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Solder

862 views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  Joush 
#1 ·
So, I have a soldering gun or two and have only used solder I've picked up at ACE or hardware stores over the years. I have no idea what brand or how good it is, etc.

Can someone school me on Solder, and what's the good stuff and what's not? I`m sure there are big differences.

It`ll be used on 14ga-18ga wire.

-Todd
 
#2 ·
There are diferent types of solder. plumbing vs electrical vs mechanical. Plumbing solder is next to useless for what you want to do so skip it. Its made primarily with tin not lead any more. Electrical solder is still made with lead. Mechanical solder can be lead or silver.

There are generally two types of flux. Acid based fluxes are for non electrical applications like auto body work or radiators. Rosin flux is used for electrical connections. You can get flux cored wire solder, what most people use and you can buy plain flux for pre fluxing.

You want your wires to be as clean as posible. Bright shiny newly exposed wire is best. If you have to work with old in place wires clean as best as posible first then pre flux. Twist your wires together, remember if you want to use heat shrink tubing, now is the time to side it on before you twist them together. I forget more times than I like. I like to clean the tip of my gun with a little fine sandpaper before starting, or heat it up and wipe down the tip to clean it first. Heat up the gun and apply a little solder to wet the tip also adds flux that will help to clean the wires.

Heat the wires from the bottom with the gun. When the wires are hot enough solder touched to the wire will melt and flow into the wires. Don't melt the solder with the tip and drop it on top, you wont get a good joint. Don't over heat the wire and melt the insulation. If this is happening it probably means that the wire aren't clean enough to take the solder. clean with flux or strip and expose new wire and try again. Use a big enough gun. I have a medium sized Weller gun that I use for most small elect. conections on the truck and plow. 22-18 ga. mostly. 10-14ga wire I break out my big iron. has a 3/8" tip and used mostly for art type soldering. Its awkward to use and is always on but works great to quickly heat big wire for soldering. Really big wire 4/0 batery leads I'll do with a torch. I shouldn't need to say this but don't solder with an open flame near a battery!

Remember the bigest problem most poeple have with soldering is that the wires must be clean. If they are not you'll never get a good joint. just try to solder 2 old dark wire together (not green but the dark brown copper color of old wires) and to new shiny wire together and you'll see the difference.

I get most of my electrical solder from and electronics repair company, Radio shack in a pinch. RS also has some solder conectors, flux etc. that you can't find at depo. I try not to use crimp on connectors but in a pinch I'll strip the insulation off and solder them.

Hope this helps, good luck.
 
#3 ·
60% tin/40% lead rosin flux core is what you want to to find. That is what we used when I was in VoTech. The solder itself will come in different gauges too as well as different ratios of tin to lead. Its been awhile since I have soldered or done anything electronics/electrical related but this is some of the stuff I remember.
 
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