copper coated steel wire

[darryl]

Can a person buy steel wire that's copper coated? I'd be looking for about .1 inch diameter (not hard to find as welding rod) but in rolls of maybe 50 to 100 feet.

If I ask this another way- what is the largest gauge copper coated steel wire a person can buy on a roll?

I guess I should add that I'm looking for solid, not stranded, and softer is better as in mild steel.

[Paul Alciatore]

I imagine you could if you want a RR car full. Just kidding, I have no idea where to look. Not something I have seen.

But I am curious, what is the application? How thick should the copper be?

[Evan]

It looks like 18 gauge is the largest common size in copper clad steel wire.

http://www.mwswire.com/ccs.htm

[John Stevenson]

We can get it up to 4mm diameter on rolls here.

http://www.thewire-man.com/Products.asp

.

[Forrest Addy]

It's used as antenna wire for 10 meter and below ham radio last I heard. It's not a copper plate but a heavy-ish coat over a high tensile steel core. It that what you need.? it's called (oddly enough) "antenna wire"

http://www.radiobooks.com/products/antwire.htm

Sopper plated wire is available in heavier sizes in 3 ft lenghts as filler metal for TIG axd oxy-acetylene process. Hobby places sell it fir abd arm and a leg.

Also talk to wire fabricator outfits. They have wire supplier upp the kazoo. Maybe they will refer you.

[ptjw7uk]

You should be able to get vitually any size (or used to) as a lot was used in the manufacture of lamp shades. They were spot welded into all manner of shapes and sizes but I suspect it has almost died out as a trade. Never to sure why they used copper coated wire unless it was more resistant to damp etc.

Peter

[wierdscience]

These guys make the real deal not the plated type.

http://www.copperweldbimetallic.com/products.html

It's also frequently being used for grounding now because it's cheaper and not worth near as much for scrap as pure copper.

You might try your local commercial wiring supply.

It also used to be the conductor of choice in rural electrical systems.

[darryl]

Thanks for the links and ideas, I'll check it out.

As we expand our slot car business, we intend to create a track from scratch. This is commonly called routed track, and what I want to do is keep the magnetic attraction ability which the current conductors provide, but also have the better conductivity of copper. Normally a copper tape is stuck down on either side of the slots to feed juice to the car, but that offers no magnetic attraction, plus it doesn't give the slot any long-wearing sides for the guide blades to run in. Copper coated steel seems a natural for this. Ideally I'd want a rectangular cross section, not round, but I think that's asking for too much. I can probably roll wire into a squarish shape that would work for me.

That's the application. I have another thing to consider- it's possible that plain steel of a reasonable cross section would have enough conductivity to do the job without the copper. Then there's tin plated steel- that might be just what's needed, though these days I mostly find galvanized which I don't want to use for this.

Bottom line is I want to find the ideal way to create the slots and the conductors.

Ok, I just did a quick check of conductivity of metals. I'm surprised to see that chromium is only twice as poor a conductor as copper, meaning that a 2 mil thickness for example is a better conductor than 1 mil of copper. Hmm. Mild steel is about eight times worse than copper, so it would take 8 mils of steel to equal 1 mil of copper. I'm looking at this in a whole new light now.

[ahidley]

You shoulda said that up front... When I was racing radio control cars several years ago, they were just comming out with square wire to wind the armatures with. This provided a filled stack vs all the air pockets with round wire. any of the companies that winds arms vs sells them probally will have a source for it. I would try promatchracing.com/. Ask for Jeff and say an old xsponsored friend andy from PA sent ya

[Evan]

If you look at that link I posted Darryl you will find that the product is copper clad as opposed to copper plated. It comes in two grades, what they call 30% conductivity and 40%. I presume they mean 40% of a solid copper wire. They give the resistance for each type and gauge per 1000 feet so you should be able to calculate losses and get some idea of what you need.

Steel (NOT stainless steel) will work ok if you feed it from copper wiring every few feet.