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    Content by Mika Satomi and Hannah Perner-Wilson
    E-Textile Tailor Shop by KOBAKANT
    The following institutions have funded our research and supported our work:

    Since 2020, Hannah is guest professor of the Spiel&&Objekt Master's program at the University of Performing Arts Ernst Busch in Berlin

    From 2013-2015 Mika was a guest professor at the eLab at Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee

    From July - December 2013 Hannah was a researcher at the UdK's Design Research Lab

    From 2010-2012 Mika was a guest researcher in the Smart Textiles Design Lab at The Swedish School of Textiles

    From 2009 - 2011 Hannah was a graduate student in the MIT Media Lab's High-Low Tech research group led by Leah Buechley


    In 2009 Hannah and Mika were both research fellows at the Distance Lab


    Between 2003 - 2009 Hannah and Mika were both students at Interface Cultures
    We support the Open Source Hardware movement. All our own designs published on this website are released under the Free Cultural Works definition
    Conductive Materials

    Thin Flexible Wire

    While conductive thread is so good for so many e-textile purposes, sometimes insulated wire can come in handy. Finding really thin, flexible wire is not always easy, especially when shopping online, so here are some links to some of the resources we have found useful.

    AWG

    Wikipedia AWG wire gauge info >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge

    Conrad (AT, DE, UK)

    Conrad (local electronics store in Germany and Austria) sells a really nice thin, multistranded wire called LIFY 0.05 mm. It comes in lots of different colours too (even if the pictures online don’t show them all)! Conrad UK also has an online shop, that is horrible to navigate, but does supply the same stuff.
    Conrad AT >> http://www.conrad.at/ce/de/overview/2510112/Li-Typen
    Conrad DE >> http://www.conrad.de/ce/de/overview/2510112/Li-Typen
    Conrad UK >> http://www.conrad-uk.com/ce/en/overview/2510112/Li-Types

    LIFY 0,05mm^2, 25m in 9 different colours:
    >> black
    >> red
    >> gray
    >> white
    >> orange
    >> purple
    >> green
    >> yellow
    >> blue

    Daburn (USA)

    Sub-miniature:
    Daburn >> http://www.daburn.com/2671ultraflexiblesub-miniaturewire-u/lstyle15681692.aspx

    Miniature:
    Daburn >> http://www.daburn.com/2670miniaturehook-upwire-conformstomil-w-16878d105c-600v.aspx?variation=9432

    McMaster Carr (USA)

    McMaster Carr sells Daburn sub-miniature wire as “Continuous-Flex Miniature Wire”:
    >> http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/118/801/=h37uic

    McMaster sells lots of different kinds of thin, flexible wire:

    All three ultra-flex miniature wires turned out to be very fragile, in that they were easy to tear by hand. Also the isolation of the red and white were silicone and thus will not slide nicely between the layers of fabric.

    AWC (USA)

    32 AWG, PVC >> http://www.awcwire.com/Part.aspx?partname=B32-7

    Maplins (UK)

    Maplins >> http://www.maplin.co.uk/silicone-extra-flexible-wire-9910

    Alpha-Wire (International)

    >> http://www.alphawire.com/en/Products/Wire/Hook-Up-Wire/Premium/33201

    Lokolo (EU)

    Textile insulation >> http://lokolo.eu/tag/textile/

    Sparkfun

    Ribbon cable can often be an okay source for thin, flexible (multi-coloured) wires.
    >> http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10649

    Good Tip: Get a small-gauge wire stripper!

    Sparkfun’s 30AWG stripper >> http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8696
    Home Depot’s selection >> http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-Electrical-Tools-Accessories-Electrical-Tools/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbm76/h_d2/Navigation?catalogId=10053&Nu=P_PARENT_ID&langId=-1&storeId=10051
    Radio Shack’s selection >> http://www.radioshack.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2032310&s=D-StorePrice-RSK&s=D-StorePrice-RSK

    Links from Adrian Freed:

    >> http://www.daburn.com/2451DAFLONMicrominiaturePTFEHook-UpWire250C300V.aspx
    >> http://stores.ebay.com/Johns-Silver-Teflon-Wire-Shop/32-AWG-and-Tonearm-wire-/_i.html?_fsub=3966786
    >> http://stores.ebay.com/Johns-Silver-Teflon-Wire-Shop/34-AWG-/_i.html?_fsub=428680119&_sid=155009&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322
    >> http://parts.digikey.com/1/parts/35799-ptfe-hook-wire-32-awg-blk-2840-7-bk005.html
    >> http://www.surplussales.com/wire-cable/Wire4.html
    >> http://www.flyfenix.com.br/index.php?menuesc=3&prod=261
    >> http://www.daburn.com/2401PTFEWireMIL-W-16878/4typee-600v.aspx

    12 Comments so far

    1. robert hancock on September 12th, 2010

      Hi,

      I am trying to find mutli-core conductor fabric material and have after about 1 hr 20 minutes of web searching got nowhere,I saw on your site you have very thin conductors and conductive material, and so was hoping you would be able to help me.

      I look forward to any help you can offer.

      Many thanks.

      Robert Hancock.

    2. admin on September 12th, 2010

      just put together a new post that covers this!
      multi-strand conductive materials >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=2800

    3. robert hancock on September 15th, 2010

      Thank you for your reply, your post has been helpful and I will be contacting the UK company.

    4. Birgitta Cappelen on November 1st, 2010

      I`m looking for round, single wire, transparent covered wire of either cupper or steel wires. Does anyone have suggestion for where to buy this?

    5. mina on November 21st, 2010

      what type of wire bends the material
      i am making fabric jewellery and need to know what kind of wire will bend the
      petals

      please reply sooooooooooooooon

      can you write the type of wire or something

      can you reply quickly
      can you also mentionn where i can buy it from and what kind of shops sell those kind of things
      bye thanks anyway

    6. mina on November 21st, 2010

      i need some kind of wire that bends material
      is it just normal wire
      what kind of wire is it
      can you give me the name or the image
      i have been searching for wire for nearly 3 weeks
      unluckily i didn’t find the answer anywhere
      after a long time i was giving up
      but when i was your website i thought i might get an answer

      i am relying on you for an answer

      i need the answer really soon

      thanks for your time
      I look forward to any help you can offer.

      bye anyway
      please give an answer really quickly i need it for my school project

      bye and thanks

    7. admin on November 21st, 2010

      you want to look at shape memory alloys.
      i have never worked with them myself, so i don’t have any good documentation.
      >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=2884

    8. mari on June 3rd, 2011

      i’m working on a project and i was wondering what kind of wire would i need to use to make a foldable mesh laundry hamper. It needs to be strong and thin. thanks.

    9. Virginia Kelly on November 5th, 2012

      I’m looking for any information on where I can buy the (steel wire, collapsible wire, or flexible wire) they use for making the collapsible mesh hampers. I know where I can get the mash wholesale but not the wire.
      I would also like to know what size thickness is best to use. Thank you in
      advance for any information you can send me. Virginia

    10. Suzie Carrington on December 3rd, 2012

      I am looking for the ribbon wire that is in collapsible laundry hampers.

    11. mary garcia on January 8th, 2013

      looking for a round flexible and collapsible wire like the one used for collapsible laundry hampers.

    12. The Gloves Project on February 5th, 2013

      […] is a post about thin flexible wire sources. LIFY 0,05mm^2, 25m in 9 different colours Conrad (DE, EU) >> […]

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