What do you guys use for chassis wiring on old tube gear?

Alpha and Belden still appear to manufacture 600V hookup wire. Newark and other industrial suppliers still sell it.

Automotive wire is not designed for high voltage work, but if you like fires, go ahead and use it. The 'thicker insulation' is to prevent abrasion, not to provide insulation for high voltages.

I generally dont buy from those big industrial companies. Mostly because they have minimum orders, charge high shipping and handling, and in this case I imagine I'd have to buy huge spools. At my age, and since this is just a hobby, I dont want to spend a fortune on wire I'll never use most of. Plus I'd like an assortment of colors.

Most of the shopping I do for antique parts is from small sellers who cater to antique restorers, or from ebay. But I have not found any sellers who sell suitable wire. My ideal would be five or six 25 foot spools of assorted colors.

One thing that does work, is common house wiring. Most of that is rated at 600V, but the thinnest gauge is #14. Hard to use because it's too thick.

Another thing I have done is to strip insulation off house wire, and use it for "spaghetti" on component leads. That works well.

I've got no shortage of suitable wire. Maybe mixed selection packs would sell on ebay.

NT

If you send a check with the order, they were paying the shipping. I will no longer reply to anything you post.

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sell on ebay.

I still have some of the ~ 25 thousand feet that I bought 40+ years ago. I paid $10 for more than a 55 gallon drum full of metal 250' spools in many c olors. It is now so old that what is left is mostly useless. The same for s om reels of RG174 that have dried out and is crumbling bout I got more than the $20 that I spent for what I've used. It is easy to snap the outer insu lation, and slip off the tinned braid to use for solder wick.

Try shoelaces.

On Apr 13, 2019, snipped-for-privacy@myshop.com wrote (in article):

Look for MTW wire (?Machine Tool Wiring?). It has high strand count, finer strands. Most sizes have 19 or greater strands. Easy to bend.

It?s commonly found in marine supply stores because it?s used in boats.

rand count,

used in boats.

why would you need the extra flexibility in valve gear? And for someone just doing a bit as a hobby, can't enough be salvaged from junk?

NT

That sounds promising. I know of a marine / boating store not too far away too.

rand count,

used in boats.

Hookup wire is typically 20 AWG, and is often solid wire. I posted a link t o a kit of six, 225' rolls for $16. that 19 strand wire is probably THHN wi th a nylon overjacket, like I used for commercial fire alarms. It is not su itable for point to point wiring on a chassis, unless you are not capable o f doing anything right.

MTW is a good choice. Some other options include: TEW (often synonymous wi th MTW), but also THHN and THWN. Back in the day when I was involved in d esigning control panels for industrial process control, these were the defa ults. You can google the meanings and differences. We used different wire types based on if the panels needed to be UL approved and environmental co nstraints, etc. For most tube gear, (unless it is going on a sea vehicle) these wire types should be OK. The standard for us was 600V insulation.

Beware of buying wire on ebay (and other places such as home depot, etc)... most of the wire is copper clad aluminum which, IMHO, should be avoided. P ain to solder, does not make a good crimp connection. (given this group, I am sure someone will wanna go to the mat on this point ...lol. To each their own) John

Alpha and Belden are good mfg of wire (as noted earlier). Also, check out Carol Cable. I consider these three to be of the best wire/cable quality.

On Apr 16, 2019, three_jeeps wrote (in article):

I bought a mains cable that would be attracted by a magnet. Iron wire is one of China?s latest cheap modes.

On Apr 16, 2019, Michael Terrell wrote (in article):

Look at MTW or TEW. It?s not THHN. THHN has fewer strands and has the clear jacket over the poly insulation that makes it a BEAR to use in tight spaces. THe clear jacket is to provide extra protection when pulling through conduit and those wonderful pull ?els?.

one

Wonderful, I wonder who is responsible for letting this junk in? We used t o have standards that were applied at some higher level, but they are being undermined and ultimately the end user has to be very well aware of the pr oduct details. Personally, if not easily found in 1-2 mouse clicks, it is off my list...lol

One kink I found out: they want to charge you the state sales tax in the destination state if you do this. I needed *one* wall-wart a while back, so I mailed them a check. They duly shipped the wart, along with a nastygram that I owed them 35 cents, or whatever it was.

Matt Roberds

I doubt to OP even has a checking account, or that he would spend the $17 to do anything right.

They state that you have to pay any taxes on their website.

Or, instead of all the other bull s*it answers, you can just buy the right stuff. It's what I use.

LOL at "checking account". One old-timer laughing at another.

The rest of the world stopped using them almost entirely like two decades ago. I mean we still have them, we just never need to use them in the 21st century.