Tonearm Wire Insulation

[Global]

I am going nuts rewiring an arm at the moment! I have always had difficulty in stripping fine tonearm wire but I can't seem to get the insulation of this Cardas stuff without damaging the conductors.

What is the secret?

Thanks

Mark

[andrew ivimey]

stripping fine and delicate wire is difficult. It has occurred to me in the past that I should start with twice the length I think I will need because I am going to do it wrong again and again and again.

If it is teflon coating this is the worst.

Inelegant as it is, you could always burn round the insulation to make a break with a soldering iron, match etc.

Whatever, we have to take great care with fine wires.

[david counter]

according to the instructions I got with my Ingcognito kit ,
the way to deal with Cardas is by tinning it with the soldering iron,
the plastic burns away to nothing leaving a nice tinned wire
it worked fine for me

[Global]

D'ohhh!

Thank you David! Seems obvious when you know but until you try to solder it you don't see this behaviour and I hadn't tried to solder yet 'cos I was having difficulty stripping it.

Mark

[buddam]

I was thinking of re-wiring my OL Rega 250 with Cardas 33awg. I've been told that Cardas only sell this as bare wire and that anything made up into 2 twisted pairs say with outer cover is not Cardas supported (a la Parts Connexion (or is it Michael Percy). Cardas supplier in UK (near Twickenham , forget the name) told me very bluntly, if not rudely, that Cardas must be bought as individual wires. Is this your experience? Did you buy with the sheath on? And what cartridge clips are you using?

Thanks

Adrian

[david counter]

Interesting, the only Cardas tonearm wire I've seen is sold in seperate colours and not made up with an outer sheath, I didn't know you could get it like that

[Global]

I got my Cardas from Michael Percy in the form of single wire. I was also unaware of any other option.

Mark

[Global]

Well, that did the trick. The arm is now rewired and I am listening to a newly rewired arm with a new cartridge (SME III, Sumiko Pearl).

Funny thing about break-in of a cartridge - you can hear the sound change across one side of an LP. Strange hollow sound at the beginning, becoming quite bearable as we get to the end. I went back and played the side again just to make sure it wasn't a setup problem - but it wasn't. :-)

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

Mark

[John Caswell]

Hi all,
A point about this Cardas enamelled wire and most other solderable enamelled wire.
The approved way to strip this, is heat it in a methylated spirit flame and then immediately dunk it in a solder bath. This is all very well if you have both, but if you haven't then a very hot soldering iron is the next best thing. Using a Weller temp controlled one I find the PT**8 (800F) or PT**9(900F) bits the best, and if you hold the wire in small pliers the enamel doesn't strip off back too far.
Try to avoid getting the fumes up your nose they are none too pleasant.

John aka Dr John

[Gerry]

I'm thinking of re-wiring a couple of arms....is Cardis the best option??? What about buying it....is it still better to do so State side or are there UK distributors selling it reasonably in the UK?

Cheers
Gerry