Solid core wires, not so good!

[momo]

 When I started out 2 months ago building these, I had good solid core wire laying around and had the right guage so I thought I was all set for wires....Ive been changing all these in the past 2-3 days because they keep breaking at the board juction. I bought stranded wire and that is perfect, more resistant to the back and forth of debugging a board.
Anyway, Im sure you pros know this, I just wanted to chip in for new members who have not yet populated....using the solid core for short one off wireing on something that does not move I guess is the best, but moving parts such as opening bottom for battery change,and solid core dont match!
Cheers

[aron]

Yes. I agree. For wiring anything that might move, stranded is the way to go.

[Cliff Schecht]

Take a look at some mil-spec teflon wire, you can get away with some really small gauges and not have to worry about the wire breaking, plus the outside sleeves will not burn so you can solder and resolder all you want without the wire wearing out (I reuse it all of the time). Not cheap though...

[GibsonGM]

One thing that helped me when using solid core wire at bending junctions was to be sure my strippers are set to cut just a micron short of the inside of the insulation.  Anywhere on the wire that received a small score was sure to break later if it's bent!    PITA, lol.   Stranded sure is nicer. 

[kvb]

Smallbear's pre-tinned stranded is nice stuff too.  It's tough, forgiving, and as easy to strip as solid core.

Also, a tip that should be in the Wiki is:  a way to keep wires from breaking - while a circuit is a work in progress - is to keep it on some cardboard, shoebox lid, etc. That way when you're moving it around to the amp, back to the bench, showing it off to friends, etc, the wires aren't being strained or flopping around.

[John Lyons]

+1 teflon (silver plated) stranded

John

[grapefruit]

I try to avoid using wire all together by using PCB mounted components!
When I have to I always use stranded wire, and heatshrink where the wire is soldered on to pots etc to make it more robust. If you have wires soldered direct to a PCB it's a good idea to have the wire loop through another hole on the PCB so that it won't break with repeated movement.

Stew.

[markm]

Smallbear's pre-tinned stranded is nice stuff too.  It's tough, forgiving, and as easy to strip as solid core.

That's all I use these days!

[Paul Marossy]

I reserve solid core wire to things that I know won't move and that I want to hold securely in place by virtue of how stiff the wire is. 

[aron]

I love the pre-tinned stuff too. I wish we could purchase the "for real" wire used on higher quality battery snaps. That wire gets abused and holds together.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Doing high reliability & avionics wiring, you are not allowed to use any stripper that cuts the insulation. Only thermal strippers that melt the insulation are allowable. (that's ordinary wire anyway, I don't know what they do with teflon!)

[calculating_infinity]

Smallbear's pre-tinned stranded is nice stuff too.  It's tough, forgiving, and as easy to strip as solid core.

That's all I use these days!

+1 on Smallbear's pre-tinned stranded wire.  Really easy to work with!

[MetalGod]

a tip that should be in the Wiki is:  a way to keep wires from breaking - while a circuit is a work in progress - is to keep it on some cardboard, shoebox lid, etc. That way when you're moving it around to the amp, back to the bench, showing it off to friends, etc, the wires aren't being strained or flopping around.

like this? 



this thing has a life of it's own, I just keep adding more pots/mods/gain stages.

[mattpocket]

Thats crazy what is it?

[db]

Doing high reliability & avionics wiring, you are not allowed to use any stripper that cuts the insulation. Only thermal strippers that melt the insulation are allowable. (that's ordinary wire anyway, I don't know what they do with teflon!)

Well, we (I won't say who but was mil-spec) used to use strippers called "No nik".
A bit like these
http://www.stanleysupplyservices.com/product-group.aspx?id=727
You have to use the right size tool for the wire though.

[momo]

So are you guys saying the the Small bear pre tinned could go on without adding solder?. Of course I would add some if needed, but one thing that I find difficult and not fun is having to hold the board,hold the soldering iron, hold the solder and put all that toghether on a 5 millimeter area without shorting around.(Parkinsons and DIY I guess dont match)
So if I could eliminate holding the solder lead, because there is already a bit on the wire, then that would be great, tack it on and then I would have a hand free to complete the soldering.

[kvb]

pre-tinned means that the strands are already fused together.  Instead of stripping stranded wire and then putting a bit of solder on the end to keep the strands from fraying (impossible to stick through a pcb hole), the wire acts like solid core but is way more forgiving when it comes to movement.


That's why I mentioned the cardboard. Not as complicated as MetalGod's pic. I just meant support and pick up the circuit, all the knobs, (the battery is the real prob - heavy with thin leads), etc with a shoebox lid or something and there will be far less movement to worry about. 

[MetalGod]

Thats crazy what is it?

started out as a fuzz face, I've done all the usual mods and also tried a few other ideas.

not all of that is wired up, I've left many of the failed mods in place and bypassed them with a DPDT in case I change my mind about them later.

[Barcode80]

pre-tinned means that the strands are already fused together.  Instead of stripping stranded wire and then putting a bit of solder on the end to keep the strands from fraying (impossible to stick through a pcb hole), the wire acts like solid core but is way more forgiving when it comes to movement.


That's why I mentioned the cardboard. Not as complicated as MetalGod's pic. I just meant support and pick up the circuit, all the knobs, (the battery is the real prob - heavy with thin leads), etc with a shoebox lid or something and there will be far less movement to worry about. 

i've always just twisted the ends to put stranded through a pcb, is that not acceptable practice?

[Paul Marossy]

I love using pre-tinned wire, too!