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Old 01-17-2004, 11:15 AM
Fibergeek Fibergeek is offline
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Default Series 1100 Aluminum Wire

This may help those having problems with electrical connections:

www.mcmaster.com carries alloy 1100 aluminum wire in 8 AWG to 28 AWG sizes. 1100 is practically pure aluminum, and is dead soft. The softness make it easy to cold flow under mechanical pressure; this helps in forming a liquid tight connection. The softness also makes it less likely that any damage or deformation will occur in the work.

I used 14 AWG in the reference paper, but 18 AWG will do for most any LCD application. A 1/4 lb spool (170') costs $6.00.

For the sake of convenience, recall that you don't need to use aluminum (or titanium) wire to make the connection all the way back to the power supply (I don't). When the wire (anode or cathode) is clear of the electrolyte, you can switch over to copper wire and ordinary alligator clips or whatever. Just keep the copper (or steel) out of the electrolyte!
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