What's the secret to good bodge wiring?

[LektroiD]

I'm building a project on stripboard, and need to add bodge wires on the back, but seems like a much bigger task than I thought, it's taken hours to add a few simple wires and they're not even that neat. I've seen some really intricate bodge wiring in the past, and would love to know the secret to neat and fast wiring. Even stripping the wires is getting tedious, as it's easy to cut through the conductive core, thus needing to replace the whole wire.

I'm assuming there must be a method for this, but I'm just not getting it. I've searched YouTube for bodge wiring techniques, but the results were fruitless. Maybe some aficionados here could shed some light on this. I've attached a photo of my attempt. I've spent an equal amount of time with these few bodge wires as I did with the main build, and still have many more bodge wires to install...

[langwadt]

get some enamel wire, to strip you just dip the freshly cut end in a blob of solder on a hot iron

[floobydust]

I use teflon wire so no shrinkage/melting from soldering, and the strippers must cause no nicks.
You could run the wires on top side. Tack the wires down with hot glue if it gets dense.

It's just tedious and I haven't seen anything better for Vero board, perf board. My stuff wouldn't win a beauty contest.

After constructing many of these, I find it's less labour to lay out a prototype PCB.
Something to consider given the hours constructing and troubleshooting.

[T3sl4co1l]

Use a proper stripping tool.  Don't nick the wire, especially for single core stuff.

Hold the wire along the route you need it to go, cut to length, strip the ends, tack one end, tack the other, finagle into place with pliers, tweezers, screwdriver, fingernails, whatever.  Teflon is no good for gluing but the other kinds are.  A blob of glue (anything that's good for filling gaps, and has the consistency of, say, nail polish, will do) helps hold things in place, especially important for commercial bodges.

The pro glue I think is UV cure resin.  Dab it on, shine a UV LED on it, and it's solid.  Often in green, used for patching soldermask.

Tim

[slurry]

This is the method i use when working on fairly sensitive equipment, it may not be sufficient for spaceshuttles but are good enough for most applications where there is no severe vibrations, G-forces or that kind of stuff.

I prefer to use teflon insulated wire and using a proper stripping tool, the reason for teflon is that you dont want the insulation starting to creep up when you solder the end of the wire.
Route the wire a few mm's from the end before a soft bend, make sure there is no stress anywhere along the wire, ideally the end of the wire would want to lay right on the spot where you want to solder it.
If the wire is going to a pin of a IC with high density (not a standard wide legged SO-16..) i carefully place kapton-tape on the pins on each side of the actual pin.
Then i  tape the wire down with ESD-safe tape, and strategically place small blobs of glue with an industrial grade gluegun (3M has some great stuff)
Use the proper flux and solder for the job and clean flux residue, even if it a "no-clean" flux, cover the work with proper pcb-laquer like the Plastik 70 which is my favourite.

[KL27x]

My secret
1. Rosin flux
2. 30awg kynar wire
3. Open ended wire stripper. Like the one in the radioshack wire wrap tool.
4. Work right to left where possible.
5. Supplement with wire wrap where helpful.

With an open ended wire stripper, u can cut the insulation wherever u want, rather than just the end. This does a couple of useful things.

Start with a several foot length of wire. After soldering the first end, u just hold the wire over the next joint like a measuring tape, and stick the wire stripper there, and break the insulation by pulling away from your hand, pushing towards the first joint u made. So no matter how short the jumper, u dont have to pull on the first joint to strip the other end. U can hold the wire in place without ever letting go of the wire, cuz u are still holding the excess wire. No need to chase a free end of wire with tweezers. For very short jumpers, just strip a long section of bare wire, then break off a short section of kynar insulation for the jumper. Slide it down the wire like a bead on a string. For connecting multiple points, u can use a single wire, just dont cut the wire until all the points are connected.

Magnet wire is useful because it has a much thinner insulation. It is rare for me to need something thinner than 30awg kynar. But it is an option which is harder to strip.

Teflon insulated wire is useful too. Again it is much harder to strip.

[slurry]

agree, kynar insulated wirewrap wire is good, tolerates a good amount of heat too! 

[KL27x]

I have 30 awg teflon wire. It is the silver plated stuff just like kynar wrap wire. It is absolutely amazing for where it absolutely matters. High temp app or where ur jumpers are going to lay tight and crisscross each other near the joints. That said, i use 2 to 300 feet of kynar a year. I use 3 feet of teflon wire a decade.

When u strip the wire in situ like i described, u can get compression the insulation. So even if it shrinks back after the second joint, it will grow back, after. Even if u have shrink back, it is often not an issue. 30 awg solid core is relatively thin. But over the span of a few mm from a joint, it might as well be a tree trunk. It will stay where u bend it. And air is good insulation for most of your non kV connections. Just manage the wire with tape, hotsnot, ties. And keep it neat. And u can do a lot. Ive seen some intricate bodges all with 30 awg bare bus wire, even. 3d sculptures.

[slurry]

On one occasion i actually used litz-wire for bodgeing, it was a V0 measuring equipment on a howitzer test bed, ten bodges took two hours..
The litz was something like 0.075mm2 which would translate to between 28 and 29 AWG?

[Gyro]

If using stripboard, like your photo, the put the wires on the top side to protect it from damage and being over flexed. Kynar is thin enough to slip down the same holes as most component leads.

I don't bother with hot melt glue etc. It's far easier to feed a loop of Kynar up through a couple of adjacent holes from underneath and then tie it at the top to secure a bundle of wires.

[KL27x]

This reminds me. I made a video many years ago when i thought i still thought i was pretty smart.  On photobucket, though. Which has gone to dog poo. Lemme see if i can find it.

Neermind. Whoa that site is a cesspool of malware, now. And no i am not agreeing to the latest eula.

[tautech]

On stripboard they're jumpers NOT bodges.

Much like single layer PCB layout and need for vias and 'other side' traces, the trick is to break down the circuit into functional blocks, rotate, maybe even flip( component type determinant) and position for the most straightforward connections (routing) with the least jumpers.

For stripboard, graph paper can be useful to bash out various layout schemes and the functional block process can be applied here too. Bits of card or paper representing each block and its I/O's can be overlaid on graph paper ahla jigsaw puzzle like until you find a layout you're happy with.

[David Hess]

I like the 30 gauge silver plated Kynar insulated wire wrap wire because every color of insulation is available but you need a stripper made for it to avoid nicking it.  They make magnet wire which has a low temperature insulation that can be easily burned off at normal soldering iron temperatures which is easier to use and you can even get it in a couple of different colors.

In both cases, the wire should be restrained near the solder joint for maximum reliability.  Otherwise vibration will tend to break it where the solder joint is.

[Shock]

Use Kynar aka wire wrap wire, cut off a decent length you will likely use then preshape before cutting to size. Here are a few different styles. Keep in mind it doesn't need to look pretty to work, good to focus on decent solder joints though.

(image removed)

[Karlo_Moharic]

Few tips:

1. Get wire strippers , just search ebay with keyword wire stripping tool
2. Use solid core wire , it s easier to manipulate it.
3. When making any connections start with the ones that are closest together , in this case that means start with solder joints which are closest together.
4. Measure the length of your wire three times , cut once
5.If your design requiers a lot of bodging , it's a shitty design , scrap it and make something better

[LektroiD]

I'm using wire wrap wire (see the picture in the first post). My wire strippers won't strip wire that thin, so my only option is to strip with wire cutters.

Anyone know of any videos on this? In this instance, it's much easier to learn by example, rather than by text.

[Gyro]

That's your problem then. The wire cutters nick the wire, which causes it to break easilly when flexed. It's worth the investment in getting a proper [Edit: dedicated] stripper, it makes all the difference.

EDIT: This style works well... http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/cable-strippers/1201923/

[Kalvin]

Stripping in the middle of the wire:
https://youtu.be/cYoaC57Ol9U?t=88

Extreme wiring using  UEW ("polyurethane enameled copper wire, also called magnet wire, used for small inductors and transformers"):
http://elm-chan.org/docs/wire/wiring_e.html

Video demonstrating the above technique:


Personally I like kynar wire. It is quite cheap and available in multiple colors from eBay. Using a hot soldering iron tip is typically sufficient to strip the kynar wire. Using the cheap "SMD adapter pcb" available from eBay are of great help when dealing with the SMD ICs and transistors. Just solder the component to the adapter board and glue the adapter board to your actual protoboard.

[Gyro]

Using a hot soldering iron tip is typically sufficient to strip the kynar wire.

Ugh, I have to disagree on that bit, it makes a nasty mess of your connections.


You should be aiming for something like this, wires topside, tied in where necessary ...

[NivagSwerdna]

Given my design skills I have come quite adept at bodge wiring. 

I use Kynar wire



and have a set of wire strippers set to the correct gap...



when connecting to vias... I use a fibre glass pen to remove the resist first



I have recently bought some UV glue but this can be a problem if you need to re-bodge your bodge.

When connecting to small pitch devices try and lie your wire along the pin.

Use flux and the glass fibre pen where necessary to ensure a good contact.  Don't overheat as this can cause things to lift etc.

(And use sufficient magnification especially if you have old eyes)

[Kalvin]

Using a hot soldering iron tip is typically sufficient to strip the kynar wire.

Ugh, I have to disagree on that bit, it makes a nasty mess of your connections.

That is true. However, I prefer not to cut kynar wire when I route it through multiple connections as it is more difficult to keep the cut segments in place.

[Gyro]

My rule of thumb is to cut the wire 2 full holes (0.2") past where you want to connect, strip about 3mm (sorry about the units), then poke it down the hole while bending the bare core flat underneath with your finger to retain it until you turn it the board over and solder. You can then take up any slack by nudging the Kynar with a screwdriver close to the hole at each end. It works with multiple wires too as long as you bend the bare ends flat and solder them all at once.

[Kalvin]

My rule of thumb is to cut the wire 2 full holes (0.2") past where you want to connect, strip about 3mm (sorry about the units), then poke it down the hole while bending the bare core flat underneath with your finger to retain it until you turn it the board over and solder. You can then take up any slack by nudging the Kynar with a screwdriver close to the hole at each end. It works with multiple wires too as long as you bend the bare ends flat and solder them all at once.

Good technique. I typically wire in the soldering side so I do not have to flip the board around.

[4CX35000]

Stay away from cheap Chinese wire. Insulation melts and shrinks at the hint of a soldering iron.

[stj]

when you route the kynar, plan it so it wont be in the way later if a part needs to be replaced.

i like to run it under components where possible for protection and to reduce the number of points it has to be tacked down with glue.