Dealing with superfine (30+ AWG) wiring

[MIPS]

So long story short I ended up with a pretty sweet Sony PMW-EX3 HD camera but the wire harness that runs to the LCD viewfinder (which is also the only viewfinder on the camera) was damaged. One visibly broken wire and several others that were either badly kinked or had their insulation rubbed off.



This wiring is fiiiine. Micrometer says it's 0.33mm in diameter which is smaller than any of my shrink tube. I've contacted Sony regarding replacement parts given how it's relatively new and they've already discontinued supplying replacement parts. I cannot also find a third party source for the cable. I should be able to repair it myself as it's right in the middle of the cable but I don't know how to insulate the repair. How do you guys deal with small wiring like this? Brush on varnish? Liquid electrical tape?

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by MIPS

So long story short I ended up with a pretty sweet Sony PMW-EX3 HD camera but the wire harness that runs to the LCD viewfinder (which is also the only viewfinder on the camera) was damaged. One visibly broken wire and several others that were either badly kinked or had their insulation rubbed off.



This wiring is fiiiine. Micrometer says it's 0.33mm in diameter which is smaller than any of my shrink tube. I've contacted Sony regarding replacement parts given how it's relatively new and they've already discontinued supplying replacement parts. I cannot also find a third party source for the cable. I should be able to repair it myself as it's right in the middle of the cable but I don't know how to insulate the repair. How do you guys deal with small wiring like this? Brush on varnish? Liquid electrical tape?

Q-dope, made by GC. Fast drying coating for coils and transformers. Clear, protective coating has minimal effect on inductive values. Kinda like a varnish, comes real thick, apply with a detail brush - ours was synthetic feather. Thin with MEK.

Or really small Raychem "hyper-flex". They are rubber sleeves down to 36AWG, IIRC. We called them "cable condoms" - they come rolled up like tiny donuts in a pill bottle - slide it on one wire, and unroll it down the wire once it's soldered to the other with no burrs - think donut rolled heat shrink, except it is rubber or synthetic something. They were about $60/bottle of 300 in the mid-2000s. Raychem has changed hands, and the website is a mess to find anything....sad.

[centralradio]

I had my share of flat flex with my 2005 Sony camcorder. I had to replace it 2 times. Poor engineering design .They should just use the thin wire between the VF and the camera.I had good luck using thin wire on a clam shell style portable CD player after the flat flex failed.Flat flex wiring is garbage to me.Its very brittle.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by centralradio

I had my share of flat flex with my 2005 Sony camcorder. I had to replace it 2 times. Poor engineering design .They should just use the thin wire between the VF and the camera.I had good luck using thin wire on a clam shell style portable CD player after the flat flex failed.Flat flex wiring is garbage to me.Its very brittle.

Flat flex is garbage all right. I couldn't avoid damaging it while trying to replace a buggered motherboard in my old digicam. It was full of the stuff and soldered to everything but the motherboard. I think I'd need an Oompa Loompa to work on one without breaking it.