Here's a handy idea a colleague technician suggested which I used successfully
I wanted to wrap something around 2 wires from a temperature sensor to make a neat cable. The sensor came with 2 3 foot teflon wires, but nothing to hold them together. You can get teflon shrink tubing but it is expensive and tends to be kind of stiff. My colleague, martin, suggested using teflon plumber's tape thusly. I fixed two pegs to clamps on the edge of my bench so that they stuck up a few inches in the air far enough apart to hold the wires. I filed slots in the tops of these pegs to hold the wires and taped them in place so the wires were neatly stretched out above the bench edge. I took plumber's teflon tape, rolls cost a buck or so from any hard warestore, and started near one end of the wires. First I wrapped two or three turns over top of each other going around the wires, and holding a little pressure. The tape isn't sticky but sticks to its self when pulled only slightly tight. Then I began wrapping the tape in a spiral around the wires trying to keep maybe a 30 degree angle where the tape left the wires so as to make the spiral. Make sure each wrap covers the previous one by about half the tape width. It is not, as you may think, a fussy or critical job, it just takes a bit of time. As long as there is some slight tension as you wrap, it comes out fine and makes a nice neat, non-meltable covering. I slipped short lengths of actual shrink tubing over the ends, one where the wires came from the temperature probe, and one where I soldered the wires into a 1/4 inch plug. These make sure the ends of the teflon tape stay put. Shrink the tubing with your heat gun, or someone's hot breath if available, and you're done. It's been kicking round the lab for a week during testing and hasn't fallen apart yet. This scheme would be hard to do for longer lengths, but worked great for this setup. Apparrently even though my wraps aren't perfectly even, it looks fine. Have fun Tom Fowle
