Great Source for Wire

[kiwi gav]

Hi SMA
You may have already figured this out but I thought I might post this idea for obtaining heaps of detailing wire for builds.


As most printers are connected to PCs via network or usb these days the serial cables have become a thing of the past. At my local dump/recycling centre they have boxes and boxes of old computer cables

This one is a old zip drive cable that I found.


I cut the ends off and cut the plastic sheath off


After removing the braided/foil wrap you have multi coloured wires
I hope this is of some use.


Gav

 

[spud]

well now that is handy.

 

[hooterville75]

Wow, nice to know. Looks like Ill be going through the basement and garages at both my parents and my place looking for old computer wires lol.

 

[Jurasikfrank]

Great idea! Cheap too.

 

[Tanker52]

Great idea. Thanks for sharing. 8) 8) 8)

 

[Quaralane]

Definitely good info.
Me, I can go through my old cable stash

 

[hooterville75]

I couldn't find any monitor to tower cords but I did happen to find three laptop cords that are no longer any good to splice open to only find after all that stripping there was ONE strand of white wire in it lol. So I now have three four foot pieces of cable lol. That should do me for a while till I'm experienced enough to start exploring with this type of stuff lol. ;D

 

[Grendels]

I have been doing this for a while now. Most of those old cables are copper and single strand. Which is very good wire for what we do. Much easier to solder than aluminum.

 

[the Baron]

Thanks for the tip on the printer cables!

Speaking as an old-timer (vintage 1964), never throw anything electrical out, without taking it apart and scavenging the contents. Radios, stereo/audio equipment, old appliances--if nothing else, you can cut the power cords off and cannibalize them. I took apart a pair of tower speakers once--I had salvaged them with an eye to making end tables-cum-display cabinets out of them. The shells turned out to be crap, particle board and so, not really what I wanted. But the guts yielded several diffferent gauges of fine wire on spools, along with the magnets and bits and pieces that made up the speaker cones.

The only danger is that you might start hoarding everything, but I find that if I can take extra material to my club and hand it out or trade for other stuff that I don't have.

 

[khimbar]

With a steady hand and a sharp blade and patience you can get a fair bit from an old EIDE cable too.

 

[andrei383]

i have an extra usb cable that i cut into as well, the shielding strands are very fine and can be used for really thin wiring