I've been using Radio Shack 30 AWG insulated wire (wire wrap wire) to wind my binocular cores for RX antennas. It comes in 50 foot spools, and you can buy it in Blue, Red, or White. This insulated wire has made winding of my binocular cores a real pleasure. No more worries about scratching the enamel coating on the magnet wire that used to drive me nuts, and no more messing around removing the enamel coating on the ends (I just use normal cheap wire strippers to remove the insulation on the ends of the wires for connection purposes). Have never had problems using this wire without the use of plastic/teflon sleeves (but I was also not attempting to keep the primary and secondary turns separate (using sleeves) for purposes of reduced capacitance between the windings in my applications)
Here are the Radio Shack part numbers for the wire I use : Red : 278-501 White : 278-502 Blue : 278-503 Cost is $5.49 per spool. 73, Don On Wed, Aug 21, 2013 at 12:46 PM, George Dubovsky <n4ua...@gmail.com> wrote: > I have used plastic coffee stirrers from the fast food joints; they start > out smaller and they cost the same... ;-) > > 73, > > geo - n4ua > > > On Wed, Aug 21, 2013 at 11:48 AM, <n0...@juno.com> wrote: > > > From recent postings: > > > > > I started using Teflon sleeves in windings because I ran out of small > > Teflon > > wire wrap wire I was using. Without Teflon on the wires, and with normal > > mag > > wire, the enamel was easily scratched. Not only that, lightning would > > punch > > through from enamel to core, or from wire to wire. > > > > ** Telon is easily nicked, the type of wire used in modern vehicles is > > very > > robust but with the sleeves plain ole magnet wire works well and allows > > even > > smaller winding bundles. > > > > > > RE: binocular cores and sleeving.... > > I didn't have the right size of Teflon sleeves in my junque drawer, so I > > cut > > appropriate lengths of used soda straws from McD's, slit them lengthwise, > > then cut off the excess (lengthwise). Then I curled the cut straw > > sections > > and pushed them through the cores. The result is a near perfect fit > > with a slight overlap at the lengthwise cuts. The overlaps can > > be oriented toward the "outside" of the core so the wire won't > > have a tendancy to open up the overlap. > > > > 73, > > Charlie, N0TT > > _________________ > > Topband Reflector > > > _________________ > Topband Reflector > _________________ Topband Reflector