What is a good price for magnet wire?

[asheets]

I'm looking to purchase some 15 AWG magnet wire for a project.  What are good prices in terms of $'s per pound and $s per foot?  

How many pounds in a foot, anyway?

[sven]

The owner of this discussion board has good prices for magnet wire, just click on the upper right corner of this website, on wondermagnet.com

Sven

[sven]

Sorry, I meant on "Forcefield"

Sven

[terry5732]

$10.00 / pound is absurd. I'm real tempted to start selling it just so people trying to make good thngs stop getting ripped off.

[TomW]

terry;

I am not sure but it seems rather rude of you to come on this forum which is supported by the sale of magnets, wire, etc and call their pricing absurd and basically accuse them of "ripping people off".

Somehow I seriously doubt if you can find any suppliers who return so much to the community while ripping people off as you so eloquently put it!

Now go and buy some wire and see how cheaply you can resell it while putting food on the table. Oh good luck at it.

I consider DanB a personal friend so when you accuse him of ripping people off I have no choice but to try to show you the error of your thinking. Now go away and find a cheaper source since you feel abused by Wondermagnet and are blind to the value of what these people do to promote this endeavor.

I guess they have not taught manners or honorable behavior in the school systems the past 30 years or so.

T

[GeorgeT]

Bravo TomW!

I like to think about it like I was once told.  "Don't do the other guys job and he won't come take yours".  There are reasons for price markups, starting with convenience of having a desired product readily available and deliverable.  If ya don't like the prices, tip of your hat and move on.  Respect the point that the other guy has to make a living too.  You would want anyone else to extend the same courtesy to you and yours.

GeorgeT

[DanB]

We definitely do not have the best prices out there I know Terry.  It's not absurd though, we make very little off magnet wire.  You probably know how copper prices have been, our prices have pretty much doubled over the last year or so.

Whenever asked via email, I encourage folks to check out local motor repair shops first, often times a bargain can be had there.  I know our prices are a bit on the high side, but we try to sell convenient sized spools, and we sell the good 'inverter grade' stuff which costs a bit more.

Terry - if you do start selling it at a better price I will be happy to send folks your way for it.  It's a bit hard to find, we sell it partially to support our own habit ;~)

[terry5732]

I didn't mean to imply that the board owners were bad people. I very much appreciate the forum and know it takes $ to run. I believe it would be a better service though if the owners would shop quantity so they could have a lower resell price. I have seen all these items offered by forcefield sold for double forcefields price. I have also seen them for half or less. I would love to see forcefield selling huge quantities at reasonable prices thereby increasing revenue AND interest in the field. The limiting factor to many people getting involved with RE is cost of materials. I can't wait til China gets into solar cell production. Imagine the cost of neos if China hadn't got into them. I am quite pleased with my $0.10 white LEDs from Hongkong. If I had to buy them from Radio Shack at $6.95 EACH I would have never used them.

[windstuffnow]

  I've been buying wire in bulk to keep up with my projects.   I just purchased a 100# container of #18 wire to replace the one I used up...  I was quite surprised at the cost !   I'm not sure but I believe I paid around 4.50 a lb last time and the cost of the bucket this time was a bit over 600.00.   I inquired about some 32 wire in about the same weight range... won't be buying it in large pails... yikes!  Needless to say the costs are rising, rediculously I might add.

.

[Zix]

Unless you know a lot about magnet wire you can't go wrong buying it from forcefield.

You can be assured it is the right type and quality for wind applications.

You may find wire for less money elsewhere only to learn it has the wrong insulation,so this is truly a case of you get what you pay for.

I am not connected with this site other than being a avid reader and tinkerer.

Zix

[nothing to lose]

I agree with others about Forcefield, I have bought from them and happy.

Maybe not the best price but service, quality, etc... are great. And if not for this great forum they run many of us would never had needed wire in the first place because we would not have had a clue what to do with it anyway. So it all adds up somewhat to "you get what you pay for" in a way.

You might find a better price on e-bay or elsewhere, but ask them how many windings a coil needs and you probably won't get a reply.

As far as "good price" the best price is free

Awhile back alot of people here were talking about removing wire from transformers and old motors. If you can get such things for free, have the time, and so forth it may be an option.

As for me, I buy use motors from the scrap yards alot, mostly around 8-12 cents a pound for motors. Most motors are still good that I buy and I don't strip them like that, but there is a ton of wire in there that could be used if you take it out carefully so you don't damage the insulation on it.

 I have had tiny hair sized wired and wire up to about a penny thickness, so if you grab a few motors and get an idea which ones have the wire size you need that could be cheap.

As for buying copper wire itself nothing is a good price! When I go to one of my scrap yards I buy from alot, everytime I want scrap wire, tubing, etc.. I ask how much and he says "scrap copper is high"!!! Like I tell him, ya it is, but not as high as buying the stuff new, and for what I want scrap works just as well

[ghurd]

Also remember that some surplus crap from some warehouse basement from 30 years ago,

Or something that quality failed testing and ended up at the surplus house,

Or something from a defunct motor shop,

Or some Ebay who knows what,

is (hopefully) going to be cheaper than a new first quality product.

G-

[asheets]

OK, so basically if I go through Wondermagnet, their price is around $9/lb for the 10-14WG range.  That beats the deal I was trying to compare, since they are local and I won't have to have the stuff shipped.  Thanks.