The local dollar store is offering various materials aimed
at decorative or other consumer grade applications - wood,
adhesive, paper, plastic film, wire etc.

Some of the wire coatings might be suited to short-term
use, in a pinch, if the wire material itself is usable.

Saw 2mm dia AL the other day ( in six colors . . . .),
for which twisted pairs could be hipotted to >2500V.
Allowing for low temperature index, mechanical fragility
and unknown chemical resistance, they have a limited
immediate functionality, in a pinch.

RL

On 6/16/2023 8:25 AM, legg wrote:
> The local dollar store is offering various materials aimed
> at decorative or other consumer grade applications - wood,
> adhesive, paper, plastic film, wire etc.

Most useful item I've found at dollar store was "tea light
holders". Small footprint, reasonably deep (volume) and,
in this case, outward flared rim -- perfect for collecting
screws and other small parts you don't want to misplace when
working on something!

On Fri, 16 Jun 2023 11:25:35 -0400, legg <legg@nospam.magma.ca> wrote:

>The local dollar store is offering various materials aimed
>at decorative or other consumer grade applications - wood,
>adhesive, paper, plastic film, wire etc.
>
>Some of the wire coatings might be suited to short-term
>use, in a pinch, if the wire material itself is usable.
>
>Saw 2mm dia AL the other day ( in six colors . . . .),
>for which twisted pairs could be hipotted to >2500V.
>Allowing for low temperature index, mechanical fragility
>and unknown chemical resistance, they have a limited
>immediate functionality, in a pinch.
>
>RL

The solid copper wire sold for jewelry makers, tin or gold plated, is
super hard and is a bad electrical conductor, not annealed and
probably not all copper. Electrical grade bus wire is much more
expensive.

On Friday, June 16, 2023 at 8:54:50 AM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote:
> On Fri, 16 Jun 2023 11:25:35 -0400, legg <le...@nospam.magma.ca> wrote:
>
> >The local dollar store is offering various materials aimed
> >at decorative or other consumer grade applications - wood,
> >adhesive, paper, plastic film, wire etc.

> The solid copper wire sold for jewelry makers, tin or gold plated, is
> super hard and is a bad electrical conductor, not annealed and
> probably not all copper. Electrical grade bus wire is much more
> expensive.

And, the 'bronze' wire for sale is sometimes bronze-colored
aluminum, which might be fine for jewelry, but terrible for
winding springs. Bronze wool, sold as a nonrusting wood-finishing
item, is real springy bronze, though. I'm currently making my springy
battery connects with a shrinking length of bronze music wire...

On Friday, June 16, 2023 at 11:54:50 AM UTC-4, John Larkin wrote:
> On Fri, 16 Jun 2023 11:25:35 -0400, legg <le...@nospam.magma.ca> wrote:
>
> >The local dollar store is offering various materials aimed
> >at decorative or other consumer grade applications - wood,
> >adhesive, paper, plastic film, wire etc.
> >
> >Some of the wire coatings might be suited to short-term
> >use, in a pinch, if the wire material itself is usable.
> >
> >Saw 2mm dia AL the other day ( in six colors . . . .),
> >for which twisted pairs could be hipotted to >2500V.
> >Allowing for low temperature index, mechanical fragility
> >and unknown chemical resistance, they have a limited
> >immediate functionality, in a pinch.
> >
> >RL
> The solid copper wire sold for jewelry makers, tin or gold plated, is
> super hard and is a bad electrical conductor, not annealed and
> probably not all copper. Electrical grade bus wire is much more
> expensive.

It's probably a cheap metal with tin/ copper plating to make it solderable. Dunno how it could be a bad conductor.

On Fri, 16 Jun 2023 10:53:47 -0700 (PDT), Fred Bloggs
<bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Friday, June 16, 2023 at 11:54:50?AM UTC-4, John Larkin wrote:
>> On Fri, 16 Jun 2023 11:25:35 -0400, legg <le...@nospam.magma.ca> wrote:
>>
>> >The local dollar store is offering various materials aimed
>> >at decorative or other consumer grade applications - wood,
>> >adhesive, paper, plastic film, wire etc.
>> >
>> >Some of the wire coatings might be suited to short-term
>> >use, in a pinch, if the wire material itself is usable.
>> >
>> >Saw 2mm dia AL the other day ( in six colors . . . .),
>> >for which twisted pairs could be hipotted to >2500V.
>> >Allowing for low temperature index, mechanical fragility
>> >and unknown chemical resistance, they have a limited
>> >immediate functionality, in a pinch.
>> >
>> >RL
>> The solid copper wire sold for jewelry makers, tin or gold plated, is
>> super hard and is a bad electrical conductor, not annealed and
>> probably not all copper. Electrical grade bus wire is much more
>> expensive.
>
>It's probably a cheap metal with tin/ copper plating to make it solderable. Dunno how it could be a bad conductor.

Yes, but it usually doesn't solder well either.

Good annealed copper has conductivity almost 6e7 S/m.

Brass is about 28% as conductive as copper. Some bronzes are as low as
7% as conductive as copper.

Any additive to copper wrecks the conductivity.