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In your soldering video you mentioned stranded wire, and how you need to find smaller stranded stuff...


The wire I use for most of my projects these days is 30 AWG stranded teflon-insulated wire.  The part number I used to use to order the stuff from Digi-Key is apparently no longer viable (and searching through their site it seems 100' spools are pretty expensive) - but you can find wire on Mouser...  Just go to "Products->Wire & Cable->Wire - Single Conductor" and enter 30 AWG as the size, "apply filters", then select all the options for stranded wire (omitting "solid") and hit apply again...


Bottom line, you can get a spool of 100' of 30 AWG stranded wire (about 1mm thick, including insulation) for about $24.


Originally I bought the wire when I was building this kit.  See how the commentary talks about "arm unfolds to double length"?  I lit up the dragon eyes at the end of the arm...  So I ran two wires through the whole length of the arm (five points of articulation) and the wiring still works nine years later.  It's not invincible wire but it holds up pretty well.


Of course, just 'cause I use that particular wire for just about everything doesn't mean it's always the right choice...  Small wire is less durable but also more resilient than large wire.  Durability is mainly an issue in places where there's a single point of physical stress - like a solder joint, or a moving part where all the motion on the wire is being forced onto a single point.  Because it's smaller, it requires less clearance to be able to move around without breaking.  Slightly larger wire can also be easier to work with - and solid-strand wire is definitely easier to work with.  Wire-wrap wire is fantastic stuff, so long as you're not bridging any moving parts with it.


Nice Bebop soundtrack, BTW...


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