You know - like when the reel has just dropped! :(

[cathead]

SS lock wire is useful. You have to pay for such stuff if you have anything to do with aircraft work.


This wire is a little too hard for aircraft safety wire. If one tries to twist it significantly, it breaks, unlike aircraft safety wire which twists and holds together.

I have to think it is MIG wire or possibly something else.

 

[graham-xrf]

I have to think it is MIG wire or possibly something else.

That situation is truly depressing.
Unless you twist pieces lightly together, and use for TIG, it's hard to see how you could recycle it.
Getting useful lengths out of a tangle of that stuff and onto even a small size MIG reel seems unlikely!

 

[cathead]

That situation is truly depressing.
Unless you twist pieces lightly together, and use for TIG, it's hard to see how you could recycle it.
Getting useful lengths out of a tangle of that stuff and onto even a small size MIG reel seems unlikely!

My stainless wire is wrapped on a metal cage and in perfect condition so would be usable fore MIG if that is what it is.
I don't have a MIG but could TIG with it I suppose but so far have had no use to weld on stainless steel.

 

[Bi11Hudson]

My brother had a couple "lashers" for tying communications cable to a support strand. The lashing wire is the size of AWG16 (without insulation), is stainless steel, and comes in unbound rolls to fit into the lasher. Since the lashing is fixed at each pole, when a pole is reached and the wire "looks" too short to reach the next pole, a new roll is installed. Like most craftsmen, nothing gets thrown out, but usually ends up in a back corner, a couple of wraps wound around the coil to hold it together. Some were short, some were a couple of hundred feet long. In a rush job with long pole spans, long coils were not unusual.

I, of course, got first refusal when the warehouse was cleaned out. And never refused. Those shorts were usable for things up to fencing several acres. Splicing with a linesman splice assures good continuity for electric fencing. Shorter pieces often got used by the foot to tie anything that needed tying. Sadly, the source has dried up. Brother no longer takes such contracts. But I still have several coils shorts on hand.

Most anything has a purpose beyond what it is manufactured for. It's just a matter of finding that use. I use welding wire for remote actuauors from a barrel bolt. It is rather stiff so doesn't round corners well, but for straight applications is usually my solution of choice. I buy the cheap Horrible Fright .032 wire, ~1/32", 0.8mm. And keep a couple of rolls on hand in case one is lost or so damaged it needs downtime to untangle. Never throw anything away. Storage space can somehow be found.

.

 

[graham-xrf]

My brother had a couple "lashers" for tying communications cable to a support strand. The lashing wire is the size of AWG16 (without insulation), is stainless steel, and comes in unbound rolls to fit into the lasher. Since the lashing is fixed at each pole, when a pole is reached and the wire "looks" too short to reach the next pole, a new roll is installed. Like most craftsmen, nothing gets thrown out, but usually ends up in a back corner, a couple of wraps wound around the coil to hold it together. Some were short, some were a couple of hundred feet long. In a rush job with long pole spans, long coils were not unusual.

I, of course, got first refusal when the warehouse was cleaned out. And never refused. Those shorts were usable for things up to fencing several acres. Splicing with a linesman splice assures good continuity for electric fencing. Shorter pieces often got used by the foot to tie anything that needed tying. Sadly, the source has dried up. Brother no longer takes such contracts. But I still have several coils shorts on hand.

Most anything has a purpose beyond what it is manufactured for. It's just a matter of finding that use. I use welding wire for remote actuauors from a barrel bolt. It is rather stiff so doesn't round corners well, but for straight applications is usually my solution of choice. I buy the cheap Horrible Fright .032 wire, ~1/32", 0.8mm. And keep a couple of rolls on hand in case one is lost or so damaged it needs downtime to untangle. Never throw anything away. Storage space can somehow be found.

.

I do this too!
During installing high power servo kit, there came the need to strip the ends of the 95mm^2 power cable. This stuff is heavy. One guy can reasonably manage a 6ft length. It came off the reel on the back of the truck, and onto industrial version "roller skates", and the business end had to be hauled up the side of the building with a crane. The SWA armour wire under the jacket is galavanized steel wire, and we had 15ft to 20ft lengths of it. It did not get dumped. All of it has lived in my garage over several years, getting "used up" in various ways, mostly on the farm out back. I think quite a lot of the fencing and barriers repairs used most of it. About 3 weeks ago, there was no more use for the last 2ft, which finally went to the tip.

Some folk cannot abide anything "extra" around them. A future need that may never come does not interest them. Sometimes they will throw out something , and have to buy it again 6 weeks later e.g. a 5-litre can of Mobil-1 costing near £48.

I do agree that one should never get too much of stuff that will deteriorate anyway. e.g."Gripfill" structural adhesive will go hard in the tube, even if unopened. PVA solvent free type will keep for years. Various paint will not remain paint, and some will rust through the can from the inside. Chuck it out!

I have to go through my place rooting out various fluids that have stood too long. Does that bottle of brake fluid/Citroen hydraulic suspension fluid remain good? Probably not, and I am unsure if the remains are useful. But.. I will not throw out those used brake discs. There are at least two lathe projects that will appreciate the donation. One can use the centre hub. The other can use the disc outer. The cast pad backs will be used for welding practice with ENiFe-C 55% nickel rod to train up the technique before I take parts of my lathe past the point of no return.

I am not overly OCD (I don't think). There are parts of my place that are hopelessly untidy, though I am trying hard to improve things. Quite a lot of it is valuable stuff I am recycling. Not compulsive hoarding by any means, but I think I recycle most of stuff that has real manufactured value.

 

[Janderso]

I learned all about mig wire spools the hard way
It seems the only way I learn.
Brino, bummer man.

 

[graham-xrf]

OK - I am ultimately the winner!
At one stage, most of what is now on the reel was all over the floor!
The bits on the broomstick was what I managed to keep together. There is still some to go, but I claim victory! So far, the loss is about one inch which I cut off to strip and count the strands. 31 x 0.2mm.

 

[Flyinfool]

I would glue some reinforcement on those cardboard ends before proceding, About the time you get nearly done, one of them will let go and you get to start over.

 

[graham-xrf]

I would glue some reinforcement on those cardboard ends before proceding, About the time you get nearly done, one of them will let go and you get to start over.

You are absolutely right about that. The way the ends near the cheeks stay stable and in place is only because of the tabs of masking tape wound over, then folded back, in the style if the cloth tabs they use in winding transformers. Otherwise, the windings near the cheeks tend to slip into the gaps between the wire and the reel sides. I did not happen to have a reel with plywood cheeks, and these cardboard types flop over even on the weight of the cable that is in them, which is why I leave it on the broomstick.

I would not do this again, but having gone this far, I am determined to get back all the wire that messed up in fractions of a second, bounced all over the garage!

I will glue something on as soon as I can get some cut. After this mess, one by one, I will be eliminating the rest of the messed up stuff in there. In the end, I mean to have a place where I can find everything, and not keep tripping over stuff!

So - contact glue? Should it go all the way to epoxy?

 

[Flyinfool]

The cardboard is wrinkled enough that you may not get a good contact with either epoxy or contact cement. For this I would use Gorrila glue since it has great gap filling ability when it foams up. make sure it is well clamped or weighted so the glue does not spread it apart when it foams. I light mist of water on one surface will ensure that the glue gets a good foam on. Plan for foamed glue to come out of all of the edges, once cured it is hard to remove. I would make the ID of the ply cheeks smaller than the core ID to allow 3 or 4 bolts to run thru just to make sure it stays together for life.