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| Step two - the tedious Teflon wrapping job. This is very important to keep the wires in place, plus
to keep out oxygen in order to avoid wire oxidation. The design allows for plenty of air to be around the conductors, so it's essentially
a semi-air dielectric, with some cotton and some teflon touching the wires. Wrap the teflon at least twice across the entire length of the rope, overlapping each time as you go. This will put about 4-5 layers of teflon tape on the conductors. It's thin tape, so don't be skimpy here. Next to the flex tubing, this will be the only mechanical protection of the conductors, plus it's what holds them in place when you move the cables. It is these spools that force you to build a jig that is at least 4" above the base, as it makes it a lot easier to do the wrapping job. I use the spools in the orientation shown on the photo - if you reverse it you'll be unrolling the tape as you go. This way you can keep some tension on the tape and the spool will remain close to the rope you are wrapping. this step took about 1 hour per 5 foot wire this time around, and I have some practice doing this. Take your time to do this right. You can increase the performance of the wire by spacing the Teflon tape away from the silver by wrapping cotton twine around the entire length of it, as closely as possible. There are some images of how I did that in my second set of cables at the end of this set of instructions. Ideally, a thin sleeve of cotton could be pulled over the wires before wrapping the Teflon around it (to keep it air tight). I have not found a source for such cotton tubing yet. Using the cotton twine seems to hold the silver wires in place better anyway, yet it takes over an hour of wrapping per wire run. |
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