Where to buy wire

[sliberty]

I am a fan of the cloth-covered push-back style of solid-core wire, and wanted to restock a bit. Last time I bought from Hoffman, and I was happy, but man the cost of this stuff does add up. I'd love to hear from anyone who might have found a less expensive source.

Thanks,
Steve

[jimipage]

go to www.tubesandmore.com
in the right hand column click on "tech supplies"
click on "wire"
then click (under "wire") on "other"
they have 20awg in white, black, yellow and blue for $4.95 and green for $5.95 per 50 ft. roll.
Antique Electronics is a great company to deal with. Fast shipping, good prices and they've never messed up an order on me yet.
No, I don't work for them, but I should have stock with all the $$$ I spend there!

[sliberty]

Great find - thanks.

Whats the deal with the lacquered cloth wire? I am guessing you can't just push back the insulation on that stuff - is that right?

[jimipage]

I tried the lacquer covered stuff once and hated it. You can still push it back, but it's a lot thicker. And it seems no matter how sharp you cut the stuff it ends up getting frayed. Maybe others here have used it successfully and like it, but I'll not be using it again.

[withnail_jet]

go to www.tubesandmore.com
in the right hand column click on "tech supplies"
click on "wire"
then click (under "wire") on "other"
they have 20awg in white, black, yellow and blue for $4.95 and green for $5.95 per 50 ft. roll.
Antique Electronics is a great company to deal with. Fast shipping, good prices and they've never messed up an order on me yet.
No, I don't work for them, but I should have stock with all the $$$ I spend there!

FYI...that stuff is not push-back cloth. It's PVC-covered wire with an additional cloth braid OVER the PVC. Also, the cloth is not waxed. I think it's made to keep up the appearance in an antique radio installation.

+1 on AES being a great place to shop. The only "problem" I had with them was that they sent me blackface grillcloth when I had ordered oxblood for a tweed. But they let me keep the mistakenly sent cloth!

[HeeBGB]

STOP!!!! DON"T BUY THE AES CLOTH COVERED NON WAXED STUFF!!!

I have it and it is a mess! When it's not waxed it becomes frayed at the edges and becomes a sloppy mess. If you want to try it I'll send you some but don't expect it to be good. Maybe if you waxed it or lacquered it after installation! Otherwise don't bother with the AES stuff. Stick with the Hoffman stuff which i also have and it is much better! Another option I have been thinking about is putting shrink tubing on the ends but even that would become a pain after a while!

Sliberty- you are in E. Brunswick so if you want you can stop by and pick it up. I am leaving for Atlanta for business on Friday though! I will be there for at least 8 weeks with only one trip home the 8th to the 13th of Aug. If you want it let me know quick. I have like 5 or 6 rolls of it in different colors!

[sliberty]

Thanks for all of the replies. Luckily, I got a little busy, and did nothing about buying more wire yet, so HeeBGB's "stop" msg came in time Thanks.

I guess for now, I'll go back to Hoffman and buy from him. The wire I used for my UniWreck (just completed building, but not done yet due to some instability) came from him, and I liked it. I was just being cheap and hoping to find a less expensive source, but so far, no luck. So for this next purchase, I'll probably pay the piper again.

Just to be clear - I am not saying that Doug is charging an unfair price. Just that I was hoping to find it for less.

Thanks again to all.
Steve

[keithrick]

I got mine from Steve at Apex, Jr. 20 gauge solid core teflon. All the colors! Sells it by the foot as well.

http://www.apexjr.com/

[sliberty]

How do you find working with Teflon covered wire? The last time I had any, I found it almost impossible to strip. My auto-stripper would slide right across the teflon coating without cutting it at all. Thats why I really liked the cloth covered stuff.

[keithrick]

I don't use a stripper. I use my wire snips and nip a small piece then just pull it off. Never a nick in the wire itself. You could also grab it lightly with the wire snips and run it around once then pull. Wire strippers to me are a waste of time.

BTW- with teflon coated wire I can just trim twice the amount on one end then push it thu till it even.

[RB]

I bought a used thermal wire stripper on Ebay. Once you go thermal you will never go back. I find the extra time it takes to make sure you don’t trash the wire with nicks and such more than pays for a thermal stripper. That’s what production shops use. It’s quick, clean, and fast. Well clean looking. I am not sure if the fumes are worse than solder fumes but you know its amp addiction - right?

As far as purchasing Teflon wire Apex Jr is the place. They also have other great buys - great octal sockets - mil-spec pots and such. If you don’t see what you want ask - they may just have it.

I use cloth covered wire for tweed builds when I can’t talk my client into Teflon. Triode Electronics has a good price on metal rolls on various colors and they sell 18ga green for heaters also. I agree with all the above re: antique electronics cloth wire. Stay away from it.

Thanks for letting me jump in

Randy