[sdiy] Enameled wire

[KA4HJH]

>         Something I've always hated is enamel wire. How 'n' hell do you
>strip the enamel off? Any suggestions? Especially for thin winding wire sub
>.5mm .1mm.

Use fine sandpaper folded in half or dip it in a solder pot.

If the wire's not too fine you can melt the insulation back with lots of
solder (if it's too fine you may melt the wire itself). The smell of
burning varnish should only linger in your nose for a day or two.

An open jar of solvent might also work. This has a more interesting odor
and increases the fire risk.

>Finally I've wound my first home made S/PDIF transformer (thanks muchley to
>Steve Ridley, Peter Ullrich and co. It's .5mm winding wire and although
>I've managed to strip and tin most of the diameter of the wire, there's
>always little bits of enamel left.

Are you doing just the ends or the entire piece of wire here?

>It's not so bad with larger diameter wire because I can see it to scrape it
>off but this fine stuff does my brain in. Even with a magnifying lamp.

Wait until you leave the jar of solvent open for a while.
-- 

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

"If The Amazing Kreskin was a mentalist then what the hell is a
fundamentalist?"