Sensors - April 2002 - Wish List
Wire Tracer
I am interested in identifying strands in a tangle of oil-coated
steel wire for an art project. Specifically, I am taking coils
off a spool of black annealed steel wire and working with them to
make a tangled steel spiral shape into which I will blow glass.
While I am happy to accept the accidents of construction (and ideally quit working before I make a boringly uniform nest), there are times when I would like to identify which of 5, 7, or 9 strands in the tangle I am about to weld or bend.
I know about signal tracers for insulated wire and understand about putting a signal on a buried pipe that a radio-like device can pick up, but is there a reasonable device that will detect single strands of steel touching each other with only an oil/carbon coating to increase resistance? Maybe something for continuity testing in steel-strand bridge construction or wire-rope installation.
I foresee having to file a silvery spot through the oil to
test with a probe. At the point I want to check the wires, they
are
6–12 mm (1/4–1/2
in.) apart although they may be touching 25–75 mm (1–3
in.) away around the nest/spiral.
Mike Firth
Thank you for your info. Yours was the first and I hadn't
gotten to the Wishes Page to know that it had been published yet.
Unfortunately, in my description or your reading, a point was
missed. I have a tangle of wire - I am pulling it sideways off a
broken roll of 1100 feet (5 pounds) of 16 gauge wire. I am
cutting it free of the roll, 2 or 3 cuts, and cutting some of the
loops, thus ending up with a number of interconnected wires. By
jiggling the wires, I can usually ensure I am not cutting too
close to another cut.
But to color code the wires, I would have to follow each wire
several times around the tangle, probably rubbing off the paint
just put on as I go. [The wires are not separate at any time.] I
would have no problem getting rid of the paint later if I got it
on, because the glass is going to be at over 2000F when it goes
in and is reheated. But following the wires is what I want to
avoid, I want to pick two loops crossing near each other and weld
them together or choose not to if they are loops of the same wire.
I want to give some structure to the tangle, but not too much -
artsy you know. The link below my name plus a couple of Page
Downs will show some structured use of heavier wire with glass -
this would be more unstructured.
Thanks for your interest.
Mike Firth
Furnace Glass Web Site/Hot Glass Bits
http://users.ticnet.com/mikefirth/MFGL.HTM
----- Original Message -----
From: <SCHAEVITZ@aol.com>
To: <mikefirth>
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2002 8:39 AM
Subject: metal wire indentification Sensors Mag.
> Mike,
>
> Just a suggestion,
>
> Maybe you can paint each wire with different identifying
color. Use paint
> remover to get rid of it when you are done. The light oil
coating on the wire
> will tend to not let the paint stick very well, but it will
make it come off
> easier and probably leave enough for tracing purposes.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Harold G. Schaevitz
> Regional Sales Manager
> Macro Sensors
> 7300 Industrial Center Bldg. 22
> US RT. 130 N
> Pennsauken, NJ 08110
> 856-662-8000
> Cell 856-287-2111
> Fax: 856-317-1005
> Web site: www.macrosensors.com
> General e-mail: sales@macrosensors.com
> Direct e-mail: Schaevitz@aol.com
>