[TR] soldering

Randall TR3driver at ca.rr.com
Sun Mar 4 11:55:28 MST 2012


> Trying to hold 
> the soldering gun 
> sdeady for the 30 seconds or so on a bullet ballanced 
> precariously on the end 
> of a small, wavering wire while trying to apply solder with the other 
> required much concentration for this old man.

FWIW, I find that much easier if I gently clamp the wire in the bench vise,
so the bullet is resting on top of the vise jaws.  That way I can rest the
tip of the iron on top of the bullet, in the slight vee formed by the flat
tip of the bullet and the wire sticking out.  Reading glasses help too.  The
increased pressure between gun tip and bullet helps transfer heat, while the
bullet resting on the jaws helps keep the bottom end cooler (so less likely
to melt the PVC insulation).
http://goo.gl/Sgt2o

One other thing I forgot to mention before, the wire _must_ be clean "new
penny" color.  If it has become darker brown (like an old penny) then the
surface is covered with copper oxide that must be removed before you can get
a good solder joint.  In the past, I've used my pocket knife to scrape all
sides of each strand (a rather tedious process).  Recently I've been
experimenting with using Tarn-X to remove the oxide, which seems to work
quite well.  What I don't know is whether using it will promote corrosion in
the future, but so far there is no sign of problems even on connections I
made in 2008 to the original, 50+ year old wire.

-- Randall  


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