General > General Technical Chat
Why is so much general purpose connecting wire so hard to solder?
Gyro:
^ Likewise
Wallace Gasiewicz:
For small wire lengths, I like to use jewelry silver plated wire. It solders like a dream. When I make up cables, I also keep the silver plated coax shield in a little jar. This stuff solders easily but is very small diameter. Good for a quick fix on an old board, or for thru hole board problems.
jonpaul:
Bonjour, oxidation, plating, insulation type all affect the solderability.
We use a lot of very old wire, and cables,
the worst are superflexible like used in headsets, wired phones due to woven in fabric strands.
Agree computer type ribbon flat cables do not solder well as,the insulation tends to burn at low temperature.
General tips....
Use 63/37 Eutectic leaded solder
use a hot iron, larger enough tip
After stripping, use an exacto knife to scrape the wire if it's oxidized.
solder pots are effective especially for multiconductr, but can be dangerous
we use our Metcal SP-200 smart heat iron with great effectiveness on hard to solder large conductors.
Bon courage
Jon
EPAIII:
I can give you the why in one, simple word: corrosion.
Copper corrodes. Tin also, but at a slower rate.
The answer is also one, simple word: FLUX.
OK, sometimes just the flux is not enough. In those cases some form of mechanical removal of the corrosion is called for. There are many ways, but three come to my mind.
1. A pencil eraser. Just erase the corrosion from the wire with a few strokes while rotating the wire.
2. Fine sandpaper. Pinch the wire between folded sandpaper and pull it out. Rotate the wire and repeat 3 or 4 times. Extra fine sandpaper is best - 400 grit or finer.
3. In a pinch, just scrape the wire across a sharp knife edge. This must be done carefully so as to not nick or cut the wire. It must be repeated many times while rotating the wire to scrape all sides of the wire strands. This works better with heavy wire gauges and should be avoided with gauges used in things like the ribbon cable you mentioned.
After any of these three or any other mechanical means, add flux and tin the wire with solder. I prefer a paste or jell style of flux. It sticks to the wire/joint better than liquid flux so you get more cleaning action.
Ian.M:
2. Cut a green pan-scourer in quarters. Fold a piece round the wire end or lead, pinch and pull. If you wet it with IPA it even removes most bandoleer tape residue!
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