Wolf mentioned at some time that he might be posting a tutorial on soldering. I would like to open up a dialog on soldering skills to see how others do so and any tips or techniques they have.
Let me start it out. I am not to do the heat shrink over the terminal trick unless the wires are stripped too long and are near the strain relief on XLR/DMX cable. I also have problems with the heat shrink shrinking before I can move it when I do proper soldering. The only time thus that I attempt this is on Scroller cable when 120v is running thru the XLR plug.
Since I have not been able to master that technique, I have my own style that works but is not text book. I find my solder station best set between 650°F and 700°F with 0.050" acid core solder. I find that less temp. does not heat up fast enough, and more temp. melts stuff too fast. The actual end product is good - not cold solder joints, melted plastic around the terminals etc.
Where melting is concerned, any thermoplastic insulation on the wire melts far too fast, no matter how quick or careful I am at it. By the time the solder has cooled, at least 1/16" of insulation has melted on a good day. That’s a bad thing so for my technique, I use clear heat shrink one size larger than the insulation such as 3/64" and don’t shrink it before it gets soldered. Instead, the heat on the insulation convects and cools the insulation so it does not melt the wire’s insulation shorter, while shrinking the heat shrink around the insulation which also adds extra insulation to it. Rubberized or neoprene insulation gets no heat shrink because it does not melt, but most DMX rated wire is thermoplastic. In either case, the stripped wire goes directly into the terminal without any heat shrink covering the outside of the terminal - the solder on the terminals is exposed. Such insulation over the terminals melts before it can be moved anyway should it be attempted and I have to do a time consuming needle nose pliers trick to move it afterwards. That’s given the wire has been stripped back long enough to get the heat away from the outer covering sufficiently. What do you use for this? Some kind of spaghetti tubing or higher temperature shrinking heat shrink?
I kind of figure that as long as the insulation stops directly at the terminal if not recessed into it, there is no chance of a short, but it’s not text book or what I see most people doing. If the cable comes from a factory, it’s usually perfect. If anyone I know or in cable that’s less than factory, the heat shrink over the terminals is usually attempted but either too much of the jacket has been stripped off and the strain relief fails, or the insulation is melted and too much bare wire is exposed - sometimes even coming out of the over coating on the terminal. When other techniques are used, they don’t work either. How does one do the insulation over terminals on properly made XLR cable?
Thus my problem. The instructions on XLR connectors say you need to strip back 5/8" of jacket on the wire, and if you do more, it will slip out of the strain relief. You are stripping the insulation off 1/8" of each wire which leaves ½" of insulation left to insert at least 5/16" of heat shrink to cover the terminal. Can’t be done without melting the heat shrink. Plus given the temperature, thermoplastic insulation melts far too easily, yet I don’t see any professionally done cable using this technique or having problems with the insulation melting too far. What am I missing?
Let me start it out. I am not to do the heat shrink over the terminal trick unless the wires are stripped too long and are near the strain relief on XLR/DMX cable. I also have problems with the heat shrink shrinking before I can move it when I do proper soldering. The only time thus that I attempt this is on Scroller cable when 120v is running thru the XLR plug.
Since I have not been able to master that technique, I have my own style that works but is not text book. I find my solder station best set between 650°F and 700°F with 0.050" acid core solder. I find that less temp. does not heat up fast enough, and more temp. melts stuff too fast. The actual end product is good - not cold solder joints, melted plastic around the terminals etc.
Where melting is concerned, any thermoplastic insulation on the wire melts far too fast, no matter how quick or careful I am at it. By the time the solder has cooled, at least 1/16" of insulation has melted on a good day. That’s a bad thing so for my technique, I use clear heat shrink one size larger than the insulation such as 3/64" and don’t shrink it before it gets soldered. Instead, the heat on the insulation convects and cools the insulation so it does not melt the wire’s insulation shorter, while shrinking the heat shrink around the insulation which also adds extra insulation to it. Rubberized or neoprene insulation gets no heat shrink because it does not melt, but most DMX rated wire is thermoplastic. In either case, the stripped wire goes directly into the terminal without any heat shrink covering the outside of the terminal - the solder on the terminals is exposed. Such insulation over the terminals melts before it can be moved anyway should it be attempted and I have to do a time consuming needle nose pliers trick to move it afterwards. That’s given the wire has been stripped back long enough to get the heat away from the outer covering sufficiently. What do you use for this? Some kind of spaghetti tubing or higher temperature shrinking heat shrink?
I kind of figure that as long as the insulation stops directly at the terminal if not recessed into it, there is no chance of a short, but it’s not text book or what I see most people doing. If the cable comes from a factory, it’s usually perfect. If anyone I know or in cable that’s less than factory, the heat shrink over the terminals is usually attempted but either too much of the jacket has been stripped off and the strain relief fails, or the insulation is melted and too much bare wire is exposed - sometimes even coming out of the over coating on the terminal. When other techniques are used, they don’t work either. How does one do the insulation over terminals on properly made XLR cable?
Thus my problem. The instructions on XLR connectors say you need to strip back 5/8" of jacket on the wire, and if you do more, it will slip out of the strain relief. You are stripping the insulation off 1/8" of each wire which leaves ½" of insulation left to insert at least 5/16" of heat shrink to cover the terminal. Can’t be done without melting the heat shrink. Plus given the temperature, thermoplastic insulation melts far too easily, yet I don’t see any professionally done cable using this technique or having problems with the insulation melting too far. What am I missing?