacing harnesses should be no problem!

Seriously, it's not rocket science. It's not even quite a square knot. Loop over the harness, do half a square knot, pay out 15mm of lacing and do it again. Repeat, repeat, etc., give it a couple wraps and a square knot at the end and you're done.

Just nick a length of laced harness out of some old junk next time you see some and de-construct it. Macrame.. it ain't!

[Fischerman]

My solid breakage was when I was modding too much...should have replaced the wire at some point but you know how it goes...it's just a temporary mod to see how it sounds...let's just reuse it. Mistake. I used cloth covered solid core wire so scoring wasn't a problem.

I work with some old equipment at my job and some of the equipment has that nifty wiring with the waxed lacing. If I knew I was building the 'final' amp I would try it...but my amps are always prototypes to some degree and that lacing looks like a bitch to undo (and then redo such that it looks as good as before).

[JBurnett]

Check out Ac 43 for lacing instructions and also a ton of other wire info.
Lacing comes at chapter 11-158.
A ton of info here.

http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guida ... r%2011.pdf

[M Fowler]

Steve and others,

I have access to whole sale wire and will get ahold of the suppliers if you let me know the wire manufactures such as Beldon for each type of hookup wire and coax wire you guys desire. I will see if I can get us some surplus or inventory write off stuff. Maybe they don't even have this stuff but I can start asking.

Mark

[Noel Grassy]

Casey Jones, Hey now, thanks for the wire lacing tip! Apparently it is easier than macrame! Anytime spent up North of Mendocino is always a good time.

JBurnett, super thanks for the MIL Spec PDF! Finally a good exploded view of the required knots for both single and double lacing. I see a lot of great build quality info in that file.

I had pulled apart some old lacing to get the technique but that first knot was always cinched too tight to unravel. So it's a square knot, clove hitch, then a series of half hitches for single lace.

I need to perfect my Bowline-On-A-Bight. A bight is the area of a line that's not the end, right?