Favorite wire

[fossilshark]

Hi all, I saw a thread a while ago where everyone was discussing their preferred wire types but I cannot find it (I tried searching "best wire" and "favorite wire").

I need to restock the shop and I want to move away from the cloth pushback wire I have been using, what is your favorite wire insulation type/AWG? Also, any recommendations on shielded cable that isn't a pain to work with?

Side note while I'm here, what is that wax coated string called that people use to tie up bundles of wire? I would like to start using that too.

[shooter]

always called it "cable lace"  used to be an artform in it's own right, I would actually feel "guilty" having to cut a beautifully laced cable bundle 


EDIT;
here's links on voltage rating, maybe the links will lead you down your rabbit hole


https://el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=24493.0

[dwinstonwood]

I love this Weico stranded wire. It's super easy to strip and it's very reasonably priced:

https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/wire-weico-24awg-stranded-top-coat-pre-tinned-300v-50-feet

They also have Weico 22AWG stranded and solid core.

[acheld]

My preferred hook up wire now is just 20 or 22AWG bus wire, with PTFE insulation.  It's a little more work, but . . .

I also like the Weico stranded wire, very easy to work with, and stays where you put it.

For heaters, I use stranded Mil-spec 22AWG with PTFE or Tefzel insulation -- I can twist that very tight.
 
Cable lace is beautiful!   But, beyond my attention span . . .

Shielded wire is always a chore.  I prefer and normally use RG316 due to the PTFE inner insulation, but it is stiffer than RG174.    M27500-22RC1S06 22 Gauge RC-06 is also good as its conductor is 22AWG, usually found on eBay.

[astronomicum]

I prefer the UL1007 rated wires: 20 and 22 gauges for most needs. Very reasonably priced. Rated 600V for electronic use. Insulation is thinner than commercially available 600V wires.

[johnnyreece]

I like topcoat wire.  It holds its shape like solid core, but isn't as fragile. 

[EL34]

Wax coated string I have seen looks like flat and waxed dental floss.
you can get floss in wide widths

Try that

[murrayatuptown]

Lacing cord is (or was) available both waxed and unwaxed. I've seen black, white, off-white and khaki (once). I hated the unwaxed because it was harder to keep the tension when tying a knot. But they might have had different purposes. I was building cables with expandable sleeving over them and we usually wanted as tight as possible to keep things from moving when the cables were handled, relocated, etc. For wiring harnesses in a chassis, it might be undesirable to 'strangle' the wires in the bundle (for multiple reasons), especially if PVC, and totally unnecessary because no one is stressing a chassis wiring harness by carrying it from a hanging rack to a factory test fixture or to a  vehicle in the field.

So when unwaxed was what was on the shelf, I'd complain and someone would give me a partial spool of waxed because he knew where to get another full spool.

I always thought waxed dental tape for home use, also. But I haven't used it at home yet. I don't want minty floss and like the look of black...but there doesn't seem to be a market for black dental floss. Maybe in Montana? It seems like you'd have an immediate visible process indicator for when to stop.

The guy who taught me how to tie basic knots that sufficed for cable-building would always repeat himself admiring a retiree's continuous lacing for harnesses. I never needed that so I never learned. I bet it's in a book somewhere that has been scanned & archived. I'll go look.

Waxed hair example

Waxed cord example

Army TPUB book
https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&cx=partner-pub-8029680191306394:9289819292&q=http://armycommunications.tpub.com/ss03285/Cable-Forms-111.htm&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiM3qmKgYeIAxVUg4kEHfp_LXMQFnoECAAQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2snBnGHJxOkcJzfoANgLR4

This is what I imagined was out there. There is a lot of vocabulary in this. Cable forms seem to start around page 104-105 +/- or so. If you start backscrolling there is info on color-striped wiring which is probably completely irrelevant and unlikely in consumer gear. It sux when it's PVC and the colors fade (just like with resistors) except with color-striped wire, any combination is possible, but with resistors you can sanity check against standard/preferred values or use an ohmmeter. Same with checking continuity on wiring whose color doesn't make sense (or colorblindness exists), but that doesn't solve every dilemma and the language becomes colorful.

I didn't read the whole document. I imagine there might be instructions on cable lacing, and you don't need more than 1 or 2 or 3 methods to have survival skills.

These TPUB books used to be downloadable free several years ago, and you could find Army or Navy electronics training. The website below seems offer the docs for purchase but use online is free. A lot of standards were retired (or some other vintage term...not deprecated...abandoned?)

Ooh...here, NASA stuff
https://workmanship.nasa.gov/lib/insp/2%20books/links/sections/files/401.pdf

This one hangs up in download probably for an expired web security certificate. If you don't like that, search elsewhere for a different archive. NASA-STD-8739 (Rev 4A?) The pictures start around sheet 28 after the vocabulary/glossary. This stuff may put you to sleep faster than my posts.

http://everyspec.com/search_result.php?cx=partner-pub-0685247861072675%3A94rti-pv850&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=cable+lacing&sa=Search&siteurl=everyspec.com%2F&ref=everyspec.com%2F&ss=1876j412350j12

Murray   

[GlideOn]

Gavitt 18awg or 22awg, hands-down.

I like wire that holds shape and doesn't melt immediately when you're soldering in a tricky spot.

Fender knew this in 1955.

[Joel]

M22759 various slash and dash numbers for colour and gauge.  M22759/11-20 white, 20 gauge.  19 strands of silver coated copper wire PTFE insulation.  Simply magic to solder, and indestructible in guitar amps.  Not much good for holding bends though.

We call lacing cord "spot tie" in the RAAF.  I think I have a roll of the black stuff in the shed.  Still used for individual ties, but ask a young technician to lace a cable and watch the confusion wash over their faces.  Used to be a core part of initial trade training....  But sadly, in the age of repair-by-replacement no "real" technical hand skills are taught any more.