Soldering aerial plugs

Hi,

I've decided to make sure various belling lee connectors are properly
made up by following the advice he
http://www.megalithia.com/elect/bellinglee/

Everything is easy enough except the last bit: soldering. The only
soldering I've done before is copper tube for my pipes with a bloody
great blowtorch. The problem I'm having with the connectors is getting
the solder to flow down inside rather than just beading on the tip of
the connector, or the tip of the iron. This is the solder I'm using:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?...43001&doy=17m4
As the cable has been in situ for a while I thought that maybe it
would help if I made sure the core was showing shiny copper by
abrading it a bit, but that hasn't helped. I notice that the solder
doesn't actually say it has flux in it, although I was assuming that
all electronics solder would, am I wrong? I could just use a bit of
plumbers' flux, but something tells me that that's a bad idea.

Any advice?

Cheers!

Martin

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I've decided to make sure various belling lee connectors are properly
made up by following the advice he
http://www.megalithia.com/elect/bellinglee/

Everything is easy enough except the last bit: soldering. The only
soldering I've done before is copper tube for my pipes with a bloody
great blowtorch. The problem I'm having with the connectors is getting
the solder to flow down inside rather than just beading on the tip of
the connector, or the tip of the iron. This is the solder I'm using:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?...43001&doy=17m4
As the cable has been in situ for a while I thought that maybe it
would help if I made sure the core was showing shiny copper by
abrading it a bit, but that hasn't helped. I notice that the solder
doesn't actually say it has flux in it, although I was assuming that
all electronics solder would, am I wrong? I could just use a bit of
plumbers' flux, but something tells me that that's a bad idea.

Any advice?

Cheers!

Martin


With soldering, it's all about preparation.
You must ensure all the parts to be soldered are bright and clean.
It's usually best to 'tin' the wires and connector prior to soldering up the
connector.
This makes solder flow better when you make the connection.
Also, prodding the tip in a solid flux to clean it, then wiping on a wet
sponge will often help.

Yes, most electronic grade solder will be multi-cored with flux.

Add a small amount of solder to the iron tip, apply the iron to the wire for
a couple of seconds ( the small amount of solder should flow to transfer the
heat more effectivly ); apply solder to the joint till enough is melted;
remove solder; leave iron on for a second or so to allow it to flow nicely,
remove iron.

Soldering old wire can sometimes be problematic, and sometimes the solder
won't 'take', even when it seems clean. It must be some chemical thing going
on with the wire. Sometimes, excessive heating of the problem wire can make
the solder take, but on cheap domestic grade wire, this will usually melt
the dielectric / insulation before it does any good.

Another thing worth mentioning is the soldering iron.
Many cheap irons are around the 25w mark, and cool too much when used to
heat anything much. For general electronic work, I'd recommend weller
irons, around 60W, with interchangeable tips for different sizes and
temperatures. A number 6 tip for low-temp PCB work, up to a number 9 for
HMP solder on large posts.

--
Ron

....snip...

Not sure how you're doing it but here's how I approach the problem.

1. Recut the cable as if you're wiring the plug from scratch and rewire the
plug but leave the central core a little too long.
2. Put everthing together and then fint some way to gently "clamp" the plug
whilst you solder it.
3. Heat the "extra core" and apply the solder where the core and plug
central conductor meet. Gentle here as too much heat and you'll melt the
insulation between the central conductor and the outer casing.
4. Once soldered, leave to cool then trim the excess central core.

BTW before I soldered central connectors, I always bent the central
connector just a touch before inserting so that there was a good contact
between the copper and the centre connector of the plug.

Finally, whilst a big iron is nice, I've always done fine with a 25W iron
for this sort of thing. But then I've yet to try "lead free" solder ;-).

Paul DS

"Paul D.Smith" wrote in message


But then I've yet to try "lead free" solder ;-).

I've heard that you can't mix lead free with leaded solder, so what do you
do about components with 'pre-tinned' leads? How will you know what they are
tinned with?

--
Max Demian

"Max Demian" wrote in message
...
"Paul D.Smith" wrote in message


But then I've yet to try "lead free" solder ;-).

I've heard that you can't mix lead free with leaded solder, so what do you
do about components with 'pre-tinned' leads? How will you know what they
are tinned with?

I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I do little soldering, in fact its
mainly just to keep things working that would otherwise have to be scrapped
(such as replacing a whole raft on a faulty PC motherboard lately). To date
I've not had any problems.

Paul DS.

In message , Paul D.Smith
writes
"Max Demian" wrote in message
...
"Paul D.Smith" wrote in message


But then I've yet to try "lead free" solder ;-).

I've heard that you can't mix lead free with leaded solder, so what do you
do about components with 'pre-tinned' leads? How will you know what they
are tinned with?

I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I do little soldering, in fact its
mainly just to keep things working that would otherwise have to be scrapped
(such as replacing a whole raft on a faulty PC motherboard lately). To date
I've not had any problems.

Paul DS.



Has anyone actually
(a) repaired lead-free soldered joints with leaded solder, and/or
(b) used lead-free solder to repair leaded soldered joints, and/or
(c) used lead-free solder to repair lead-free soldered joints?
If so, what was the result. Any problems?
Ian.
--

Ian Jackson wrote:
In message , Paul D.Smith
writes
"Max Demian" wrote in message
...
"Paul D.Smith" wrote in message


But then I've yet to try "lead free" solder ;-).

I've heard that you can't mix lead free with leaded solder, so what do you
do about components with 'pre-tinned' leads? How will you know what they
are tinned with?

I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I do little soldering, in fact its
mainly just to keep things working that would otherwise have to be scrapped
(such as replacing a whole raft on a faulty PC motherboard lately). To date
I've not had any problems.

Paul DS.


What's a raft?



Has anyone actually
(a) repaired lead-free soldered joints with leaded solder, and/or
(b) used lead-free solder to repair leaded soldered joints, and/or
(c) used lead-free solder to repair lead-free soldered joints?
If so, what was the result. Any problems?
Ian.
--

Leaded solder can be used without problems on 'lead free'
components, and works fine for repairs too. I believe that lead
free solder won't work if there is any lead contamination though.
And lead free joints look horrible, nasty matt grey surface, like
a dry joint. Yuk.

The answer is, buy proper multicored leaded solder, while
you still can! Actually, AIUI, as unleaded solder can't be
used to repair leaded joints, the leaded solder will remain
available anyway.

dom.

"Dominic" wrote in message
news
Ian Jackson wrote:
In message , Paul
D.Smith writes
"Max Demian" wrote in message
...
"Paul D.Smith" wrote in message


But then I've yet to try "lead free" solder ;-).

I've heard that you can't mix lead free with leaded solder, so
what do you do about components with 'pre-tinned' leads? How will
you know what they are tinned with?

I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I do little soldering, in
fact its mainly just to keep things working that would otherwise
have to be scrapped (such as replacing a whole raft on a faulty PC
motherboard lately). To date I've not had any problems.

What's a raft?

Noun: raft
2. (often followed by 'of') a large number or amount or extent

Has anyone actually
(a) repaired lead-free soldered joints with leaded solder, and/or
(b) used lead-free solder to repair leaded soldered joints, and/or
(c) used lead-free solder to repair lead-free soldered joints?
If so, what was the result. Any problems?

Leaded solder can be used without problems on 'lead free'
components, and works fine for repairs too. I believe that lead
free solder won't work if there is any lead contamination though.
And lead free joints look horrible, nasty matt grey surface, like
a dry joint. Yuk.

The answer is, buy proper multicored leaded solder, while
you still can!

Where? Maplins doesn't seem to sell it.

--
Max Demian

Dominic wrote:
Ian Jackson wrote:
In message , Paul D.Smith
writes
"Max Demian" wrote in message
...
"Paul D.Smith" wrote in message


But then I've yet to try "lead free" solder ;-).
I've heard that you can't mix lead free with leaded solder, so what do you
do about components with 'pre-tinned' leads? How will you know what they
are tinned with?
I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I do little soldering, in fact its
mainly just to keep things working that would otherwise have to be scrapped
(such as replacing a whole raft on a faulty PC motherboard lately). To date
I've not had any problems.

Paul DS.


What's a raft?

Has anyone actually
(a) repaired lead-free soldered joints with leaded solder, and/or
(b) used lead-free solder to repair leaded soldered joints, and/or
(c) used lead-free solder to repair lead-free soldered joints?
If so, what was the result. Any problems?
Ian.
--

Leaded solder can be used without problems on 'lead free'
components, and works fine for repairs too. I believe that lead
free solder won't work if there is any lead contamination though.
And lead free joints look horrible, nasty matt grey surface, like
a dry joint. Yuk.

Yuk indeed. I pay the extra for lead free with silver content - slightly
lower melting point, and slightly nicer joints. I agree with your
description of usage - there is a rare exception that leaded solder
shouldn't be used with unleaded components which have Bismuth content,
but I think that's very unlikely with normal connectors and components.

Steve

"JohnW" wrote in message

Max Demian, in article ,
says...

"Dominic" wrote in message

The answer is, buy proper multicored leaded solder, while
you still can!

Where? Maplins doesn't seem to sell it.


http://preview.tinyurl.com/yx7d3s

Thank you.

--
Max Demian