Making your own twisted shielded pair?

[xTamx420]

Hello,

I was looking at spools on 2 conductor twisted shielded pair yesterday and it was way more expensive than I thought it would be. ~150/100' on digikey.

So I was thinking it looks easy enough to make. If I simply twisted my own wires, wrapped them in tin foil and heat shrinked it would that be good enough? What exactly is the shielding material? Would tin foil be good enough? Does the shielding have to be wrapped in a certain way?

Alternatively, does anyone know where to get some cheap 2 conducter twisted shielded pair cable? 18 to 20 gauge?

 

[Harald Kapp]

Your cable will be rather stiff if constructed this way. I don't think making your own cable is worth the effort, neither will you save money (did you have a look at the prize for shrink tube?)

Digikey is not an inexpensive ressource. I couldn't help you here, but your favourite search engine surely will turn up with lots of hits.

 

[shrtrnd]

What you're looking for is THE most common type of signal wire for industrial applications. Do you have an electrical/electronics liquidator in your area to buy some left-overs from?
I often recommend checking local Ham Radio 'Hamfests', which are electronics parts gold mines for excessess material. Google Ham Radio clubs in your area for upcoming 'Hamfests'/swap meets.
Surplus sale companies in your area. Anybody who would have industrail signal wire left-overs. Heck, recycle places are getting wire hand-over-fist from people trying to capitalize on scrap metal prices, you
might find something there.

 

[davenn]

If I simply twisted my own wires, wrapped them in tin foil and heat shrinked it would that be good enough? What exactly is the shielding material? Would tin foil be good enough?

you are going to have a problem in that you cannot solder to aluminium foil
and you do need to be able to connect to the shield at each end of the cable

 

[Tha fios agaibh]

I agree, It's not worth your while.
The foil usually has an insulating layer on the inside to insulate the small drain wire for the shield. Another thing is when you twist the wires, it will shrink about 1/3 of your original length.
Whether or not it's good enough, depends on what your using it for.

 

[Arouse1973]

Why not just get hold of some cheap FTP or FFTP network cables and chop the connectors off. They use quite small gauge wires so not sure if they will work for you. You don't say what signal the cable is carrying. You could join the wires together to increase current handling capability.
Adam