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Good afternoon. The subject of soft soldering the ends of cables has cropped up recently in a number of posts. I too was concerned about the wires breaking with movement and vibration after soldering. I sought advice from Ian McGowan, correspondent of this parish, who advised me to only solder the very tips of the wires, this maintains flexibility whilst preventing the wires from freying. I have used this method with complete success for some time and an added bonus was that it prevented an odd strand causing a short circuit.
Regards from the creative county - Staffordshire
Stuart
BTW, does anyone have experience of the butane powered soldering irons?
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I have a good pal who trained as an electronics engineer. He has always said that wires should not be soldered for the reasons stated. However, Ian McGowans suggestion of just soldering the tips and ensuring that the point where the screw bears is not soldered does seem a sensible compromise...
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Location: North Yorkshire
I'd agree and I also Ian well. Such things are something he has a lot of knowledge and experience of during his working life. He knows what he's talking about.
Steve
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Many thanks for the replies. An order has been placed with Kayfast.
Regards
Stuart
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Location: Shropshire, UK
05-09-2020, 07:09 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-09-2020, 07:17 PM by Ian McGowan.)
"BTW, does anyone have experience of the butane powered soldering irons?"
I have 3 of them, all different Stuart - one is an Iroda solder pro 70 - do yourself a favour and get a 3mm angled or chisel tip to suit, the supplied 1mm conical isn't much use for automotive type work . They are generally excellent, rapid to warm up and fairly adjustable to suit the job in hand.
I always carry one in the 7 with a little hank of multicore tin/lead solder got me (and others!) out of the odd tricky spot in the past.
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Location: Wellington, NZ
I worked in the past as an electronic tech (helped pay for uni) including some mil-spec stuff. A properly crimped connection was always considered the best and 'proper' way.
The problem for us amateurs is we don't tend to use the high quality connectors and crimps or have access to the right crimping tools. These, both connectors and especially the tools, tend to be VERY expensive! And for it to be done properly you need the correct connectors, correct pins and the correct tool to crimp them. As well as using exactly the right size and spec wire with the correct insulation. All stripped to the exact correct lengths without nicking any of the strands.
The stuff we get to use is often not great quality so we have to compromise. I solder some of my crimps but definitely try to avoid too much solder wicking up the insulation and also solder after you crimp (so don't crimp tinned wire).
Also be careful of the loose strands! I ended up inside a giant animatronic tiger live on stage at a fashion/art show with my laptop trying to debug a fault in it which turned out to be caused by poor wiring (not mine!) where a single strand was loose from the crimp and shorting across pins resetting the electronics from time to time.
With all the correct gear and practice doing even huge multi-pin connectors isn't too bad. With some of them you just have to remember to put the back-shell on first. Don't ask how I know!
Simon
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Thanks Ian, I've modified my order.
Take care
Stuart
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I've had one of those Dremel soldering irons for a while - I bought it for a project I haven't started yet so it hasn't really been used in anger. However yesterday I used it to solder the wire back on the rear contact of my Nippy's dash light. The connection was originally crimped and is very close to a paxolin(?) insulator which I worried about melting. However I found that the butane iron gets way hotter than my old (ancient) electric iron and can be directed with greater precision. I was able to get the solder in and get out again without affecting the insulator. The thing to watch out for is the 'exhaust' from the butane flame an inch or so above the tip - I was working on top of a scrap of painted wood and I could see the paint blistering. And fingers of course!
