[sdiy] connection wire, stranded vs. solid

[Paul Higgins]

Teflon wire drives me absolutely nuts!  I have yet to find a stripper 
that does a reliable job, and I've gone through several, including a 
couple of very expensive ones.  Most of the time I just use my X-Acto 
knife.  Kudos to Neil J. for the info on T-Strippers; I might just have 
to pick up one.  I tend to use the Teflon stuff in vacuum tube projects 
when I need high-density wiring and can't afford the thick insulation 
of regular PVC high-voltage wire.  That's one of the advantages of 
Teflon--high voltage capability with thin insulation.  Anyway, you'd 
think that with so much Teflon wire being used in the aerospace 
industry that Teflon wire stripping tools would be easier to come by.

I use solid-core wire pretty much only for wiring up point-to-point 
circuits, e.g. tube sockets.  I find it a real pain to wire sockets and 
terminal strips with stranded wire.  The stranded stuff I use for all 
panel work, usually real thin stuff like 24 gauge.