... bad idea? I have an enclosure I'm finishing up the circuitry on and I've wire wrapped the connections from an arduino to an LCD. Some of the wire connections occasionally slip if I'm a little rough with it and while I should probably re-wire wrap I'm considering either just finalizing the connection with solder or something different, namely the hot glue approach.
Has anyone else here done this? Can you tell me why it's potentially a bad idea?
Thanks!
-Aurelio
Aurelio,
Might look strong with hot glue over wires but since the wires keep slipping out, you have a wrapping problem and if you cover with glue I don't know if the electrical contact is good or not. Are the pins square or circular? You can't wirewrap on circular pins. Only square ones work.
The lack of contact is my main concern which is why the solder solution is on the table. The reason I haven't already done it is that this is just a prototype and I might like to reclaim the Arduino after it's complete and I hate wasting time removing solder.
The pins are actually squarish as it's from a header so they should be snug but I don't think I used enough wire length and didn't create a consistent coil. The contact is fine though as far as functionality but my concern is that as the glue expands it would fill the contact space and destroy the connection.
-Aurelio
You could hot glue the wires to the board so they don't vibrate, then the wraps around the pins will less likely to suffer from any vibration.
A lot more removable that way and not as likely to foul your pins for later re-use.
Will also allow use of unwrap tool to get the wires off. Be hard to do if glued up.
Also, there are different temperature hot glues.
CrossRoads:
You could hot glue the wires to the board so they don't vibrate, then the wraps around the pins will less likely to suffer from any vibration.
A lot more removable that way and not as likely to foul your pins for later re-use.
Will also allow use of unwrap tool to get the wires off. Be hard to do if glued up.
Also, there are different temperature hot glues.
Neat! I'll try that next time. My current technique was double sticky tape and cable organizers (little plastic twisting thingys to hold wires in place).
Great suggestion, thanks!
If wire-wrap is working properly the wire welds to the post (at points of maximum pressure). If its not working properly you may not be getting a gas-tight weld and the connections could be unreliable (proper wire-wrap is more reliable than solder BTW). Perhaps you don't have a proper wire-wrap tool. or it has worn out?
MarkT: Very possible the wire wrap tool is defective. It's a cheap one I got from radio shack and I'm always having trouble "coiling" it down the length of the post I'm wrapping. From my experience you want to do at least 8 clean wraps to grip it tight but I often get overlap, so it's perhaps 8-10 rotations but only 4 connection points (with 4 overlapping).
Does anyone have any good tips or tricks for good wire-wrapping technique?
SilentDirge:
MarkT: Very possible the wire wrap tool is defective. It's a cheap one I got from radio shack and I'm always having trouble "coiling" it down the length of the post I'm wrapping. From my experience you want to do at least 8 clean wraps to grip it tight but I often get overlap, so it's perhaps 8-10 rotations but only 4 connection points (with 4 overlapping).Does anyone have any good tips or tricks for good wire-wrapping technique?
If you are getting overlap, it's possible that you are pushing down on the wire-wrap tool while you turn it. No pressure or at the most just a tiny bit of pressure is necessary for a good wrap. If that is not the problem then it's likely you have a defective tool, are using the wrong gauge wire for the tool or the post is not the standard 0.025" square size.
Your best bet is to solder the connections and bear the problems of taking it apart should you ever want to later. That or redo it correctly.
Thanks for the tips. FYI I ended up securing the wires with glue and soldering the contact points. The risk of short or other malfunction would be a much greater headache than solder sucking/wicking it later. 
I bought my wire wrap tool from radio shack and it works fine with the 30 gauge wires i also bought from radio shack. I also managed to wrap wires I took from old SCSI cables, which I suspect were also 30 gauge.
We used same RS tool & 30 guage wire to wrap directly to 5mm LED leads.
The black/white wires on the left & right boards here are LED legs.
I see your latest design on your signature
Yes, took me a few tries to get it to open, and then a few more to re-size so it wasn't gargantuan 
Mini-uino's coming soon, will add that one also.
