Wire Sources: Wire from Ethernet cable?

[daveindelaware]

I think part of the "lure" of this hobby (at least for me) is finding things to use that are readily available at home, as opposed to going out and just buying it.

Sure, recycling is good, and going "green" is good....

But, when you can "extract" or "discover" a component or host or anything for your project from something you already have, well, that's better.

 

[MarioMaster]

Whenever I take stuff apart, I take all the extra wire and put it in a box, now whenever I need assorted bits for projects I have all I need (I have two of these boxes now)

 

[daveindelaware]

Now that's a lot of wire!!

 

[photonaholic]

Whenever I take stuff apart, I take all the extra wire and put it in a box, now whenever I need assorted bits for projects I have all I need (I have two of these boxes now)

Wire harnesses from copy machines, gobs and gobs of light gauge stranded wire in every color of the rainbow.

BONUS lots of cool connectors too, great for making custom harnesses.

 

[Benm]

Polychromatic spaghetti - looks tasty

 

[brtaman]

Yeah what everyone else said, sure you can buy wire..that's not the problem...but one of the great things I like about electronic hobbies is recycling. When I take apart a computer monitor, I don't only take the LOPT and HOT out of it, I take all rectifiers/capacitors/cable/(even resistors some times)/relays...basically I leave a bare board...except for those tiny ~1/4W resistors...now those....those are to cheap to waste time on.

I always end up having a use for the recycled, I am pretty sure that there is not one project I have ever completed that didn't use recycled components, plus its free. :beer:

 

[photonaholic]

I salvage a lot too, and even sometimes resistors.

I live so far out in the boondocks that if I need a resistor, I can drive to town (1/2 hour each way) burn up $5 worth of gas, be gone for 90-120 minutes, depreciate my truck, etc... or just extract that 10k ohm honey from an old transistor radio and finish my project before I could warm up my truck for the road trip..

 

[HIMNL9]

@ MarioMaster and photonaholic: LOL, your wires box resembles a lot mine .....

BTW, think a moment and you will see that you can find wires almost everywhere, actually ..... old power cables if you need some decent sections, old network, serial or parallel printer cables for a lot of thin wires, phone cables for breadboards jumper wires, old scart or monitor cables and burglar alarm / videosurvey cables if you need also some shielded cables, between the thin wires, and so on ..... we're surrounded from cables

 

[photonaholic]

I also picked up a few industrial size rolls of wire from a shop called "skycraft surplus" in Orlando Florida when I lived there, Fairly sure a couple of those rolls still have the shrink wrap on them.

For breadboard use, I prefer solid conductor wire, for connecting boards to other things, I prefer stranded wire for it's flexibility.

If I need to connect my breadboard to other things, I tin the end of the stranded wire to make it solid.

My biggest gob of wire ever is a coil of 3/8 inch steel 5 strand wire, there has to be a mile of it out there. I use it to make fence. and it was free too. (electric company surplus)

Ever try to un tangle 3/8 inch wire that is stiff as nails??? it's not fun.

The idiot who unloaded the wire for me, pushed the big wooden spool off the back of the truck, the spool broke apart on impact, ant the tightly wound cable went "kerboing" and now its tangled up.!

 

[roddenberry]

I also love to recycle everything... My old JVC 27" TV started showing its age, so I got myself a new TV and proceeded to cannibalize the old TV:

I also participate in the 4HV forum so I gather stuff for high voltage projects like HV caps, flybacks, power resistors, power semiconductors, connectors, wire, hardware etc... everything is then carefully sorted and put in my parts bins. I rarely have to buy electronics parts because i've been doing this since the late 1970, so you can imagine I have gathered (hoarded) quite a few parts since then.

Plus a few years ago, an old electrician croaked and I got to buy his entire inventory of vintage brand new electronic parts... and his vintage VTVM, scopes and function generators... an antique radio restorer's wet dream!!!

To get back to the OP's inquiry, CAT5/6 cable is most of the time solid wire except for short patch cables made of flexible plenum wire... that stuff is usually stranded, and much more flexible than the cable spools made for permanently installed wall wiring.

- Robert

 

[Tech_Junkie]

Dont get me wrong, I have a milk create packed with wires. But they a mostly remnants of wire I bought for other project. I'm anal about doing things correct the first time. I guess if I knew for a fact that a certain wire would work, but I would never take the chance if I didn't.

 

[charliebruce]

I also love to recycle everything... My old JVC 27" TV started showing its age, so I got myself a new TV and proceeded to cannibalize the old TV:

I also participate in the 4HV forum so I gather stuff for high voltage projects like HV caps, flybacks, power resistors, power semiconductors, connectors, wire, hardware etc... everything is then carefully sorted and put in my parts bins. I rarely have to buy electronics parts because i've been doing this since the late 1970, so you can imagine I have gathered (hoarded) quite a few parts since then.

Plus a few years ago, an old electrician croaked and I got to buy his entire inventory of vintage brand new electronic parts... and his vintage VTVM, scopes and function generators... an antique radio restorer's wet dream!!!

To get back to the OP's inquiry, CAT5/6 cable is most of the time solid wire except for short patch cables made of flexible plenum wire... that stuff is usually stranded, and much more flexible than the cable spools made for permanently installed wall wiring.

- Robert

Nice collection - I cannibalised a couple of old TVs destined for the tip, now need some inspiration for something interesting to do with all the bits I have. Any tips on something (preferably safe)? I'd like to build a Tesla Coil or other HV deadliness, but I'd hate to kill myself in the process Or should I just take the risk? I've always treated mains with a slightly obsessive degree of respect/awe/fear...

EDIT: I also have an MOT lying around somewhere and a long reel of high-gauge wire...

 

[roddenberry]

The 4HV.org forum is to high voltage projects and tesla coils what LPF is to laser pointers - a vast source of information with lots of helpful folks - if you do your homework! Check it out, it'll get you on the right path to this captivating (but dangerous) hobby.

- Robert

 

[icecruncher]

The 4HV.org forum is to high voltage projects and tesla coils what LPF is to laser pointers - a vast source of information with lots of helpful folks - if you do your homework! Check it out, it'll get you on the right path to this captivating (but dangerous) hobby.

- Robert

Ohhhhhhh! Jacobs Ladder, Van der graph Generator, Tesla Coils.....

Start working on gas lasers and you'll go to that forum a few times.

BTW my 1000' roll I've been using for years is solid copper 24AWG with 4 twisted pairs.

 

[photonaholic]

I also love to recycle everything... I've been doing this since the late 1970, so you can imagine I have gathered (hoarded) quite a few parts since then. - Robert

Since 1970, wow! you do have a small head start. I started piling clutter around 1974.

I'm anal about doing things correct the first time. I guess if I knew for a fact that a certain wire would work, but I would never take the chance if I didn't.

Usually a harness removed from a duct or channel in a solid steel frame is perfect unless mice got in there first. (obvious damage) but since it has been subjected to no flexing whatsoever since it was installed into the chassis, there is virtually no chance that the wire will fail to conduct electricity.

Heavily oxidized wires I send to the dump.

Components are easily tested, so I check them first. It's worth the savings.

Ohhhhhhh! Jacobs Ladder, van der graaf Generator, Tesla Coils......

Fun stuff, built a killer Jacobs ladder from a neon sign power pack (HV exciter)

It was 4 feet tall, Bakelite base copper coated welding rods for the rabbit ears. Just awesome.