Common Questions

Australian orders start at $8.95 for Standard Post.
New Zealand shipping starts at $12.60 for Standard shipping and increases based on weight.

Orders placed before 1 pm on a business day are shipped the same day.

No. All orders must be shipped.

Australian Customers: Yes, if your current order has not yet shipped.  
Place a second order for your extra items and checkout, paying for the full order.  We will then combine both of your orders together and issue a refund for the extra shipping charges.
New Zealand customers: No, due to weight limits altering shipping costs.

A tracking number is emailed to you once the order has shipped.
You can use the link in the email to see the progress of your order. Alternatively, add the tracking number to your AusPost App to receive updates on its progress.

No.  We are an online store only.  

Only in-stock products can be ordered.  Backorders are not permitted.

No.  We are a retailer and do not offer wholesale pricing. Longer lengths have discounts built into the prices and are available to everyone.

Shipping

For more information regarding shipping, please see the shipping page located here.

Yes. All orders are shipped via Australia Post. So you can send your order to a Parcel Locker or a PO Box.

If you do not want your delivery left unattended, then please select the shipping option of Signature on delivery. Your parcel will still be sent as normal, but a signature must be obtained; if you are unavailable it will be taken to the nearest post office or depot for collection.
In Australia you can also use a Parcel Locker or a PO Box as your delivery address.

As you add items to your cart your shipping cost is automatically updated. When you checkout you can select your preferred shipping option.

New Zealand customers may be subject to import duties, fees and taxes levied after a shipment reaches New Zealand. If a shipment is rejected because of customs clearance charges or refusal to accept delivery, the customer will be responsible for any fees incurred, including international shipment and handling.

To view New Zealand pricing and shipping costs, you must log in and enter a valid New Zealand address. You will then be shown pricing in AUD, excluding the GST. The shipping charges for shipping to New Zealand via standard post will be updated.
When you checkout, you can upgrade your shipping to Express for a quicker delivery.

We only ship to Australia and New Zealand.

Website

Your invoice can be found in your online account.
1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to your Account page and click “Order History”.
3. Find your order and click on Details. You will see a link to download your invoice.

All tracking numbers are emailed to you.
If you paid via PayPal, the tracking number is added to the transaction in your PayPal account.
You can also find them in your online account.
1. Log in to your account.
2. Go to your Account page and click “Order History”.
3. Find your order and click on Details. Below the status of your order is a link with your tracking number.

All products available for order are in stock and ready to ship.

Clicking a product photo will display detailed information about the product, including what it is made of, if it is coated, the link sizes of chains, and all sorts of relevant information to help you decide if the product is what you need.

If a product is out of stock, you can be notified when it is available again.
Click on the product photo and in the notification box, enter your email address. When stock is added, you will receive an email stating that it is back in stock.

To find out how many items we have available click on the product photo. The Product Details Table will be displayed, stating the Reference number and the quantity in stock.

We do not allow back orders. You can only order what is in stock.

Wire Information

Enamelled craft wire can potentially be used for winding small motors, but it may not be the ideal choice.

Gauge: Craft wire comes in gauges suitable for small motors, but you'd need to ensure you use the correct gauge for your specific motor design.

Temperature rating: Motor windings can get hot. Craft wire may not have the temperature rating required for sustained motor operation.

Durability: The enamel on craft wire might not be as durable as that on professional magnet wire, potentially leading to failures over time.

For hobbyist projects or very small, low-power motors, enamelled craft wire might work. However, for more serious applications or larger motors, it's better to use proper magnet wire designed specifically for motor windings.

Imagine you have a thick piece of wire.  This wire is then pulled through a draw plate to make it thinner; you use a smaller hole for each pass through the draw plate.  The more times you pull the wire through the draw plate, the thinner the wire becomes.

So, a 12 gauge wire is theoretically pulled through the draw plate 12 times, making it a 2-mm-sized wire (Using the AWG system).
A 30 gauge wire is extremely thin as it has been pulled through the draw plate 30 times, making it 0.25mm thick (Using the AWG system). 
Please note that this is a representation of how the gauge sizing came to be, and is not exact.

All wires on this site use the AWG (American Wire Gauge) system, also called the B & S system for wire.  There is a comparison table of the size differences between AWG & SWG located here .

Wire Gauge is a system for measuring the thickness of a wire. Guage has two standards and if you are unsure which one you need, refer to the millimetre (mm) size of the wire detailed on every wire product we sell.

There are a number of ways to clean tarnish. You can use a commercially available product designed for cleaning the metal you are using. Another option is to use a cloth impregnated with compounds to remove tarnish.

Sterling Silver and most metals will tarnish, but how quickly they tarnish varies greatly. Argentium will tarnish at a much slower rate than Sterling Silver in the same environment. Gold will tarnish over time too. How metal is used and stored and the environment it is in will dictate the rate at which tarnish will occur.

Cleaning and drying your wire before storing it in a clean, sealed bag or container will help slow tarnish buildup. Using Anti-tarnish tabs will also help.

Tarnish occurs when metals react to chemicals found in the air, skin, or surfaces the metal touches. This reaction produces tarnish. The metals in the wire, moisture levels, exposure to sunlight, and other contaminants such as salt water, dust, and sweat influence how quickly tarnish occurs. It naturally occurs and is not a fault or problem.

Personal choice is a factor—work with what you prefer. As a general rule, the more you work the wire, the softer it should be to start with. If weaving, use dead soft. If making ear wires, use half hard (there is not a lot of movement involved to harden the wire).

This refers to the tension of the wire. Dead soft is a metal’s naturally soft state. Half Hard means the wire has some tension, which makes it harder to bend.

Unless otherwise stated, a wire is assumed to be dead soft. To confirm, click on a wire’s photo for the full details and to see the tension. This is an industry standard.

Working the wire will harden it. However, if you find your wire too soft for your design, you can try hardening it before using it. Take a length of wire and coil it around a glass or drink bottle, then straighten the wire out using Nylon pliers. Repeat the process a few times. Each time you straighten the wire, you will feel more tension in it. Stop when there is enough tension in the wire.

Wire can be annealed to soften it. Annealing is a process of heating and then cooling the wire. This is only for uncoated wire, as heat usually destroys the coating. Once heated, you may have to clean the wire, as Firescale may appear.

If you overwork a wire, it becomes brittle and snaps. Weaving can easily cause a wire to snap when you have used a length multiple times. Alternatively, if you use a thick wire and create a small-diameter coil, the wire may split, which is due to overworking the wire.

Aluminium is a naturally soft metal, whereas Stainless Steel is a hard metal. Dead Soft stainless steel is, therefore, much harder to bend than Half Hard Aluminium, due to the natural differences of the metals.

As you work with a piece of wire, it will naturally harden. Bending, wrapping, coiling, hammering, weaving, and knitting are some of the ways a wire will harden.

The more you work a wire, the harder it will become. For example, when you coil a length of wire, the wire becomes harder, which is why it is harder to coil the tail of the wire than the beginning.