Everyone here knows how to twist wires with a drill, correct?

[Amphiprion]

This is one of those things that if you don't know, it will make your day. Being a hardware engineer I see a lot of stuff and take it for granted that everyone knows it. Anyway....

A hand drill is a very fast and easy way to twist two wires together. Twisting wires together reduces the overall loop area of the cable and therefore its inductance as well as its susceptibility to EMI (as well as its ability to radiate it). Twisted pairs are used all over the place, from your telephone system to Cat-5 cabling to low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) in electronics. Back when I was doing PWM amp design for a large company, we would always recommend the lead wires to the speaker units be twisted to help reduce radiated EMI.

Anyway, if you use regular old hookup wire (standard multi-strand single conductor) in your speakers, you can easily twist it by taking the end of two wires, securing them in the drill chuck, holding the other end with your hand, and letting the drill twist them together (go slower with thicker wire). It makes for a cleaner looking install, and you can help keep ground conductors associated with their signal conductors easier inside a speaker box (like shown below).

[Davey]

Yep, it's a good technique. In the old days we used safety-wire pliers, but a variable speed drill is much handier nowadays.
Also, another tip.....once the twisting is finished (and before turning loose of the wires in the drill chuck) give a quick tug. This helps to "set" the lay of the twist so it won't unravel as much. This is more of a concern with wires that have slippery (like teflon) insulation.

Cheers,

Dave.

[evilskillit]

We do this in the shop at work all the time when we need twisted wires for long runs. Usually you get 20 feet of wire and put it in a drill and have another person hold the other end. Words of warning, twice I've seen the guy on the far end's fingers slip and the wires came loose. Inevitably they whipped their way into the tender regions of the guy holding the drill who promptly went down like a sack of nickels. We still do it but its always proceeded by the drill guy saying "Ok, make SURE you don't let go."

So yeah, its a great idea, just hold on tight and watch your eyes... and other areas.

[Silver1omo]

Last time I twisted some wire, I use the door handle and a stick...

[Hdale85]

I use a table clamp.

[fjhuerta]

Silly question - how do you secure the wire to the chuck? Do you just insert it there and tighten it?

[evilskillit]

Silly question - how do you secure the wire to the chuck? Do you just insert it there and tighten it?

Yup.

[Hdale85]

Yes, that's what I do, clamp one end of the wires down to my table vise, then insert the other into the chuck of the drill. The tighter you can get the rap the more likely it won't unravel. Make sure you make it quite a bit longer then you need as it will shrink some and also the ends you clamped will be a bit messed up.