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DIY Teflon sleeving on 4N silver wire, how to prevent oxidation?

post #1 of 26
2/15/10 at 3:13am
Thread Starter 
As above. I am thinking of buying bare wire and doing some DIY sleeving using teflon.

But since my teflon is of a slightly larger size (for the cable to go through easily), how do I prevent the silver in the wire from oxidizing? Provided that air between the teflon and wire will cause it to oxidize?
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post #2 of 26
2/15/10 at 3:38am
Silver oxide is nowhere nearly as bad as copper oxide, and personally I wouldn't worry about it.
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post #3 of 26
2/15/10 at 6:10am
you could coat it with a layer of oil or electrical lubricant?
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post #4 of 26
2/15/10 at 7:40am
Hi DemonicAngelz,
I've spent the best part of 3 years developing my own i/cs, I'm now finally finished and without a doubt the mantra - 'the best dialectric is air' is spot on.

Failing that use any over-sized Teflon or suitable poly tubing and I think you'll find this will easily beat any commercially produced wire 'tightly' wrapped in Teflon or Kapton or whatever.

Silver oxidising as already pointed out cannot be compared to copper but a good idea also already stated is to use something like De-Oxit or with new wire Pro-Gold - they are not snake oil just very good products.

Do not make the mistake of making new i/cs before looking at what wire is used in your amp. Saturday I spent removing all signal wire in my h/amp and replicating exactly what I use for i/cs - you should have seen the grin I had.

Also don't rule out trying silver/plated copper and stick with solid core wire and don't forget to get back to this thread with updates or questions.
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post #5 of 26
2/15/10 at 8:10am
Sulfur compounds are more active in causing tarnish - short of hermetic sealing you're not going to be able to prevent oxidation and tarnish formation - should have gone with Gold
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post #6 of 26
2/15/10 at 8:38am
gold wires!

wait until we strike the lottery
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post #7 of 26
2/15/10 at 8:54am
silver oxide also looks horrific

serious idea here...


VACUUM INTERCONNECTS, not joking, why hasn't someone setup shop making them?

customers give the exact details required to fit them, and then mrvacuuminterconnects makes one?

my idea is that they would be made from lab-grade glass, and coated with an EMI/RF blocking rubber compound, and terminated with pure silver rcas. the wire inside would also be a filament of utterly pure silver. Rca fixing method would be an overbolt on the rca head, to tighten it as much as possible, yet putting no mechanical push-n-tug strain on the glass interconnect.

they say the best dialectric is air, but surely it's vacuum

chopchop!
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post #8 of 26
2/15/10 at 10:57am
Thread Starter 
Okok, don't flame me. I know it would oxidize, I just want to slow the process down a few notches you know. I'm looking for a reasonable solution to this problem.

So far I intend to get heat shrink to seal up the ends of the Teflon, and sleeve the whole cable to prevent oxidation from being seen.
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post #9 of 26
2/15/10 at 11:26am
I wouldnt worry about it, as has been covered silver sulphide is actually still a good conductor; yes silver sulphide not silver oxide. in fact its a better conductor than fresh pure copper. if you are worried do as you plan to and seal with heatshrink, but perhaps a touch o epoxy under the joint and this will seal it for a long time indeed.
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post #10 of 26
2/15/10 at 2:14pm
On a somewhat related note, I have trouble getting more than 4 feet or so of 24awg wire into 20awg tubing. Obviously going to a higher gauge tube is a possibility, but I am already sitting on 100+ feet of 20awg tubing and am loathe to spend more money. Would something like mineral oil as a lubricant help at all (and more importantly NOT hurt anything). I do have some deoxit and deoxit gold if those would be better (although expensive as sheeot). Just trying to make it to about 6 feet without kinking the hell out of the wire for a headphone cable.

I tend to use hot glue to hold the tubing in place at the solder joints, which I guess counts as sealing the tubes to prevent more oxidation than what the existing air in the tubes will cause.

Just as a mere ponderance, would Mundorf be slightly less prone to oxidization due to its small gold content?
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post #11 of 26
2/15/10 at 8:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by FraGGleR View Post
On a somewhat related note, I have trouble getting more than 4 feet or so of 24awg wire into 20awg tubing.
In that case, before I order I would like to know if I need 2.5m of wire into the teflon, should I order 20AWG teflon or 18AWG teflon?
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post #12 of 26
2/15/10 at 9:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DemonicAngelz View Post
In that case, before I order I would like to know if I need 2.5m of wire into the teflon, should I order 20AWG teflon or 18AWG teflon?
That is a lot of wire to feed. I wouldn't even try the 20awg. 18awg at least. I am hoping some deoxit lubricant will do the trick to get me one more foot for my cable.
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post #13 of 26
2/16/10 at 2:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by googleborg View Post
silver oxide also looks horrific

serious idea here...


VACUUM INTERCONNECTS, not joking, why hasn't someone setup shop making them?
Tara Labs did, they are called "The Zero". According to them, the connectors on a pair alone cost $4000 from the special company that made them. The cables, last I looked, cost $14,000 a pair or more.

I wouldn't worry about the silver sulphide personally.
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post #14 of 26
2/16/10 at 2:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by FallenAngel View Post
Silver oxide is nowhere nearly as bad as copper oxide, and personally I wouldn't worry about it.
And even copper oxide isn't a problem.

se
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post #15 of 26
2/16/10 at 2:52am
you could just fill the entire tub with oil then slip the wire in have the wire have enough to solder and your good seal both ends of the tube with a lot of super glue !
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