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Need silver power cord help

I am seeking help from anyone who can offer it to me.

Over the summer, I would like to construct a power cord. Actually, four of them. It would be based on the results I and others have come up with over the past year. My cord will be an all out assault on the state of the art. It will probably be 8 gauge. It will DEFINITELY be all silver. I may try an air dielectric approach. Not yet sure.

My problem is finding connectors which are all silver. Isn't that the way to do it? I mean, there are some awesome cables out there. But, virtually all of them seem to me to be limited by their connectors. Even the WattAGate is not up to snuff. I have found one company(Stage3Concepts) who is making power cords which are silver from stem to stern. Both the male plug and IEC connectors are solid silver. I remember previously that they would sell parts on their website. These days, that feature has disappeared. I ran into the owner at the NY Hifi Show, and inquired about the parts. He refused to sell them to me. Stating liability issues. He did say that he makes the connectors himself. The connections to the wire are made via both crimping and silver soldering.

I come before you all in search of ideas. Ideally, I would like to buy something off the shelf. Does anyone have any sources, or ideas? I approached AlphaCore Goertz, as they are now making both speaker and interconnect connectors of silver. Power cord parts are not in the works. Likewise, WBT has no interest. Seems as these two companies, as forward thinking as they try to be, have sort of missed the boat in the AC arena. I was thinking that AudioNote may potentially make these(but don't expect it), but have yet to check. Does anyone know of a source?

As a last resort(and I don't know if I would resort to this), I could approach a jeweler who specializes in findings/mountings/castings. Silver is very cheap, and the cost would probably be less than what we would expect. I believe the male end would be quite straightforward. The IEC end would be a different story, I am afraid. Again, just looking for answers. Thanks to all in advance.
trelja
bwhite
807 posts
 
Trelja, Maybe you should talk to a jeweler.
I am sure they could make anything you like
out of silver. Except.. maybe the IEC end.
evo845
70 posts
 
Being a Dental Lab Tech.I can tell you that making the IEC can be done.I make gold crowns out of wax, invest them,burn them out and cast them with gold, silver is no diff. Melting points are diff. but the same premiss.
Trelja Iam game to try it, all investigate some today and get back to you later.
steve
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,406 posts
 
Hi Trelja: I just pulled out my bag (knapsack) of extra PC's (got busted by the wife as I was in the middle of examining them:-) and found that both the IEC and the AC plug on the Stealth PC are modular in that they open completely up and expose the metal components which look to be replaceable. All of the contact areas look like they can be made out of flat stock though cutting it would stress the metal (silver) and perhaps molding and then polishing would be a better way to go. It might also be possible to cut larger and then grind to shape, though again I do not know how this would effect the metal structure. Don't know about connections either as silver screws would be hard to come by. As far as the IEC goes perhaps just a felt (is it conductive?) pad on one side of each of the silver blades (between the IEC housing and the blade) would supply enough "spring" for a tight fit and would allow the use of single (instead of a spring) blades. I have melted soft metal (a bullet proof padlock) with a cheap prophane torch, so that part is pretty easy.
jaykapur
70 posts
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't the silver tarnish and alter its conductivity at the surface? I thought that was why people used gold.

There are companies that will make custom power connectors. I know the fellow who runs Electra Glide has custom manufactured gold parts made for his wall outlets, IEC outlets, and power cord plugs.
trelja OP
3,223 posts
 
Thanks for all the great input. Dekay, I am happy about what you have said. I have been meaning to take a close look at my IEC ends this week, just have yet to get around to it. Thank you for the heads up. I now see this project should be feasible. Jaykapur, in response to your valid assertion, perhaps the silver is treated or plated. I know that gold or rhodium(another of the 8 precious metals, silver in color) plating can be done at a jeweler for very little cost. I just made up a ring for my girlfriend, it was 18K gold, and I had it flashed in rhodium(which is many times more expensive than gold). My friend's father is a diamond setter on Philadelphia's Jeweler's Row. This is probably the largest diamond district in the US, outside of NYC. I needed him to set 3 sapphires in the ring, and flash it with rhodium. Total cost? $4 for the plating(plus $8 for setting the stones)! And those are his normal prices, he didn't give me a break. Evo845, I am definitely interested in us pursuing this. How interested are you in going down this road? What would be your lead time, and expected cost? Let's presume we would need 4 sets(IEC and male end) of silver connectors for me. Others may also want to jump on the bandwagon. I can possibly envision us making 10 in the first run. If we do have the molds made up, can we make them permanent(or sort of...), to ensure that if we want to make future runs, we would not have to reinvest in a mold? I should also check into the people on Jeweler's Row who do findings/castings/mountings. They do not really sell jewelry, they more do the actual work, and then sell to retail jewelers. The price of silver is very low($4.45/ounce yesterday), people in this hobby keep forgetting that. Or do they only want US to forget that?
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