I'm re--wiring an old motor from a Western Electric oscillating fan from the 1920's or 30's.

I successfully re-wired it a few years ago, but one of my wires has now broken at a splice, near the place where the fan pivots.

Any recommendations to prevent that from re-occurring?

I have purchased some cloth covered wire from ebay, in hopes that might help. I'm hoping it will restore the original look as well.

Will that cloth covered 18 ga. wire withstand the pivoting?

Thanks,
Gary

 

Stranded or solid wire? Stranded would be way better than solid, but either way you should put a loop in the wire to spread the strain over a longer length.

 

I guess just ensure that its got enough slack/service loops to take the pivoting.

 

For best wire life you need the strands as fine as possible, and the bend radius as large as possible.

If you have some old multimeter leads, they are VERY fine stranded copper for long flex life. You could use a bit of that lead, and just slide some cloth covering (taken off other wire) over the high flex wire.

 

Thanks everyone for the recommendations.
Looking at a new oscillation fan, I see how they create a big loop, that pivots with minimal wire flex. I'll look for fine stranded wire as well.
The old fan belonged to my dad, so I hope I can fix it to last several more years.

Gary