kingkikapu
100+ Head-Fier
But not for me it seems. Regional 404?
DIY Cable Questions and Comments Thread
Paladin79
Previously MOT: Cables For Less
Just bought some generic 60/40 solder from Amazon and boy is it dross filled. Got some of the Kester liquid flux you suggested and thanks for that good stuff. Other than just skimming it off the top is there other things to do to get rid of the dross?
I use a device like a church key, paint can opener, or bottle opener are other terms for them. A cheap metal device with a curved end to skim across the top of the solder. No matter what you do eventually dross will form. What I showed in the photo was a first time melt with just one litz wire dunked into it so it stayed very clean.
Last edited:
garcsa
Member of the Trade: Mandarines IEM Memory Foam Eartips
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2011
- Posts
- 924
- Likes
- 228
if you have a vise and a variable speed drill that works real well also. One end in the vise and the other in the drills chuck and slowly twist up does a good job.Thanks!
Paladin79
Previously MOT: Cables For Less
Twisted pair and bonded twisted pair is inside a jacket for a reason. Once twisted I use heat shrink tubing, clear tubing or paracord to help maintain the twists. I also have some pure cotton mesh on the way for the same purpose. The twists should be uniform and hopefully remain that way.
Got some Toxic Black Widow 26 awg Litz and it doesn’t like to stay twisted so heat shrink would be my choice .
Paladin79
Previously MOT: Cables For Less
I am in the middle of putting some litz wire inside paracord, I will post of photo of the method I used when all four wires are complete and ready to be braided.This is using a darning needle that I ground the point off of, then rounded it a bit. It does not snag the paracord and I merely looped the litz wire through it and proceeded to populate 24 feet of paracord fairly quickly. Size 100 paracord as I recall, 26 awg litz wire.
Last edited:
garcsa
Member of the Trade: Mandarines IEM Memory Foam Eartips
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2011
- Posts
- 924
- Likes
- 228
Too nice cables to put in paracord.
I will try with 2 plus transparent silicone threads (1mm). So after split there will be 3 braid . I'll see..
I will try with 2 plus transparent silicone threads (1mm). So after split there will be 3 braid . I'll see..
Paladin79
Previously MOT: Cables For Less
This wire is doubled only for a couple inches so that it works with this needle. I am using single litz wire in each paracord. First I tried soldering the wire so it did not come out of the eye of the needle but I found that it worked just by looping it through the eye and there was very little resistance.
When you guys talk about Litz wire, what “type” litz are you using? From what I understand, there are 8 litz types
http://www.litzwire.com/litz_types.htm
http://www.litzwire.com/litz_types.htm
rwpritchett
100+ Head-Fier
That second eBay link is what I had in mind for my project. I'll have to keep that in mind next time since I've already acquired a couple of the Sony plugs.
For the Sony plugs, I was able to get the orange lettering off the barrel by using one of those Mr Clean magic erasers to carefully buff it off. It took a while, that lettering on the barrel is really meant to last.
Paladin79
Previously MOT: Cables For Less
This is in response to Allan's mention of litz wire, I should have quoted his post first.
Type two is the closest to what is being used I would think but these are examples of what that particular company produces. You can do the same thing with any copper stranded wire, there are multiple types of bundles that can be woven. They are indeed using litz wire. What I am using is like one little bundle of the type two, it is not multiple bundles, what is shown in the links is more for industrial applications.
I have seen some chinese produce bundles similar to type two because you can use standard equipment to achieve such a braid.
This definition is more in line with what I have learned, it is just from Wikipedia but offers some insight:
Litz wire is a type of specialized multistrand wire or cable used in electronics to carry alternating current (AC) at radio frequencies. The wire is designed to reduce the skin effect and proximity effect losses in conductors used at frequencies up to about 1 MHz.[1] It consists of many thin wire strands, individually insulated and twisted or woven together, following one of several carefully prescribed patterns[2] often involving several levels (groups of twisted wires are twisted together, etc.). The result of these winding patterns is to equalize the proportion of the overall length over which each strand is at the outside of the conductor. This has the effect of distributing the current equally among the wire strands, reducing the resistance. Litz wire is used in high Q inductors for radio transmitters and receivers operating at low frequencies, induction heating equipment and switching power supplies.
The term litz wire originates from Litzendraht (coll. Litze), German for braided/stranded wire[3] or woven wire.[4]
The key is equalizing the amount of time that each individual strand is at the outside of the wire. The article then goes on to explain skin effect. If you do a search for litz braid you will get links to this site where folks are talking about braiding wire. Unless they are using wire with individually insulated strands, I do believe that term is being misused.
Conf\using, is it not?
I work with wire made for high frequencies and some of it has an air core or steel core with copper at the outside of a large single conductor. At high frequencies the signal path is on the outside of the wire, skin effect. This is for frequencies 100,000 hertz and above. Audio frequencies that the human ear can detect are in the 20-20,000 hertz range, if you are lucky enough to still hear those frequencies. That is why I generally say silver plated copper looks nice, but has little to do with sound quality in audio wire. If the wire is solid silver, that is different.
Today I hope to braid some litz wire, in a litz braid, or should I just say I am braiding litz wire. One thing is for certain, skin effect will not come into play much but just like using silver compared to copper, how this wire is constructed in terms of resonance, and proximity may cause it to sound slightly different than other stranded copper wire. Now if I hook this wire to some equipment in my shop and introduce frequencies of say 1 megahertz, then I would be able to measure some marked changes between what is happening with the two types of wire.
Update: I went so far as to examine my litz wire under a nikon inspection microscope and the pattern does not match any of those eight shown. It is 26 awg and there are no bundles as you would see in the examples shown. You will have to take my word for this unless I can figure out a way to do some macro photography later today. Getting a photo through the inspection scope is not an easy thing to do.
Here is more from New England Wire on soldering LITZ:
https://www.newenglandwire.com/litz-wire-termination-guide/
Please note they only mention soldering with a solder pot and to use fume extraction. The wire I used is not nearly the size of what they show, so I had little chance of lowering the temp of my solder pot.
Type two is the closest to what is being used I would think but these are examples of what that particular company produces. You can do the same thing with any copper stranded wire, there are multiple types of bundles that can be woven. They are indeed using litz wire. What I am using is like one little bundle of the type two, it is not multiple bundles, what is shown in the links is more for industrial applications.
I have seen some chinese produce bundles similar to type two because you can use standard equipment to achieve such a braid.
This definition is more in line with what I have learned, it is just from Wikipedia but offers some insight:
Litz wire is a type of specialized multistrand wire or cable used in electronics to carry alternating current (AC) at radio frequencies. The wire is designed to reduce the skin effect and proximity effect losses in conductors used at frequencies up to about 1 MHz.[1] It consists of many thin wire strands, individually insulated and twisted or woven together, following one of several carefully prescribed patterns[2] often involving several levels (groups of twisted wires are twisted together, etc.). The result of these winding patterns is to equalize the proportion of the overall length over which each strand is at the outside of the conductor. This has the effect of distributing the current equally among the wire strands, reducing the resistance. Litz wire is used in high Q inductors for radio transmitters and receivers operating at low frequencies, induction heating equipment and switching power supplies.
The term litz wire originates from Litzendraht (coll. Litze), German for braided/stranded wire[3] or woven wire.[4]
The key is equalizing the amount of time that each individual strand is at the outside of the wire. The article then goes on to explain skin effect. If you do a search for litz braid you will get links to this site where folks are talking about braiding wire. Unless they are using wire with individually insulated strands, I do believe that term is being misused.
Conf\using, is it not?
I work with wire made for high frequencies and some of it has an air core or steel core with copper at the outside of a large single conductor. At high frequencies the signal path is on the outside of the wire, skin effect. This is for frequencies 100,000 hertz and above. Audio frequencies that the human ear can detect are in the 20-20,000 hertz range, if you are lucky enough to still hear those frequencies. That is why I generally say silver plated copper looks nice, but has little to do with sound quality in audio wire. If the wire is solid silver, that is different.
Today I hope to braid some litz wire, in a litz braid, or should I just say I am braiding litz wire. One thing is for certain, skin effect will not come into play much but just like using silver compared to copper, how this wire is constructed in terms of resonance, and proximity may cause it to sound slightly different than other stranded copper wire. Now if I hook this wire to some equipment in my shop and introduce frequencies of say 1 megahertz, then I would be able to measure some marked changes between what is happening with the two types of wire.
Update: I went so far as to examine my litz wire under a nikon inspection microscope and the pattern does not match any of those eight shown. It is 26 awg and there are no bundles as you would see in the examples shown. You will have to take my word for this unless I can figure out a way to do some macro photography later today. Getting a photo through the inspection scope is not an easy thing to do.
Here is more from New England Wire on soldering LITZ:
https://www.newenglandwire.com/litz-wire-termination-guide/
Please note they only mention soldering with a solder pot and to use fume extraction. The wire I used is not nearly the size of what they show, so I had little chance of lowering the temp of my solder pot.
Last edited:
Paladin79
Previously MOT: Cables For Less
I am glad you were able to achieve what you wanted RW. I generally use the jewelers rouge on watch crystals so it was one of the less abrasive things I could think of just as toothpaste might work to polish plastic headlight covers. I had already located the connectors on Ebay for someone else so they were easy for me to locate a second time.
Paladin79
Previously MOT: Cables For Less
This is using a wire holder attachment on a panavise to hold four wires as I do a braid. A wrap or two around the coil holds each of the four wires in a secure manner. I like to have a bit of spacing at the top with each wire equidistant.
Thanks @Paladin79 . The reason I ask is that @PLUSSOUND says they use Type 6 lizt, which must be custom made for them, as I cannot find it anywhere is headphone size. Cooner Wire has it, but smallest is 9AWG. Cooner has a 22 AWG type 5, but when I sent them an email enquiring about samples and pricing, I got no response. I should probably call them.
Users who are viewing this thread
