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Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

instructables.com

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Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#131

Post by JKCalhoun »

salmo wrote: post #129
JKCalhoun wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another pro tip, get a better soldering iron than the one in the video. Soldering stations aren't cheap (Hakko is my somewhat-budget-friendly favorite) but that (plus good solder) will make you realize you've been able to solder all along: it's just that you were using crappy tools.

A few years back I bought a Chinese hot air rework station for I never really use the hot air part but am in love with the iron. I can dial in the temp and avoid breathing fumes directly. It is so much nicer to use than my old Weller with a temp dial.

Yeah, I have been disappointed with Weller. Still, anything's probably better than the Radio Shack pencil iron I started out with (and thought I was bad at soldering).

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#132

Post by salmo »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #131
salmo wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few years back I bought a Chinese hot air rework station for I never really use the hot air part but am in love with the iron. I can dial in the temp and avoid breathing fumes directly. It is so much nicer to use than my old Weller with a temp dial.

Yeah, I have been disappointed with Weller. Still, anything's probably better than the Radio Shack pencil iron I started out with (and thought I was bad at soldering).

Same. I still break out my Radio Shack desoldering iron from time to time, but only for things that can take the abuse.

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#133

Post by analog31 »

sickcodebruh wrote: post #65

I just started working with soldering last week to do my own pickup replacements and basic electric guitar maintenance, so this is very timely! In my first two attempts, I managed to swap pickups successfully, where "success" is measured as "it sounds the way I expect, all knobs and switches work, there is no unexpected buzzing." I worry about how much I don't know about it, so I'm curious: is it possible that I need…

>>> Should I be concerned that a joint that's fine today won't be OK tomorrow?

Yes. Things can go wrong with solder connections over time, such as:

1. So called "cold" solder joint eventually becomes non-conducting or semiconducting (interesting properties of tin) over time, resulting in weird behaviors such as AM radio pickup.

2. Effects of vibration. The guitar is probably getting handled a lot.

3. Other stuff coming loose, such as the nuts holding pots and jacks in place, causing wiggling of the solder joints.

4. Not directly related to soldering, but poor stripping can "nick" the conductors of the wires, leading to premature breakage.

I'm an electric bassist, and I'm responsible for my gear being 100% reliable on the bandstand. I don't bring a spare bass, except that my electric is sometimes a spare for my upright, especially for outdoor gigs. I do keep some spare cables and other odds and ends in a bag that stays in my car. I'm also quite experienced with electronic tech work.

There are some things that can give you a better than 0% chance of your stuff staying in business over time:

1. A good wire stripper that has fixed blade settings and can't nick the wire, such as a "T Stripper" or an "Ideal Stripmaster."

2. A commercial quality iron with a tip in good condition.

3. Lead based solder is still easier for beginners, but a lead-free alloy called Kester K100 is a lot better than the early lead-free alloys.

4. Make sure both sides of the joint are "tinned" before joining them together and soldering. Then you can complete the joint with just a touch of the iron and a bit of solder. For weird / old components, tinning is a good chance to make sure that the solder will actually wet the component, as opposed to balling up.

5. Strain relief. Wire runs of more than a couple inches should be tied with with zip ties or whatever.

6. Be on constant lookout for deterioration of your instrument, something that's just got to be part of being a musician. If a jack or pot comes loose, tighten the nut. You can sneak under the knobs with a bicycle cone wrench if the knob is hard to remove. You'll need the cone wrenches for your bike too.

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#134

Post by type0 »

MivLives wrote: post #111
picture wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The PineCil looks like a TS100 clone, though I'm not too sure which came first. The huge benefit of these microcontroller irons are their monolithic heating element that integrates the temperature sensor. This allows for much better temperature control compared to cheap Hakko-style irons where the tip is a metal piece that sleeves over the heating and sensing elements. It makes a very meaningful improvement in terms…

TS100 was first. I believe the Pinecil also takes TS100 tips. I've liked the Pinecil except sometimes mine crashes in the middle of me soldering. I need to update the OS but I'm lazy. It does fail cold (Says it's hot but it's not heating) which is probably the better of the two ways it could go.

Let's get to the most important questions, can you play Tetris on Pinecil with the new OS update?

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#135

Post by GravitasFailure »

outworlder wrote: post #63
lapetitejort wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now flash IronOS[1] on your soldering Iron I got to here and thought this was some elaborate joke, and expected the github page to continue on with the joke. An operating system for a soldering iron?? But no, it seems 100% serious. Somehow soldering iron tech passed me by.

I just need a firmware that will connect to Home Assistant so it can track my soldering habits. Just joking... mostly.

The Pinecil V2 has a new processor with Bluetooth. I'm a little fuzzy on whether it offers WiFi as well, but Pine64 suggested it could be used to automatically activate a fume extractor based on the tip temperature. Home Assistant integration wouldn't be hard.

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#136

Post by denkmoon »

duped wrote: post #66
Whitespace wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have that many stripped wires to tin, you can use a tub of flux and a solder pot. Dip the wires into the flux, then quickly dip it into the solder pot. Perfectly tinned end with no plastic melting. Really hard to mess up vs a soldering iron, a wire, and solder wire. You can even dip multiple wires into the flux and solder bath at the same time, as well as use the flux tub again before you solder the tinned wir…

Totally true, but you don't always have a solder tub or tub of flux laying around. The other advantage of this approach is it's easier to avoid tinning under the insulation

What is the impact of tinning under the insulation?

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#137

Post by an_aparallel »

Whitespace wrote: post #36
duped wrote: post #16

This looks like a recipe for cold solder joints and solder bridges and doesn't seem like it saves time. What you really want to do when you have dozens of jumper wires is to do an array-of-struct to struct-of-array transform on the steps. Instead of cutting, stripping, tinning, and soldering one wire at a time, cut all your wires, then strip them all, then tin them all, then solder them one by one. Here's a pro tip:…

If you have that many stripped wires to tin, you can use a tub of flux and a solder pot. Dip the wires into the flux, then quickly dip it into the solder pot. Perfectly tinned end with no plastic melting. Really hard to mess up vs a soldering iron, a wire, and solder wire. You can even dip multiple wires into the flux and solder bath at the same time, as well as use the flux tub again before you solder the tinned wir…

solder pots!! Thank you for your comment :) This is awesome. i dont know why i've never seen these before.

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#139

Post by spookthesunset »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #127
duped wrote: post #16

This looks like a recipe for cold solder joints and solder bridges and doesn't seem like it saves time. What you really want to do when you have dozens of jumper wires is to do an array-of-struct to struct-of-array transform on the steps. Instead of cutting, stripping, tinning, and soldering one wire at a time, cut all your wires, then strip them all, then tin them all, then solder them one by one. Here's a pro tip:…

Another pro tip, get a better soldering iron than the one in the video. Soldering stations aren't cheap (Hakko is my somewhat-budget-friendly favorite) but that (plus good solder) will make you realize you've been able to solder all along: it's just that you were using crappy tools.

Soldering is really one of those things that significantly improve with good tools.

Re: Soldering Wires – Here's a different way

#140

Post by rkagerer »

mdturnerphys wrote: post #99
lagrange77 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are laser wire strippers? Shut up and take my money.

Here's the one I've used: https://www.laserwiresolutions.com/product/mercury-4/

Awesome. How do they know when to "stop"?

EDIT - found the answer:

> Because the metallic conductor is essentially a mirror at the wavelength of the laser, the process is effectively “self terminating”, that is the laser vaporises all of the insulating material down to the conductor and then stops, so no process control is required to prevent damage to the conductor.

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