Wonders of teflon insulated wire

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clintrubber

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I've never seen it come in any other colours than that semi-transparant white. Would defin. be usable, other colours, but I'm not sure if you're pulling my leg now :wink: I mean, adding several identification-colours shouldn't be impossible.
 
Alpha Wire - distributed by Farnell
Loads of colours

Farnell quote that the secondary insulation is Teflon - and the primary is PVC - but lookign at the datasheet it says its all Teflon
 
hahaha

Yes teflon is tricky but I love it. I got good at using manual strippers set to the one gauge smaller and a careful initial cut-through, then switching to the proper gauge slot for pulling the piece off. I would then inspect for nicks and sometimes sacrifice one strand of 19 if it looked like it might come off on its own later.

One warning: the transition region to the insulation sholdn't be completely wicked with solder or you create a very brittle zone that can fail under prolonged flexing and vibration. There's probably some military standard floating around out there for the proper technique. Bob Pease tells a horror story about some early Philbrick modules that had a bunch of field failures due to teflon wires breaking.

I still use bus wire and teflon tubing a lot on breadboards---I love the lack of meltback and carbonization. This one Prof. I used to work for said I was the only person he knew who made his own wire.
 
teflon isnt that difficult to strip. I got a roll of 4 conductor each coonductor stranded 24 gage silverplated with a kaptan binder and a teflon coating on the binde.r thats what I'd call difficult to strip gotta love Boeing Surplus

Wil


Wilebee
 
I switched over to teflon and cant imagine going back. The only thing that isnt easier to do is twist the wire with a drill because its so slippery, but even that isnt a big deal. Ive been buying bits and bobs off ebay and havent found a roll yet that was difficult to strip, I actually find it easier to strip as the jacket slides right off, with the rubberish jacket I would always pull off a few strands of wire.

dave
 
http://www.action-electronics.com/ntehuwt.htm

somthin like that ?


what are the advantages of uning teflon coated wire ?

is there any rf shielding advantages ? or is it just the chemical resistance

thing ?
 
"what are the advantages of uning teflon coated wire ?

is there any rf shielding advantages ? or is it just the chemical resistance

thing ?"

Teflon has a high temp of decomposition, generally well above solder temp. Don't test it to see how high as the vapors are toxic. So you don't get any meltback and carbonizing like you do with most anything else.

Teflon is also a superb dielectric.
 
I bought bulk teflon wire (is there such a thing as non bulk?? hehe) and I thought I made a mistake. I'm happy to learn that there's teflon fans around here. It's indeed a little harder to work with but I kinda like the results... You can see my GSSL with teflon wire at http://oxygene.dynip.com:8080/ssl
 
Once I used Teflon, but now I am healed!

I don't see any advantage to using teflon except under special conditions. Despite what other have to say about it, I think it is still miserable to work with. If you're melting PVC you might need to brush up on your soldering technique a little.
 
Years ago some outfit in California was selling Teflon-insulated oxygen-free copper wire that wasn't silver-plated, and it was really nice stuff. I seem to recall that the manufacturer was Japanese. Any idea what, where, who, etc. might still make/sell it?

Peace,
Paul
 
I think that XLO Electric is the company you're thinking of. http://www.xloelectric.com/home.php
At one time they sold the wire used in their cables as hook-up wire. They might still do that.
 
They must have a different process for applying the insulation. The silver plating is because tin plating fuses the strands together at the temperature of the teflon insulation process.

Or is there no plating at all on the copper? Hmmm... That would be ok if you used it up quickly, before the copper corroded.
 
I use category 5 or category 6 cable with teflon jacket. It's cheap, and sounds pretty good to my ears. I can hear a definite difference in projects I've re-wired using teflon jacket. It's a pain to work with, though, if you're flexing connections while installing the PCB because it breaks.
 
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