Re: solderig enamelled wire, problems.

On Tue, 24 Jun 2025 01:05:49 -0000 (UTC), Phil Hobbs wrote:
 
<clip

 
A less exciting approach is a bottle of GC Strip-X. I don’t know if
it’s still available—I don’t recommend using that as a search

term. :(

 
Is that GC, or MG Chemical?  GC makes mechanical strippers these days.
 
 

The right answer is probably a solder pot.

 
Which won't work with Formvar coatings at all.  There are stripped
mechanically, with rotating rubber eraser wheels that wear plastic far
faster than copper.
 
What would also work would be a small pot of hot lye solution.
 
I've used the melted aspirin tablet approach, and it does work, but the
smoke is quite noxious.
 
 

GC, as in General Chemical, iirc.
Famous for Q Dope among other radio stuff.
 
https://radiobanter.com/homebrew/23754-magnet-wire-stripper-gel-

substitute.html

 
IIRC it smelled like Easy-Off, a lye-based oven cleaner paste, with
maybe some TCE like old time paint stripper (you know, the stuff that
actually worked—Polystrippa, I think).
 
Cheers
 
Phil Hobbs

 
I think the active ingredient in the old style paint strippers was
methylene chloride, hard to get these days, but you can still get solvent
based epoxy paint strippers which have substituted a solvent not yet
proven to be a strong carcinogen.  Jasco Premium Paint & Epoxy Remover is
one example readily available in the US.
 
Zylene is also readily available in the US, it will strip construction
adhesive (epoxy strippers won't), haven't tried it on epoxy but it might
work.  Use in something resembling a fume hood, it smells like your
olfactory nerves are being attacked by a blowtorch.  Epoxy stripper is not
much better.
 
The alcohol torch method is probably a lot safer, or mechanical stripping
of solid wire (hard to do on litz).
 
Glen