What kind of wire should I be using to make connections on a PCB? I've got one of those single sided pad only boards from Radio Shack that I want to use for a 7805 regulator circuit.

No surprise but there wasn't anything at Radio Shack that seemed applicable.

Thanx for any advice.

SP

 

You can use buss wire; basically, tinned copper wire. Sometimes I use wire-wrap wire, because I have a lot of it around here. It's easy to strip the insulation if you have the right tools. Smaller gauge solid wire is pretty easy to work with. I might use AWG 24 to AWG 30, depending on if it's a power/ground line or a signal line. If I'm wiring up heavy duty stuff, I might sweat solder a copper buss strip to the board.

 

Its easier to work with single core wires on a breadboard. For your application a 0.6mm core wire will be fine.

 

0.6mm = AWG 29

 

It's easy to strip the insulation if you have the right tools.

Can ya give me a clue on the right tools Sarge? I do remember blue buss wire in the PCB Rework area from days gone by, but can't for the life of me remember how it got stripped. Wire wrap panels instead of mother boards brings back the 70's, but again, I can't recall how the insulation was removed. It's a bear gettin' old ......

On hand I've got some .024 enameled wire out of a blower motor. There's an ancient paper tape reading machine out back that probably has a bunch of wire wrap in it.

Breadboard jumpers? No stripping required ......

And Thanx for any advice. I have this thing about workmanship and doing things right that gets in my way sometimes ..... but I can't seem to help myself.

SP

 

My wire table may be faulty; wire wrap .o1 in,about 30 ga.,.019 24 ga.telephone house wire lots of colors easy to strip, .0236 , .6 mm about 22 ga. Enameld wire ,hard to mechanically strip ,solvent workable? Wire wrap stripper has a .011 +_, tapered slot. You force the wire to the bottom of the slot and pull the wire out.

 

Can ya give me a clue on the right tools Sarge?

Well, I have a Clauss "No-Nik", 0.018" that I use, and it works really well; doesn't nick the wire. They're pricey though (around $56 nowadays; I've had mine for 20+ years now.)
http://www.claussproducts.com/catalog/model_NN008.htm
I use those just for wirewrap wire. Works great for AWG 26-30.

The really decent automatic wire strippers for larger gauge wire are prohibitively expensive nowadays.

I do remember blue buss wire in the PCB Rework area from days gone by, but can't for the life of me remember how it got stripped.

Well, buss wire doesn't have insulation on it. It's basically just tin or silver plated copper wire. "Hookup" wire has insulation on it. It may be stranded or solid core. I prefer using solid core for point to point on the pcb, and stranded for connections to off the board.

Wire wrap panels instead of mother boards brings back the 70's, but again, I can't recall how the insulation was removed.

Well, some wire wrap tools would remove the insulation automatically. Mine isn't that fancy, but it works well.

It's a bear gettin' old ......

The alternative is unthinkable!

On hand I've got some .024 enameled wire out of a blower motor.

You could use that, I suppose. Use a small flame to melt the enamel from the ends.

There's an ancient paper tape reading machine out back that probably has a bunch of wire wrap in it.

I suppose you could use that, but it may be more trouble than it's worth.

Breadboard jumpers? No stripping required ......

You'll break up your set of jumpers though... and per inch, that's an expensive way to go.

 

Real men just use dull dikes to strip.

The great find used to be an end of telco cable at a job site. Anything up to 20' was just dumped (I had to dig one length up after a bulldozer had run over it). Lots of color coded 24 ga wire in one of those cables.

 

for most pcb wiring I use 30 gauge wire wrap wire(kynar) and this is the tool for stripping
http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...entPage=search&features=features&tab=features
The stripper is inside the handle, you can't see it in the picture. It's available from several other suppliers.