The Workbench

Re: I wish I could solder!!!

camshaft — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:20:10 GMT

Glad to hear it worked out Andy!

Re: I wish I could solder!!!

Jandyt — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:58:26 GMT

Way-Hey!!

Finally done it. I now have CD,MP3,Tuner and Beogram all working through the 5000. And all at (almost) the same volume.
I love this amp and speakers

Andy T.

Re: I wish I could solder!!!

camshaft — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 13:29:10 GMT

tournedos:
I miss the days I could solder PLCC cased processors and read the markings on 0805-format SMD resistors without a magnifying glass
-mika

Haha tournedos, that reminded me of one time when I was working at my lab. One of the guys needed me to set aside a couple different strips of 805 resistors. When I handed the strips to him he was with some other physicists and said "oh, could you label them?" And without thinking I said "but they're written on the actual resistors" (I'm quite young). He just looked at me for a second before I responded "oh, I forgot, you guys can't read them anymore." The other physicist, my boss, just yelled "Out!" in a joking manner.

Re: I wish I could solder!!!

tournedos — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 05:22:29 GMT

I miss the days I could solder PLCC cased processors and read the markings on 0805-format SMD resistors without a magnifying glass

-mika

Re: I wish I could solder!!!

Jandyt — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:37:50 GMT

Austin, thank you so much for your detailed explanation.
I have learned quite a lot there, and will try to put it in practice tomorrow.
I will, of course let you know how I get on.

Andy T.

Re: I wish I could solder!!!

wirralsimon — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:25:48 GMT

I quite agree Craig.

Life is too short to spend any of it sodering cables! I soldered the capacitors on my S45-2s but only because there was no other way round it!

Simon

Craig:
Jandyt:
I have that Craig and I have lead solder Peter, what I don't have is a good eye, a steady hand, some patience and skill. Try again tomorrow.

I gave up making my own leads in the end, found it easier to buy them ready made.

Craig

Re: I wish I could solder!!!

camshaft — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 15:30:49 GMT

Hey Andy, I know how you feel. Just remember not to use the iron to melt the solder and then put the wet solder onto cold metal. This is called a cold solder joint. The solder doesn't get chemically bonded to the metal when this happens, so it won't conduct well and is likely to break apart. When you're soldering the end of a bare wire to a metal contact, a good general method is this: With the bare end of the wire exposed hold the iron underneath the metal end for several seconds to heat to heat it up. Thick wires will take longer. Then take the strand of solder and slowly feed it in where the iron and metal wire meet. The solder should FLOW across the metal wire, like a towel sucking up water, not just forming a blob of solder. If the solder doesn't flow across the metal then the metal isn't hot enough.

Ok, so now the metal wire has some solder on the end. This is called tinning. You can set it aside. Now use the iron to heat up the metal contact you want to connect the wire to, but be careful you don't hold it there too long or you'll melt the plastic near it. Once again, feed the solder in with the iron there and make sure the solder flows in. For very small wires and metal contacts you don't need to hold the iron there to heat it up before hand. Just having the iron on it as you feed the solder in will provide enough heat.

So now you have a wire with some solder on it, and a metal contact with some solder on it. Why did we do them separately? Because as I said the metal needs to be hot enough to bond to the solder. If you try to solder both at once you need to ensure that both are hot enough at the same time while feeding in the solder. Doing them separately lets you focus on one at a time. I'm not saying there's necessarily anything wrong with not doing them separately, and as you get better you won't need to bother, but for now this will give you a good solder joint.

Ok, so now take the wire and the metal contact and press them together with the soldering iron tip. You should see both sections of solder melt, become shiny, and flow together. Remove the iron tip while still holding the two pieces together for a couple seconds to cool. Remember to be careful when holding the wire, as it can still burn your fingers through the plastic coating once it heats up.

If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to PM me. Having soldered components small enough to shake out of a salt shaker, I'd consider myself an expert at it and am more than happy to help!

Re: I wish I could solder!!!

Craig — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 15:02:19 GMT

Andy what if you got a DIN to male RCA lead, and then a DIN to female RCA lead. Then you could in theory switch the connections would to get what you wanted. Saving any soldering in the process.

Craig

Re: I wish I could solder!!!

Craig — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 15:00:03 GMT

Jandyt:
I have that Craig and I have lead solder Peter, what I don't have is a good eye, a steady hand, some patience and skill. Try again tomorrow.

I gave up making my own leads in the end, found it easier to buy them ready made.

Craig

Re: I wish I could solder!!!

Jandyt — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:51:07 GMT

I have that Craig and I have lead solder Peter, what I don't have is a good eye, a steady hand, some patience and skill. Try again tomorrow.

Re: I wish I could solder!!!

Craig — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:44:49 GMT

This is what I meant, Andy.

Craig

Re: I wish I could solder!!!

Peter — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:44:29 GMT

Find yourself some nice old lead solder - much easier than the new silver rubbish!! Having said that, I no longer try - combination of eyes and being cack-handed!

Re: I wish I could solder!!!

Jandyt — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:44:23 GMT

Yis mite!

Re: I wish I could solder!!!

Craig — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:34:45 GMT

Andy, have you got one of those soldering helping hand things. It is a heavy base with a pair of adjustable arms and two small crocodile clips. they also usualy have a magnifying glass too. Great for doing DIN plugs as you need four hands otherwise.

Craig

I wish I could solder!!!

Jandyt — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 13:40:28 GMT

Just spent four hours trying to solder this afternoon.
Big job, I hear you say. No, all I am trying to do is attatch a din plug to a cable.
The Aux socket on my Beolab 5000 is wired differently to the other inputs so I am trying to make a short adapter cable so I can plug a Beogram CD 7000 into the Aux socket. I cut an old lead in half and bought a female din plug from Maplins and have spent all flippin' afternoon trying to solder it on.
Worked out the correct pins thanks to a chart from Frede but I'll have to have another go tomorrow as the right sounds wonderful but the left is shallow and has hum. Really fed up and had to vent my spleen somewhere.
Feeling better already! Thanks.