Soldering Help.....

[FE_Chris]

I still can't believe I have to ask for some help/advice on soldering, but it has been a while....

OK, I got the job done, and I got it done right but wow did I ever struggle the other night soldering my 10awg cable to 5.5mm bullitts. Seemed like the heat just would not get in to the wire. The wire did not want to wick the solder all that well. I have good solder and I am using a 400w soldering gun. No problems there... The only thing I can think of is, I was using a metal plate that was on a old towel to solder. I was laying the wire directly on to the metal plate and trying to tin it. I am thinking my metal plate was soaking all the heat out of my wire and that is why I was having problems. I looked at some youtube videos and it looks like most of you are using a piece of plywood to solder on, and also with 8-10awg wire you have to tin both sides of the wire??? is this correct?

Last thing, I went ahead and ordered one of these helping hands things. Seems like a good idea, but I don't know. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT


It's been a few years since I have soldered anything really. Back when I used to solder I had a glass table I soldered directly on. It had sides so I didn't need anything to hold conns or wire. I could just push them in to the sides to hold and the glass never skipped a beat with the heat. (Just looked at more video's and everyone is using wood to solder on. I think this may have been my problem)

Thoughts? Advice? Thanks.

Finished product below.... Wish me luck at the pond later... First time in almost three years...

[carlcisneros]

I have different sized holes drilled in the boat table where I solder and it works great.

[Gilbequick]

Use an appropriate flux,.it works wonders.

[Gilbequick]

Also, I like to use a thin gauged solder, like an .032. It melts and wicks in faster. When you're soldering don't forget to keep your iron tip tinned, that will transfer the heat off of the iron much much more efficiently.

[carlcisneros]

and the first rule of soldering:

CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[m4a1usr]

If your using a soldering gun make sure the nuts that hold the copper legs of the tip are tightened well. Its common for the big soldering guns to have those nuts not make a decent connection. I have one myself that I rarely use but there are times when it seems to get hot, but the tip doesnt seem to. Tightening the nuts usually fixes it for me.

John

[maxmekker]

I've got a weller solder station now.

[Watts Wizard]

One tip on pretinning is to heat from opposite side that you are applying solder or you might end up with a cold solder joint. This allows solder to wick through wiring for better solder saturation. Also allows better fusion to solids being soldered.

[SJFE]

Man how I do NOT miss soldering