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Re: [Amps] Stripping Litz

To: amps@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [Amps] Stripping Litz
From: Chris Wilson <chris@chriswilson.tv>
Reply-to: Chris Wilson <chris@chriswilson.tv>
Date: Sun, 21 May 2017 20:43:09 +0100
List-post: <amps@contesting.com">mailto:amps@contesting.com>

Hello Manfred,

Yes, you have it there Manfred, it's obviously designed (or perhaps
aged) to be in need of an aggressive or unusual none Green chemicals
for stripping the enamel. A shame as my acquaintance has a large drum
of this, but it's obviously been around the houses frustrating users
not savvy to its secrets for stripping the enamel. Each strand is far
too fine to allow stripping mechanically, although I can appreciate
where a wire wheel could do the job on more robust strands. Sod's Law
and all that, no doubt it will remain an enigma to those who become
excited by its virgin state and its potential should one crack its
secrets!

As an aside I am awaiting Mouser sending the cores to try your auto
transformer, and a friend to gift some suitably sized enamel wire.


I will start a new thread re a separate matching transformer versus
matching impedance with the auto transformer. You may regret your
generous assistance, one question begets many more Manfred ;)


Thanks  for your reply and your generous sharing of hard won knowledge
here!

###################################################

On Sunday, May 21, 2017,  you wrote:

> Chris,

>> Even using the hot air tip on a butane soldering iron for
>> a minute fails to do more than darken the insulation, as does a bare
>> flame. It's a nightmare to strip,....

> Well, MOST Litz wire is of the solder-through variety, but not all of it
> is. You seem to have gotten some extra high temperature Litz wire that
> probably needs some special solvent for stripping, that typically needs
> to be used hot. The manufacturer surely can provide that solvent to 
> industrial customers... but a hobbyist most often can't even find out 
> who the manufacturer is!

>> It's nice
>> wire of a reasonable core size for coil winding, but if I can't strip
>> it its just X kilos of copper.... :(

> Yes. I wouldn't bother with Litz wire that can't be soldered the normal
> way. I suggest you dump it, and get some solderable Litz wire instead.

> A note to all those who haven't worked with Litz wire: The strands are
> so fine that stripping them by any mechanical method will rip off most
> of them, or at least weaken them so much that they might fail later. For
> the same reason any chemical strippers that attack copper shouldn't be
> used either.

> And yet another note, to Chris and to anyone else trying to tin the end
> of Litz wire or any thin solder-through enameled copper wire:

> - Set the soldering iron pretty hot, hotter than for PCB work. If you 
> don't have temperature control, you might want to use one of those 
> ultra-cheap non-regulated irons of 40 watts or so. They tend to get much
> too hot for normal work, but are great for tinning such wires!

> - Tin the tip of the iron, forming a small blob of solder.

> - Stick the very end of the wire into this blob. Now start slowly adding
> rosin-cored solder to the blob, so as to maintain a supply of fresh, 
> active flux. If the blob gets too large, let it fall off, and keep 
> slowly adding fresh solder. The fresh, active rosin is essential in this
> process. With most solder-through insulations a flux-free blob of solder
> won't do, nor will a solder pot.

> - When the wire is starting to take the solder, you can slowly push it
> through the blob, while adding solder, to tin as much of its length as
> you need.

> With the proper wire, this process is easy, once you learn how to do it
> right. With non-solderable wire, it won't work. Avoid non-solderable 
> thin enameled wire.

> Manfred







-- 
Best regards,
 Chris                            mailto:chris@chriswilson.tv

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