Melting is possibly the wrong way to put it :). It did tend to damage fine = wire irreparably though. At the minimum the wire seemed to get very brittle= & break apart. At the time I was winding pickup coils with up to 4000 turn= s using .038mm OD (including insulation) wire. After such a laborious job, = the last thing you wanted to do was to damage the wire in stripping the ins= ulation. The number of turns in the system was critical. This week I was making some IF coils for a receiver. Prolonged heating of t= he wire after completing the specified number of turns was damaging the for= mer. Joe -----Original Message----- From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of= Sean Breheny Sent: 07 August 2013 07:51 To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. Subject: Re: [EE]: Looking for chemical wire stripper Copper melted by soldering iron? Perhaps it was actually dissolving in the = solder? On Wed, Aug 7, 2013 at 2:33 AM, Joe McCauley wrote: > That works OK for wires in the region of 0.2mm to say ~0.6mm. Larger > diameters will probably tend to conduct heat away faster I'd speculate > (I would usually use fine sandpaper on those). It is hopeless for the > very small diameter wires as the copper just gets melted. It was while > working with very fine diameter (<38 microns) wire that I first came > across Eccostrip. > > It turns out that the use of methylene chloride in paint strippers has > been banned in the EU since the end of 2010 :(. > > Joe > > ________________________________________ > From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of > Sean Breheny [shb7@cornell.edu] > Sent: 07 August 2013 06:41 > To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. > Subject: Re: [EE]: Looking for chemical wire stripper > > If you are only stripping a small portion and you don't mind the wire > being tinned, a hot soldering iron with a generous blob of solder will > strip magnet wire. The trick is to keep adding solder to the tip of > the iron while it is in contact with the wire. I usually find that > placing the iron tip above the wire and allowing the blob of solder to > hang down and engulf the wire is best. I move it back and forth along > the wire, adding solder and allowing the excess to drip down off the > tip. Periodically it is necessary to wipe the tip to remove any burnt ena= mel residue. > > > On Tue, Aug 6, 2013 at 11:18 PM, Robert Rolf >wrote: > > > Methylene chloride is the active ingredient in most paint strippers. > > You'll probably find that any paint stripper found in your local > > hardware/building supply store will work for stripping enameled > > wire.. > > > > > > > > On Tue, Aug 6, 2013 at 3:11 PM, KPL wrote: > > > > > Looks like cleaners for polyurethane foam guns also contain > > > methylene chloride. > > > > > > On Tue, Aug 6, 2013 at 9:06 PM, Joe McCauley wrote: > > > > So I dug out an old tin of Nitromors paint stripper & it does > > > > contain > > > Methylene Chloride (& Methanol). It has deteriorated , but it does > work, > > > though the effect is not as fast as I'd hoped for. Still it beats > > scraping > > > the varnish off with the attendant risk of physical damage to > > > small diameter wires. I'll have to see now if the modern > > > incarnation of the product will work. > > > > > > > > Thanks for all the help, > > > > > > > > Joe > > > > ________________________________________ > > > > From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On > > > > Behalf Of > > > Joe McCauley [PMCCULEY@tcd.ie] > > > > Sent: 06 August 2013 17:49 > > > > To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. > > > > Subject: RE: [EE]: Looking for chemical wire stripper > > > > > > > > Used to use a product called Nitromors. I believe it no longer > contains > > > Methylene Chloride. I may have some in an old container in my shed. > I'll > > > test & report back if & when I can find it. It would be at least > > > 10 > years > > > old so may have Methylene Chloride. It was a gel if I recall > > > correctly which would be good from a handling perspective. > > > > > > > > I'll also look up MG chemicals as Dwane suggested. > > > > > > > > Joe > > > > ________________________________________ > > > > From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On > > > > Behalf Of > > > Kerry Wentworth [kwentworth@skunkworksnh.com] > > > > Sent: 06 August 2013 16:33 > > > > To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. > > > > Subject: Re: [EE]: Looking for chemical wire stripper > > > > > > > > Yes, it contains Methylene Chloride (and methanol). > > > > What do you use in Ireland to get paint off of furniture? Or cars? > > > > > > > > Kerry > > > > > > > > > > > > Joe McCauley wrote: > > > >> Kerry, > > > >> > > > >> That won't be available here most likely (I'm in Ireland). Do > > > >> you > know > > > what the active ingredient is? > > > >> > > > >> I just tried 66% Nitric Acid. It worked well, but was not > > > >> instant. A > > > colleague tells me fuming nitric acid would be better. It would > > > not exactly be easy to handle though..... > > > >> > > > >> I just found my notes relating to that period (1991!) & the > > > >> product > > was > > > called Eccostrip. It was manufactured by Emerson & Cuming. It is > > apparently > > > no longer made, but one of the active ingredients was Methylene > Chloride. > > > >> > > > >> Thanks, > > > >> > > > >> Joe > > > >> > > > >> -----Original Message----- > > > >> From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] > > > >> On > > > Behalf Of Kerry Wentworth > > > >> Sent: 06 August 2013 15:18 > > > >> To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. > > > >> Subject: Re: [EE]: Looking for chemical wire stripper > > > >> > > > >> I have tried acetone and denatured alcohol without success. > > > >> After > > > seeing your email, I tried some Klean-Strip Low Odor Aircraft > > > Remover > and > > > it works instantly. Available at auto parts stores. > > > >> > > > >> I suspect any paint remover would work. > > > >> > > > >> Kerry > > > >> > > > >> > > > >> > > > >> Joe McCauley wrote: > > > >> > > > >>> Many years ago while working in a lab in France, I used a > > > >>> chemical > > > stripper to remove the varnish from wire (similar wire to that > > > found in transformers). This would dissolve off the varnish > > > cleanly and > > effortlessly > > > & I used it on wire diameters down to 0.038 mmm. It smelled > > > absolutely horrible (corrosive), but only stripped off the varnish > > > leaving the > > copper > > > perfect. > > > >>> > > > >>> Does anyone know of a substance that will perform similarly? > > > >>> > > > >>> Thanks, > > > >>> > > > >>> Joe > > > >>> > > > >>> > > > >>> > > > >> > > > >> -- > > > >> http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list > > > >> archive > > > View/change your membership options at > > > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > > > >> > > > >> > > > >> > > > >> > > > > > > > > -- > > > > http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > > > > View/change your membership options at > > > > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > > > > View/change your membership options at > > > > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > > > > View/change your membership options at > > > > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > KPL > > > > > > -- > > > http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > > > View/change your membership options at > > > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > > > > > > > > -- > > http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > > View/change your membership options at > > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > > > -- > http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > > > > -- > http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > -- http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/chang= e your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclis= t -- http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .