Post by 6A8G. on Oct 9, 2021 8:59:59 GMT 12
I've always liked the the look of rubber for test leads - I think the first ones I ever saw must have been rubber.
The nearest alternative seems to be silicon - it's certainly compliant enough but it's shiny!
Then I had an idea. the old & I mean really old cloth-covered flexes had rubber wire in them. About three years ago I bought a couple off Trade Me - sold on the advice that they weren't approved for mains use any more & that they possibly contained asbestos.
As I had nothing to lose I tried patiently stripping away the cloth covering &, sure enough, the three wires inside were rubber.
Remembering the possibility of asbestos I made sure I had a mask. Not one of those blue Covid ones, but a proper painter's mouth cover.
Then we had the second big lockdown. It was actually quite nice settling into the workshop, stoke up the DVD player & patiently unravel.
It paid off. I was lucky - most of the wire was in very good condition.
here's what I got:
The actual conductors are silver in colour but they take solder well enough - especially after a little solder paste.
