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Author Topic: Insulating Wire?  (Read 2880 times)

barryfoote

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Insulating Wire?
« on: July 11, 2009, 10:50:41 am »

I have done a search and not found the answer so this question must not have been asked, which really makes me feel thicker than normal... {:-{ {:-{ {:-{.

I am making up a navigation light for my Craig Tug build and have LED's of 5mm. The wires need to go through a piece of brass tubing with a 2mm gap. How do I insulate the bare wires, coming from the light, from touching each other or the brass tube? Tape is not an option as it is too thick...

Barry
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Insulating Wire?
« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2009, 11:08:41 am »

Barry,

One answer is to use the brass mast as a common negative. Then you only need to worry about the positive lead(s). There is very thin braided wire in telephone and data cables which might be thin enough. If not then it's posible to buy enamelled wire of the type used to wind electric motors and miniature transformers and coils - like this from Maplins http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=44&TabID=1&C=SO&U=strat15

Colin
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Shipmate60

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Re: Insulating Wire?
« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2009, 11:30:04 am »

Barry,
have you got the room to use Heatshrink?

Bob
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barryfoote

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Re: Insulating Wire?
« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2009, 11:36:50 am »

Bob, No. The tube is only 2 mm wide.

Colin, Thanks for that but electronics and I do not go together :embarrassed: :embarrassed: :embarrassed: :embarrassed: :embarrassed: so I simply do not understand the way a Common negative works!!

Barry
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Shipmate60

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Re: Insulating Wire?
« Reply #4 on: July 11, 2009, 11:41:10 am »

Barry,
Connect the battery supply on the negative side to the brass mast.
This makes the whole of the brass section of the mast negative.
Solder the negative leg of the LED to the mast.
This just leaves the positive to be insulated from the mast.
2mm should be fine for heatshrink on the 1 positive line back to the supply.

Bob
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boatmadman

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Re: Insulating Wire?
« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2009, 11:50:50 am »

Use some earthing sleeve as used in domestic wiring, you cut it to length and slide over the wire, its pretty small diameter as well, not sure exactly what size it is.

Ian
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barryfoote

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Re: Insulating Wire?
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2009, 12:11:01 pm »

Bob,

Thanks for a simple explanation.....I think I've got it. That will make it quite a simple matter to run the positive down the little hole. I will give it a go.

Thanks for the quick responses.

Barry
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andrewh

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Re: Insulating Wire?
« Reply #7 on: July 11, 2009, 06:05:20 pm »

Barry

Two typesofwire with VERY thin insulation and readily available are:

Mouse wire - Can you remember when computer mice had wires? :}  If you strip the cable it contains at least 5 fabulous wires - just right for this kind of job!

Also transformer wire is bare copper with insualting anamel on the surface - you can run these touching eavh other or even twist them together - strip a motor, transformer, clock or owt else with a coil in it!

Do go for bob's suggestion of using the mast as one of the wires - means you ony need one wire down the middle :-))
That, BTW is why cars have only one cable to a light or whatever - the car is the return path! 
andrew
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boatmadman

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Re: Insulating Wire?
« Reply #8 on: July 11, 2009, 06:15:41 pm »

Another source of VERY thin wire is alarm cable - comes with multiple strands of coloured thin wire.

Ian
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barryfoote

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Re: Insulating Wire?
« Reply #9 on: July 11, 2009, 06:23:16 pm »

Hey thanks fellas,

I have an old 18 volt drill motor which i can strip the wiring from..

Barry
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malcolmfrary

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Re: Insulating Wire?
« Reply #10 on: July 11, 2009, 06:28:31 pm »

When using the enamelled wire (or the thin ex-mouse stuff) you will have a soldered bit where it joins the LED leg.  Remember to paint this bare bit with a few layers of enamel paint to give the required insulation from the brass bits.  Heatshrink sleeving, should do the job much better from the point of view that it is much tougher than paint, but has the downside that it may not fit.  The enamel on the motor wire will traditionally have two conflicting properties - where you need to remove the insulation, it will be as tough as old shoe leather, but where it is vital that it remain intact, it will be as brittle as glass.
The best bet might be to use heatshrink for the bits either side of the join, and paint the join.
The earth sleeving suggested will probably fit nicely over the outside of the brass, but I doubt it will fit up the inside of a 2mm tube.
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Umi_Ryuzuki

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Re: Insulating Wire?
« Reply #11 on: July 11, 2009, 06:40:22 pm »

Cut the light lead short, and solder outside the mast...

Of course masts are not the clean vertical elements we model them to be.
I usually run two leads up the outside of a mast and call it conduit...
This gives me two circuits up on the mast when using the brass tube as a ground.

Also, if the mast has rigging, the rigging lines could be your wiring also.


Here is a picture of a mast with more than just a ladder running up to the spars.  ok2

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barryfoote

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Re: Insulating Wire?
« Reply #12 on: July 11, 2009, 09:39:46 pm »

Thanks everybody. Well I made the Navigation light and uses some very thin wire I had, which had a coating on it. This was soldered close to the bottom of the LED, which enabled me to pass both the positive and negative wires through the short brass tube. I will still use the common negative idea though.

I have added a couple of pictures of the lamp, which still needs the lens adding. It is made from wooden dowel, paper and brass. When tested it gives off a great beam of light..
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