RE: R-NR wire joins - the Pistachio method

[Darthpistachio]

I have tried all manner of ways of joining the dreaded R-NR wires together. - The standard twist method is OK but more often than not ends up a bit loose with resistance readings wavering.


The wire zappers are OK but only if you have a good quality one costing over £50 - I have a cheaper version and it works but only about 50% of the time - and then you don't want to know how many expletives have been uttered when I wind the coil onto my wick and you hear that dreaded "ping" when the join breaks! Not fun at all ...


The reef knot variation is good in principle - BUT it's bulky and awkward to get them tight together so that the connection does not suffer with resistance dancing.


No for me with experience I found that the standard twist method with a bit more of an OCD variation works the best.


You will need some good tools for this method and they are as follows:





A good quality flat nosed non toothed pliers. These are the ones sold for beading aficionados - ideal.





Plastic jawed pliers - again beading ones - ideal for holding differing diameter wires together..

 

[Darthpistachio]

Good quality snips..


last but not least the wires -of course

Now get the two wires alongside each other clamp them in the plastic jawed pliers and have about 8-10mm protruding and splay them apart.


At this stage carefully twist them around each other about 4-5 times by hand...


Now, using the metal pliers grip the twisted wires and continue twisting them again - this will make the twists very tight and ensure against them unraveling later on and during use - continue twists in the same direction for a further 4-5 turns ...

 

[Darthpistachio]

Yopu will see that the twists be come very tight and secure...


Now get your snips and cut the wires at approximately 3mm length



Ast this stage grab your steel pliers again and pinch the twisted wires as close to the end of the jaws as you can like so:

 

[Darthpistachio]

now using the steel pliers to hold the wires put down the plastic jawed one and begin to fold the softer NR wire over the top and flat against the blunt ends of the jaws of the steel pliers...

 

[Darthpistachio]

you can release the setup now and squeeze the wires together with the pliers to make the fold over as small as possible
Then grab the wires with about 2-3mm of the twisted part extending and start wrapping the softer NR wire around the twist - do this about 2 times and then pull the wire straight..






What you will be left with is a small neat wire join - that is secure enough to not unravel and to maintain a good electrical conductive join - it takes up minimum space - easily occupied alongside a piece of 2-3mm silica wick and will be easy to put into the coil well of atties like the penelope and the ithaka for example.



I have found this to be the most reliable method so far - it LOOKS like a lot of faff - but regularly every two weeks I spend one hour and make up about 20 of these - for a penny or ithaka you only need one NR tail so it's even quicker - if you need one other side then just repeat the process.. I'm at the point now that I have about 60 of these in a RUB ready to go..