RR_Mel richhotrain Mel, thanks for starting this thread, although it could use a better title to draw attention to it. Rich Rich What would you suggest for a title?
richhotrain Mel, thanks for starting this thread, although it could use a better title to draw attention to it. Rich
Mel, thanks for starting this thread, although it could use a better title to draw attention to it.
Rich
Alton Junction
For years, I relied on 22 gauge stranded copper wire from Brawa Modellspielwaren for my modeling needs, and I really love that stuff. But, in the past couple of years, I have needed even thinner gauge wire for some projects.
There are two difficulties working with super thin wire, and I am curious how others deal with these difficulties.
One difficulty is simply trying to remove the insulation to expose the wire with degrading the wire itself. I have purchased some SMD LEDs with wire attached. The wire is #36 enameled magnet wire. You can heat the enamel with a soldering iron to expose the wire itself without degrading it (i.e. losing strands).
The other difficulty is soldering the wire to metal objects. The thinner the wire, the harder it is to work with when soldering. I recently wired up some Tomar Industries crossing gates. The wire is very, very thin gauge and is coated with the normal plastic insulation that you find on most hobby wiring. The insulation cannot be melted off with a soldering iron tip, so it needs to be trimmed off with a hobby knife - - not an easy task without cutting the wire itself.
My latest project was the wiring of a Bachmann siginal bridge with bi-polar LEDs from DigiKey. These LEDs are tiny and are enclosed in a mini-block of black plastic with two tiny metal terminal leads. This called for very thin gauge wire, not only for the connections, but also to conceal across the bridge and down the sides. For this purpose, I simply cut off the wires from a spare Miniatronics 3mm bulb and used the salvaged wire for this purpose. Once again, the wire was difficult to trim and difficult to solder.
So, as I say, I am curious how others overcome these difficulties?
Thanks for the tip. Ought to last me for a while.
The Location: Forests of the Pacific Northwest, OregonThe Year: 1948The Scale: On30The Blog: http://bvlcorr.tumblr.com
Thanks for the lead Mel. My wire supply is pretty good right now but I have bookmarked the seller.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I bought some od the "High Flex" tone arm wire from the same seller. It was a good product that served me needs exactly.
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-Kevin
Living the dream.