Where do you get the wire you use in your projects?

[Megamox]

Im having trouble finding anyone who sells the wire i normally use to make the links in the breadboard and PCB circuits i make. Its single core insulated copper wire, with less than 1mm total diameter. The closest i can find is 1/0.6mm which is a little thicker.. i know im being picky but does anyone know where to get the thinner stuff because its easier to manipulate and bend around components. Any help appreciated.

Megamox

 

[Styx]

farnell

 

[Megamox]

Thanks alot, looks good!

Megamox

 

[Someone Electro]

I dont pay much atenction to the wire i use.I just use networking cable becose it has nice flecible single strand wires and the unsulation can be easaly peald off.They are multiple coolors as well

 

[Styx]

Yer Farnell are alot better then RS (Farnell still supply to the public).

Word of advice, its not really that viable to get the odd one or two things from there. If you are after such Maplins has a convineice factor with it.

If you can hold out for a few things (~£50 worth) then Farnell starts getting very useful.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Yer Farnell are alot better then RS (Farnell still supply to the public).

Don't RS supply to the public as well?, I thought they were like Farnell in that respect, both supply anyone, but charge postage - account holders get free postage.

 

[Styx]

Yer Farnell are alot better then RS (Farnell still supply to the public).

Don't RS supply to the public as well?, I thought they were like Farnell in that respect, both supply anyone, but charge postage - account holders get free postage.

That might of changed 6months ago so you might be right now.
RS stopped supplying to the General Public a couple of years ago (and their trade counters would only supply to tradesmen) . Farnell never did that and accepted credit cards from the GP.

RS might of changed their polacy since it would of affected their sales, but I havn't ordered from RS in abt a year (work wise that is).

It would be good if RS do supply to the public. Although they are more expensive in some things, they do stock some stuff that Farnell dont (even though you can order Newark parts from Farnell - good for obsure IC's)

On the while for me it is Maplins for little things (or a cheaky work order) or if quite a few a good-old Farnell phonecall, just dont buy tools from Farnell far too expensive to the GP

 

[Megamox]

Id love to pick some up at maplin but they dont seem to have anything thinner than 1/0.6mm. Same with Rapid. Just checked out farnell, kinda horrified. 1/0.6mm is about £3 per 100m reel. But 1/0.5mm is £37 !!!

I dont get that.

 

[madmikejt12]

how strange, are you sure it's not £3.70? lol could be a typing error on the website (presuming you looked on the website)

 

[madmikejt12]

maplin do a jumper wire selection here: **broken link removed**

 

[Megamox]

Yeah ive seen the links, id much prefer a reel to work with. Yep the price on the 1/0.5 is £37, but i found some 1/0.4 reels on there for about £14.

1/0.5
https://uk.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSe...=true&paramSearch=true&st=parametricSelection

1/0.4
ttph://uk.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/searchPage2.jsp?Ntk=gensearch&comSearch=true&select2=187281&paramSelectCount=8&showImages=true&st=parametricSelection&N=1003941+401&Ntt=wire&comSearch=true&paramSearch=true&st=parametricSelection

Still the price diff from a reel of 1/0.6 to 1/0.4 is about 3 times. Maybe theres a wire shortage on the smaller diameters!

 

[Styx]

Na as I said Farnell come into its own in large quantities

--EDIT--
Well that first link is for 250m worth so not really suppriesed at the price and also silver-plated copper wire :shock:

 

[Dean Huster]

While I was stationed on Okinawa with the U.S. Navy, our U.S. Naval Security Group Activity (Hanza) was "deinstalling" an entire room of equipment. Into the Dumpsters, they were throwing away the interconnecting cables. Had I waited overnight, the local Okinawans would have Dumpster-dived for the cables and sold them for next to nothing for the copper. I ended up with around 200 feet of 50 individually shielded pairs, each with a bare drain wire, each having at leat 95% shielding. All wires and shields were tinned copper. Wire was #22 AWG solid and each was covered with solid-color insulation with a decently-high melting point unlike the cheapie PVC. And with 50 pairs, I ended up with all ten of the standard colors, black through white, 0 through 9. I could use the shields for all sorts of heavy-current bus uses or pull together several strands of braid 12 feet long for making some super-current automotive jumper cables after adding some high-quality clamps to the ends. The bare wire is great for PCB jumpers and short jumpers (power and ground connections come to mind) for solderless breadboarding. Needless to say, it's a lifetime supply of wire for me!

Ergo, an excellent source of such wire is to see what the telephone companies leave behind or throw away. Check them out to see if they'd part with some. No sense buying if it's free! Both telephone and CAT-5 cable tend to be #24 AWG vs. #22, but still plenty useable for breadboarding or hard wiring.

Dean

 

[Megamox]

Its funny you mention that, because once i saw the BT phone guy repairing a box and the wire they usually use, in amongst that mess of jumbled wire is pretty much what i need, so one day i asked him if he'd part with a reel for a £5. Best deal i ever made. Never saw the guy again...

Shoulda bought in bulk

Megamox

 

[moody07747]

for my bread boards i usually use 22g wire (doorbell wire, the thin stuff)
but its a bit small and pops out easily so i got some 20g and it works well...i get my wire from the shack but im going to try some online places as the shack prices are going through the roof... $3 for a SPST sub-mini toggle...