How Do You "TIN" a soldering iron?

I think the stuff I use is teflon. It is very smooth and tough. I bought a big roll of it about 20 years ago at an aircraft Mfg. plant salvage yard.

Hank

Reply to
Hank
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So, what is it? Are they forbidden or are they forbidden if not supported? I know they aren't totally forbidden because I know that when an instrument is installed using a plug type connection, they solder the wires to the plug.

Hank

Reply to
Hank

The examples you gave are (mostly) not subject to mechanical stress.

I'll bet I could pull apart YOUR soldered (only) wire joint. I'll bet my CAT could probably pull apart your soldered joint. Heck, your soldered wires would probably fall apart out of shame.

I'll further bet an insane ostrich couldn't pull mine apart.

Reply to
HeyBub

Your technique may need revision.

I was taught to push the lead through the hole, bend it over to provide mechanical connection, solder, then clip the dog leg.

You are evidently skipping the "bend over" step. Your technique makes removing the component MUCH easier - until the component simply falls out on its own.

Reply to
HeyBub

Uh, the boiling point of HCL is (at most) 230F degrees. Wouldn't it boil away on a soldering iron?

Reply to
HeyBub

WOW!

Reply to
Tony Miklos

No problem, most of it gets scrubbed off in the 2nd step with the brass wool anyway. And I have seen hundreds of cases of my soldering on circuit boards 15-20 years later and there has been no problems.

Reply to
Tony Miklos

Oops! That should read "doesn't need" not "doesn't not need".

like

Reply to
Tony Miklos

Ah, a typo. Read it as a single negative and you will understand what I mean. Another reason solder joints shouldn't be mechanically secure before soldering is because that practice can hide poor solder joints. It may be a cold solder joint but it doesn't show up easy as if it would without a separate mechanical connection.

As far as solder wicking up wire, yes I agree the wicking and vibration is a very bad combo. As far as NASA, I believe that was mostly applied to components on circuit boards.

Reply to
Tony Miklos

Think components in printed circuit boards, not wires.

Reply to
Tony Miklos

ALL the high end speaker equipment I've worked on has had the wires bent around the tabs on the speakers. Most of the junk chinese stuff I've had to resolder has not - - -

I was taught to twist lap, at the very least, and "western union" joint every soldered splice before soldering and taping, or heat schrinking, a joint, and to heat shrink at least half an inch past the joint in both directions on 18 guage wire. A bit less (proportionally) with decreasing wire guage. (for vibration/bending protection)

I guess as long as it's better than the chinese, and not too much more expensive - but it's still not "best practice"

In mnost cases that is definitely correct. I will, on occaision, po]ut a spot of solder on the terminal end (where the wire end comes through) but it has to be a quick shot, not allowing ANY solder to wick to the outer end of the crimp. Sometimes required for corrosion protection (to keep fluid or corrosive gas from "wicking" up the conductor) and always combined with a good heat shrink sleave on the crimped end.

If you can GUARANTEE you always make a perfect joint, and it will not be subjected to undue vibration/stress, in theory the joint will work. Tensile strength of 60/40 solder is 6400 lbs, shear is 5700. Tensile strength of 63/37 is 6700, and shear is 6060.

In comparison, drawn copper wire is 12,500 and rolled is 32,000

None of your applications are particularly "safety" items - like aircraft wiring and even automotive electronic control wiring.

For your applications, solder without independent mechanical connection appears to be "good enough" - in most of my applications it is NOT. Best practices for soldered electrical joints involves a mechanically secure joint which is THEN soldered to assure a permanent low resistance electrical connection.

Reply to
clare

Reply to
clare

If the lead is short enough that the prevailing vibration frequencies and their resonances are both high enough and low enough to make it impossible for the components to be induced to vibrate and flex the wire to cause fatigue, no problem, I guess.

I was always taught when populating a board with discrete, through-hole components, to put the little hook in the lead to locate it the proper distance from the board and to hold it relatively securely in position for soldering. All the higher end contract board assemblers around here always did that as well.

Lots of electronic manufacturing around here - home of RIM, Electrohome,ComDev and a raft of other high-tech electronic companies over the years - now more of the "silicon valley north" computer geek businesses.

Reply to
clare

A lot of the stuff I worked on was custom - and not high volume - and the little "hook" was standard, virtually across the board. Dealt with some pretty high end contract assemblers. Waterloo Region is NOT the low-tech part of the country. A lot of the work these guys did was aerospace or high end industrial electronics.

Ever hear of Dalsa, ComDev,Christie Digital, RIM, Agile Systems, Accellerated Systems, SRE Controls, Navitas, Virtek, Raytheon, NCR, ATS, just for starters.

Reply to
clare

I've actually done more "discrete component" assembly than LSI stuff

- and a fair amount of the old "point to point" as well. Printed circuits were still pretty crude when I got started. Did a fair bit of vacuum tube stuff too.

Reply to
clare

And if it doesn't, it is just concentrated. By your logic, acid core solder should work just fine??

Reply to
clare

That's because YOU know enough to finish the job with that step two - wet spong or "kurly kate"

Reply to
clare

And the wires are also tied - wrapped with string and varnished - in MANY, but not all applications. And I've seen many an armature unwound from overspeed.

Reply to
clare

Teflon insulation doesn't burn but it does creep. It's not good around anything even slightly sharp.

Reply to
krw

Correct.

Nope, unless you consider "solder paste" to be "glue". The normal SMT process uses no glue, rather does a pass through the oven for each side. Glue is sometimes used but not generally.

Reply to
krw

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