[blip]

Hi,

I once read that magnet wire makes high-quality, cheap hook-up wire... Anyway, I took the plunge and picked up a $5 assortment from RatShack...

The problem is that stripping it is proving to be a real challenge. The only method I've read is using a knife to try to scrape off the outer coating. While this does marginally work, it is very hard and doesn't do a terribly good job.

So does anyone else have a method for stripping it? I've heard that there is some chemical that will removed the coating, anyone have any info on that?

 

[GEMINGA]

Acetone

 

[Dan H]

Use a solder pot. ~$15.00 + two sticks of solder ~ $5.00.

 

[Tomo]

Hi,

How about sanding paper? Knife stripping is not good because it is dangerous and may chip your blade.

Becareful using Acetone. It is an awesome solvent. But it will seep into your skin leaving whatever it dissolved inside. Oh I almost forget. This stuff is real nasty. I had a major acetone spill in my lab. I never found the leakage till it completely soaked the lab bench. I must have inhaled a good amount before I found it. I felt faint headed and had real bad headache afterward. I was sick for few hours.

Tomo

 

[Voodoochile]

Agree with Tomo on the Acetone. It works really well for many things, but it makes gasoline seem harmless by contrast. It's far more volatile... extremely dangerous situations can arise quickly in the event of even a very small spill. Plus, it eats almost all plastics.

Not saying don't use it, but you need to treat it with a huge amount of respect, and I would not use it indoors in other than a few drops on the corner of a paper towel type of application. Not the same as tipping over a quart can of it in your basement (think furnace).

 

[aerius]

Sandpaper works, but it's still a pain to do and takes more time than I'd like. You want to use 200-300 grit paper depending on the gauge of the magnet wire you're trying to strip, use coarser paper for thicker wire.

 

[GEMINGA]

unfortunatly, voodoochile is a little off track.

Flashpoint of acetone is 0 degF
flashpoint for gasoline is -40deg F

Both are considered Class IB liquids and according to UL GASOLINE is by far more flammable the acetone.

And it's much less agressive then gasoline.

try investigating first at:

http://www.labtrain.noaa.gov/osha600/refer/menu06a.pdf

(I had two years of HAZMAT training in the service)

 

[Voodoochile]

I stand corrected!
It does seem that a puddle of acetone will evaporate well before a puddle of gasoline, but that does not necessarily translate into volatility?

Either way, it's pretty much dangerous to use indoors. Even nail polish remover had oils added to it to reduce the volatility.

 

[tangent]

Quote:

I once read that magnet wire makes high-quality, cheap hook-up wire...

Only if your goal is to make the wires as unobtrusive as possible. Magnet wire is usually 30 gauge or smaller, which translates to 0.1 ohms per foot or higher for copper. If you're only taking low-level signals and making jumps of just a few inches at a time, I guess it's okay. Anything beyond that and I'd definitely go with something larger.

 

[Tomo]

Hi,

Acetone is volatile and lets leave it at that. When I had the accident, I had a incandecent lamp on near the acetone bottle. It spew out half its content.

I think if it weren't for the clean room ventilation, I probably would have fainted.

T

 

[jopi]

I had to deal with magnet quite a bit for my Bottlehead stuff.

They suggest burning off the varnish with your soldering iron.
That worked for me after some training. Turn the temperature of your iron up all the way and make sure your tip is wet.

Good luck

 

[GEMINGA]

Acetone is volatile and lets leave it at that. When I had the accident, I had a incandecent lamp on near the acetone bottle. It spew out half its content.



Flammables near high heat souces?
Incan lights in a lab? Has Osha been by to say hi?

I can send you the OSHA laboratory Guide of Standards if you like.

 

[blip]

Well I guess there are three options

1) Sanding
2) Burning
3) Acetone

I guess I'll try the first two and if they fail I may try the third. (Seems kind of risky for the value of the wire, though) Would nail polish remover work? The stabilization oils makes it sound a lot simpler to work with.

The magnet wire that I got came with a reel of 22-gauge wire so my hook-up wire will be a bit more substantial than the average 30-gauge. Also, I will be using it for short distance connections... For longer connections, such as power links, I will be using some wire that I salvaged. It is stranded copper of (about) 12-gauge.

Anyway, thanks for all the advice everyone.

 

[ofb]

for 1) sanding, a quick way is a few passes across an emery board for fingernails. hold the board and wipe the wire. works fine on the radioshack stuff.

 

[Ohoen]

Quote:

Originally posted by jopi I had to deal with magnet quite a bit for my Bottlehead stuff. They suggest burning off the varnish with your soldering iron. That worked for me after some training. Turn the temperature of your iron up all the way and make sure your tip is wet. Good luck

I'm dealing with this on my Foreplay right now. I guess it's great for the ground buss but what a PITA! I'm burning with the soldering iron as well (35W RatShacker) and it turns out I have a bunch of joints that didn't get through the varnish. I'm actually thinking about stripping it down and starting again with normal wire. Blip, if you do this I definitely recommend getting a solder pot. That would make life a WHOLE lot easier.