[Nate Najar]

no, the actual hardware....

I have a weller 40 watt. It works well- it might be too hot but I haven't destroyed anything yet and it is efficient.

The tip broke! I've been using the regular pencil tip that came with it. Is that the best tip for making and repairing cables and such or is there some trade secret on something that's better?

thanks!

N

[[email protected]]

The secret is to use an iron that has a feedback controlled temperature.
The fancy ones have a knob that you can set the temp.
Others have a fixed temp that is set by the tip and the temp is usually stamped on the bottom of the tip.
650 to 750 is a good range.

Mark
..

[geoff]

On 29/04/2014 2:21 p.m., wrote:
The secret is to use an iron that has a feedback controlled temperature.
The fancy ones have a knob that you can set the temp.
Others have a fixed temp that is set by the tip and the temp is usually stamped on the bottom of the tip.
650 to 750 is a good range.

Mark
.



I forget the code, but I seem to recall "8" is the hottest and "7" is
pretty common.

I find hotter is better than medium, as the solder job gets done more
quickly and less heat is conducted away (over time) to shrivel
insulation, lift pcb tracks, etc.

geoff

[PStamler]

On Monday, April 28, 2014 6:27:39 PM UTC-6, Nate Najar wrote:
no, the actual hardware....



I have a weller 40 watt. It works well- it might be too hot but I haven't destroyed anything yet and it is efficient.



The tip broke! I've been using the regular pencil tip that came with it. Is that the best tip for making and repairing cables and such or is there some trade secret on something that's better?

It's really a matter of personal taste. I've had the best luck with the rounded-chisel tip.

Peace,
Paul

[Scott Dorsey]

Nate Najar wrote:
no, the actual hardware....

I have a weller 40 watt. It works well- it might be too hot but I haven't destroyed anything yet and it is efficient.

Does it have temperature control?

The tip broke! I've been using the regular pencil tip that came with it. Is that the best tip for making and repairing cables and such or is there some trade secret on something that's better?

Personally I like the pencil tip for most things, but I like a small chisel tip
for XLR connectors because you can put the side of the tip against the
side of the solder cup and get a lot of contact area. The more contact area,
the faster the work heats up and your goal is to heat the work up fast so the
work melts the solder but doesn't melt the insulation.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Scott Dorsey]

Sean Conolly wrote:

Sadly after 15 years I've managed to toast mine and it just stays on
constantly now. Trying to decide if I should just replace the springy guts
or buy a new one with a dial.

Often this happens to the WTPC irons from working around strong magnets,
like speakers. If you have to do that, get one with the servo temperature
control. Otherwise getting a new element for the WTPC is pretty cheap.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Trevor]

"geoff" wrote in message
...
On 29/04/2014 2:21 p.m., wrote:
The secret is to use an iron that has a feedback controlled temperature.
The fancy ones have a knob that you can set the temp.
Others have a fixed temp that is set by the tip and the temp is usually
stamped on the bottom of the tip.
650 to 750 is a good range.

650 deg is too cold for lead free solder.


I forget the code, but I seem to recall "8" is the hottest and "7" is
pretty common.

8 is 800degF and 7 is 700degF.

Trevor.

[[email protected]]

Well, in the interest of science, and as a Christian, the secret to using one ot these cheap irons is to have a wet napkin available when you are soldering. The tip of the iron must first be tinned, by heating it to the melting point of the solder, then you should have a Flux, which is usually made of rosin,
When the tip is hot, dip it in the flux, and melt some solder on the tip. This should made it all nice and shiny with the solder. When this tip is shiny , its good for soldering.
For additional soldering, the tip gets too hot, so wipe in on the wet towels until it shines again, and solder
The lack of temperature control, lets the the tinning on the tip to get too hot, and this causes it to oxidize, becoming dark and a poor conductor of heat. The wiping on the wet paper towels removes the oxide, and makes the tip more heat conductive toward melting the solder.
Any piece of copper with the same sizes required, will make a good tip.
I've substituted number 9 copper wire for a tip many times. A snug fit of copper, a filled tip, tinned properly, will make a good soldering tip.
The secret to good soldering is the tinning of the tip of the soldering iron-- it should have a smooth solder, shiny contact area, and the flux must me on the point to be soldered, to remove the air when the molten solder makes contact- it shines-- and the metal to metal is formed. If the shine is not there, a cold solder joint will result, with a future failure. Solder melts at approx 630 deg F, if it goes above that, the surface. gets oxidized and doesn't make good electrical continuity
I was taught to tin a soldering tip , the old gas heated irons, using a brick with a gully gouged in it, then melting the solder into the gully, with flux, and rubbing it all around. The rubbing, scoured the coper surface within the molten pool of solder and flux, and TINNED the iron for good soldering. On todays miniature tip irons, a piece of sandpaper can be used with the rosin-core soldering wire, and give good results
Heat the point needing the solder, FIRST! then apply contact with the solder, until it FLOWS.

[[email protected]]

Rosin Core soldering wire will not require buying solder flux.

[William Sommerwerck]

Excellent run-down of soldering basics.

I came into electronics during the transition from vacuum state to solid
state. As parts got smaller, there was increasing reluctance * to hold the
iron in place until the joint itself got hot enough to melt the solder. I've
always broken that rule, but don't remember ever making a bad joint. If a
joint is clean and bright, it's probably a good joint.

One rule not mentioned is to use a pair of grooved pliers to scrape the
oxidation off resistor and capacitor leads.

* Would someone please turn that into a joke? It's still a bit early for me.

[[email protected]]

Iron won't solder good, aluminum, not at all. Basically, soldering, electronically is copper to copper, ( or silver, gold, zinc, Ha ha). Old radio chassis were galvanized with a zinc coating, but today ???

[[email protected]]

Your right, also, heat conductors can be attached to the contacts or wires of heat sensitive items to protect them.

[[email protected]]

I came into the electronics era from the Galina Crystal era Ha!, thats back around 1930's

[[email protected]]

We'd use an Oatmeal Box to make the inductance, along with a cats whisker galena detector to hear the AM radio stations. The biggest cos was the earphones

[[email protected]]

As your "joke", I was taught to use a dull knife, and scrape the wires, before even making the wire splices, like, the WesternUnion Longtie, WesternUnion
Shortctie, Plain Tee or Tap, Areal Tee or Tap and the Rart Tail Splices. That was when I was in the 7th grade, and I graduated from Northampton HS, PA, in 1944!

[[email protected]]

Ill never forget the decline of the vacuum era, when I made a transistor multivibrator circuit, using a depleted D battery, from my flashlight, and it oscillated for three days !!

[Scott Dorsey]

In article , Trevor wrote:
"geoff" wrote in message
m...
On 29/04/2014 2:21 p.m., wrote:
The secret is to use an iron that has a feedback controlled temperature.
The fancy ones have a knob that you can set the temp.
Others have a fixed temp that is set by the tip and the temp is usually
stamped on the bottom of the tip.
650 to 750 is a good range.

650 deg is too cold for lead free solder.

This is true, but hopefully nobody is making up new cables with lead-free
solder.

I forget the code, but I seem to recall "8" is the hottest and "7" is
pretty common.

8 is 800degF and 7 is 700degF.

A lot of the newer lead-free stuff is very very touchy about working
temperature, because the flux burns off at a temperature not much higher
than the solder melts. If you're having to work with that stuff, having
an iron with external control to allow continuous settings can be a help.

Avoid the lead-free stuff like the plague.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Scott Dorsey]

In article ,
wrote:
Rosin Core soldering wire will not require buying solder flux.

You can never have too much flux. A little bottle of rosin on the bench
can really help a lot of work, both working on old crusty gear and in doing
tiny SMT stuff.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Tom McCreadie]

Scott Dorsey wrote:

Avoid the lead-free stuff like the plague.

Folks who sold(i)er on with lead-containing materials are - like sea captains
who go down with their ships - a dying race. :-)
--
Tom McCreadie

"Music is the greatest silent force in the world." - Lionel Richie

[John Williamson]

On 02/05/2014 14:41, Scott Dorsey wrote:
In article , Trevor wrote:
"geoff" wrote in message
...
On 29/04/2014 2:21 p.m., wrote:
The secret is to use an iron that has a feedback controlled temperature.
The fancy ones have a knob that you can set the temp.
Others have a fixed temp that is set by the tip and the temp is usually
stamped on the bottom of the tip.
650 to 750 is a good range.

650 deg is too cold for lead free solder.

This is true, but hopefully nobody is making up new cables with lead-free
solder.

Have you tried buying anything else lately?

(In the UK, at least)

In Europe as a whole, the ROHS rules mean that (Commercially, anyway)
anyone not using lead free solder in manufacture (or repair of equipment
originally made using lead free solder) is liable to some quite drastic
penalties if caught.

Exceptions are made for things like medical and aviation equipment.

I am husbanding my supplies of real solder very carefully. If I see any
on a shop shelf, I buy it.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article ,
John Williamson wrote:
This is true, but hopefully nobody is making up new cables with
lead-free solder.

Have you tried buying anything else lately?

(In the UK, at least)

All the major suppliers like CPC etc stock it. But probably not the sheds
or Maplin.

--
*Save the whale - I'll have it for my supper*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

[Peter Larsen[_3_]]

Scott Dorsey wrote:

This is true, but hopefully nobody is making up new cables with
lead-free solder.

Seems to be the only kind available over the counter over here. Recently
bought an extra (partial) roll of real solder privately, reckon it is
contraband by now.

Kind regards

Peter Larsen

[Scott Dorsey]

Tom McCreadie wrote:
Scott Dorsey wrote:

Avoid the lead-free stuff like the plague.

Folks who sold(i)er on with lead-containing materials are - like sea captains
who go down with their ships - a dying race. :-)

Yes, but they have a whole lot fewer failures, especially in the high voltage
high Z world.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Scott Dorsey]

Peter Larsen wrote:
Scott Dorsey wrote:

This is true, but hopefully nobody is making up new cables with
lead-free solder.

Seems to be the only kind available over the counter over here. Recently
bought an extra (partial) roll of real solder privately, reckon it is
contraband by now.

Nahh, the NATO military folks mandate 63/37 still, so do most of the European
telecom folks. I don't see that changing any time soon, as those guys need
stuff to work.

Buerklin certainly stocks 63/37.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Peter Larsen[_3_]]

Scott Dorsey wrote:

Buerklin certainly stocks 63/37.

Thank you!

--scott

Kind regards

Peter Larsen

[Mike Rivers[_2_]]

On 5/2/2014 9:00 AM, wrote:
I came into the electronics era from the Galina Crystal era Ha!, thats back around 1930's

From your earlier comments, I figured you were a plumber or auto body
repairman.



--
For a good time, visit http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com

[geoff]

On 3/05/2014 2:09 a.m., Tom McCreadie wrote:
Scott Dorsey wrote:

Avoid the lead-free stuff like the plague.

Folks who sold(i)er on with lead-containing materials are - like sea captains
who go down with their ships - a dying race. :-)



The ship went down probably because some vital component used crappy
lead-free solder.

geoff

[geoff]

On 3/05/2014 12:22 a.m., wrote:
Well, in the interest of science, and as a Christian, .....


Well, as an atheist, I don't see WFT that has to do with anything !

geoff

[Trevor]

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Avoid the lead-free stuff like the plague.

IF you are *only* making your own cables, perhaps, for the rest of us the
choice has long been out of our control.

Trevor.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article ,
Trevor wrote:

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Avoid the lead-free stuff like the plague.

IF you are *only* making your own cables, perhaps, for the rest of us
the choice has long been out of our control.

Which country is it impossible to buy leaded multi-core in?

--
*A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

[Trevor]

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Trevor wrote:
"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Avoid the lead-free stuff like the plague.

IF you are *only* making your own cables, perhaps, for the rest of us
the choice has long been out of our control.

Which country is it impossible to buy leaded multi-core in?

Which country is it possible to buy or sell electronics made with leaded
solder? Aus has certainly followed Europe with ROHS regulations anyway.

Trevor.

[Scott Dorsey]

In article , Trevor wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Trevor wrote:
"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Avoid the lead-free stuff like the plague.

IF you are *only* making your own cables, perhaps, for the rest of us
the choice has long been out of our control.

Which country is it impossible to buy leaded multi-core in?

Which country is it possible to buy or sell electronics made with leaded
solder? Aus has certainly followed Europe with ROHS regulations anyway.

It's interesting here in the US, where RoHS isn't required but where almost
all consumer products are RoHS so they can be sold globally without having to
do dual-production.

Here, there are quite a few computer products that can be ordered non-RoHS
although you have to specify it in advance.

For audio gear, all the mass-produced MI store stuff is RoHS, but a lot of
the smaller production guys have resisted it, especially people doing
anything that requires high voltages and tight spacing. Some of that stuff
still gets exported to Europe as non-RoHS stuff under various exemptions,
other folks will do a special run.

Talk to EveAnna Manley about the headaches she has been through....
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[mcp6453[_2_]]

On 5/5/2014 9:23 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:

It's interesting here in the US, where RoHS isn't required but where almost
all consumer products are RoHS so they can be sold globally without having to
do dual-production.

Here, there are quite a few computer products that can be ordered non-RoHS
although you have to specify it in advance.

For audio gear, all the mass-produced MI store stuff is RoHS, but a lot of
the smaller production guys have resisted it, especially people doing
anything that requires high voltages and tight spacing. Some of that stuff
still gets exported to Europe as non-RoHS stuff under various exemptions,
other folks will do a special run.

Talk to EveAnna Manley about the headaches she has been through....
--scott

Talk to Mark and Beth McQuilken about the same thing.

[Scott Dorsey]

mcp6453 wrote:
On 5/5/2014 9:23 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:

It's interesting here in the US, where RoHS isn't required but where almost
all consumer products are RoHS so they can be sold globally without having to
do dual-production.

Here, there are quite a few computer products that can be ordered non-RoHS
although you have to specify it in advance.

For audio gear, all the mass-produced MI store stuff is RoHS, but a lot of
the smaller production guys have resisted it, especially people doing
anything that requires high voltages and tight spacing. Some of that stuff
still gets exported to Europe as non-RoHS stuff under various exemptions,
other folks will do a special run.

Talk to EveAnna Manley about the headaches she has been through....

Talk to Mark and Beth McQuilken about the same thing.

They have even worse problems since they do a lot of contract manufacturing
in the same facility.

And the one thing that is worse than RoHS solder is a mixture of RoHS and
leaded solders caused by cross-contamination in a factory that does both.
So you really don't want to be doing both if you can at all avoid it. I
have seen so much of that going on with stuff from China recently.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[geoff]

On 6/05/2014 12:21 a.m., Trevor wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message


Which country is it impossible to buy leaded multi-core in?

Which country is it possible to buy or sell electronics made with leaded
solder? Aus has certainly followed Europe with ROHS regulations anyway.

Trevor.


If that was meant as an answer, that wasn't the question.

geoff

[Trevor]

"geoff" wrote in message
news
IF you are *only* making your own cables, perhaps, for the rest of us
the choice has long been out of our control.

Which country is it impossible to buy leaded multi-core in?

Which country is it possible to buy or sell electronics made with leaded
solder? Aus has certainly followed Europe with ROHS regulations anyway.

If that was meant as an answer, that wasn't the question.

The question was irrelevant to my original statement.

Trevor.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article ,
Trevor wrote:

"geoff" wrote in message
news
IF you are *only* making your own cables, perhaps, for the rest of
us the choice has long been out of our control.

Which country is it impossible to buy leaded multi-core in?

Which country is it possible to buy or sell electronics made with
leaded solder? Aus has certainly followed Europe with ROHS
regulations anyway.

If that was meant as an answer, that wasn't the question.

The question was irrelevant to my original statement.

It was in context for the thread. Which is about 'home' soldering - not
manufacture. ;-)

Many seem to think it's not possible to buy leaded solder.

--
*If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

[Trevor]

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Trevor wrote:
"geoff" wrote in message
news
IF you are *only* making your own cables, perhaps, for the rest of
us the choice has long been out of our control.

Which country is it impossible to buy leaded multi-core in?

Which country is it possible to buy or sell electronics made with
leaded solder? Aus has certainly followed Europe with ROHS
regulations anyway.

If that was meant as an answer, that wasn't the question.

The question was irrelevant to my original statement.

It was in context for the thread. Which is about 'home' soldering - not
manufacture. ;-)

Many seem to think it's not possible to buy leaded solder.


I wouldn't have said : "IF you are only making your own cables, perhaps" if
I thought that, would I.

Trevor.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article ,
Trevor wrote:
It was in context for the thread. Which is about 'home' soldering - not
manufacture. ;-)

Many seem to think it's not possible to buy leaded solder.


I wouldn't have said : "IF you are only making your own cables, perhaps"
if I thought that, would I.

I make rather more than just cables using leaded solder. ;-)

--
* I like you. You remind me of when I was young and stupid

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

[Mike Rivers[_2_]]

On 5/5/2014 7:08 PM, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

The question was irrelevant to my original statement.

It was in context for the thread. Which is about 'home' soldering - not
manufacture. ;-)

Many seem to think it's not possible to buy leaded solder.

I'm sure there must be a country where leaded electronics-type solder
isn't available but there's no problem ordering it from Digi-Key in the US

Lots of choices he http://tinyurl.com/ljb38pb

I guess plumbers don't use leaded solder any more, but that's so we
don't drink the lead. But do auto body shops still use solder? If so, is
it lead-free? Probably not.




--
For a good time, visit http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com