Transformer Wires - Cut to Length?

[gearhead]

Heh all,

Do you cut your transformer wires to close-to-exact length, or just use them as is? Is there a downside for the later?

If as is, coil near the chassis entry point?

I don't plan on reusing the transformers in my current build, but you never know years down the road

[Tubetwang]

i cut to lenght.

[theundeadelvis]

I measure a half dozen time, then cut to length. Typically, I cut them a little on the long side just to to be safe.

[smokin' tone]

I try to leave enough lead that I can cut them once more if needed and strip /re solder them. If you leave them too long then it doesn't look good. But when you have to fix them you may wish you had left some service lead. This is just my approach and is not necessarily the correct way to do it.

[benoit]

Say you cut your leads to length, pretty short, and then later pull the iron for another project. Is there anything wrong with having a n-lug strip (where n is the number of leads) and soldering leads to strip, strip out to the rest of the amp?

[Tubetwang]

Yep, that is fine.

[sliberty]

Terminal strips are fine, and so is shrink wrap over a soldered connection to extend the wires.

[Phil_S]

It's probably silly, but I always think I might actually pull the iron some time and use it in another project. Reality is, that is so remote I should ignore it. So, I trim as little as possible, heatshrink the ends of unused leads, and tuck them in somewhere.

I think a terminal strip (suggested above) is a great idea if you've got the room inside. It sure makes connecting things easy.

If you trim, leave some "service slack". If you ever have to R&R that lead, you are SOL if it is then too short and you'll have to splice on some extra. There is something about splicing that rubs me the wrong way. I know that's not rational.

[sliberty]

I also hate cutting the leads, but the flip side is that when you keep them long, and tuck them in somewhere, you run the risk of problems (ocsillations mainly). If you know how to keep high signal stuff away from low signal stuff, it proably won't become an issue, but trimming teh wires back is often safer.

I have Moose's TW OT with dual primaries (6.6K and 5.2K), and have been deciding what to do with the unused pair (I plan to use the 6.6K pair). I thought about cable tieing them to the pair that is in use, and just shrink wrapping the ends. This way, they are right where I would need them to be if I decide to switch, and just the right length too. Also, they won't be anywhere near anything bad (otherwise the 6.6K pair would also be near that "bad stuff").

[Phil_S]

I was thinking mostly about PT wires. Steve, I think you are right about needing to trim unused OT wires. You don't need to amputate, just trim.