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On Jan 1, 4:24 pm, "Peter Dohm" wrote:

I really like this idea, especially the colored heat shrink version
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Do you know a good source of small quantities of the required colors?

Writing on white (or at least, light colored) Heat Shrink is a pretty
good way of identifying the lead.

-Bob


That's a fair question, and I admit that I haven't had occasion to buy this
sort of thing in about a decade. Locally, in Florida, I used to buy heat
shrink from Electronic Equipment Company, Vance Baldwin Electronics and
occasionally Deanco (if I recall the name correctly) in the Orlando area.

I did a Google search using the keywords: color coded heat shrink tube
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...earch&aq=f&oq=
which gave a lot of results, but most provide only a few of the colors.

The most promising for very small quantities, meaning only a couple of four
foot sticks of each color and size, is
http://www.justradios.com/heatshrinktubing.html and they appear to be set up
for completely automated ordering on line with very economical shipping.
Interestingly, they also look good for large quantities and spools are
shipped free.

I was curious, and also gave a phone call to Cable Specialties. They sell
in a minimum of 100 foot packages, so you would need to purchase 1000 feet
of the same size in addition to the clear and extra black; which is more
than most hobbyists would consider at one time. However, they appear to be
an excellent value for "shop" quantities, and carry a wide variety of types
by Mil-Spec.

Of course, those numbered Brady Labels, with a sleeve of clear heat shrink,
are another old stand by--in addition to your suggestion of writing on light
colored heat shrink, and possibly placing a clear sleeve over the result.

But anything other than a stamping machine will make you crazy if you try to
follow the Mil-Spec, or Boeing, workmanship standards to break wires out of
the resulting bundles!

I hope this helps.

Peter