On Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:06:10 -0600, "
wrote:

On Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:02:14 -0600, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

On 11/29/2010 11:53 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 29 Nov 2010 23:12:57 -0600, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

On 11/29/2010 9:13 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 29 Nov 2010 14:55:01 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

On Nov 29, 12:51 pm, Steve wrote:
On 11/29/2010 7:14 AM, Hank wrote:





On Nov 29, 12:26 am, wrote:
How do you know when your soldering iron is tinned?
I keep mine plugged in for 5-10 minutes then when I try tin it, the
solder beads up and just drips offs. It doesn't seem to "wet" the
tip.
Is it suppose to wet the tip of the soldering iron?

I'm using non lead solder, 95%Sn, 5% Sb (Tin/Antimony).
Rosin core.

Also, when 1 solder two wires together, I twist the wires together,
then hold the iron to one side of the wire and hold the solder to the
opposite site. The wire should get hot and soak up the solder, right?
I've been practicing but it seems to be hit or miss so far.

Bonnie

As one beginner to another.....

First, I don't know much if anything about soldering, but I do solder
wires wires together pretty often.

Second, I only solder either aluminum or copper wires, which are easy.

Third, the advise you have received here is good, but they didn't
mention that the wire has to be clean too. If the wire is old and
oxidized, it has to be clipped off or cleaned too.

Fourth, use a resin core solder.

Fifth, I scape off my tips with a knife. I have even used a bench
grinder to grind them back to a point. Then I heat up the iron and
melt solder on the tip which helps clean it, then wipe off the excess
solder.

Hope these little tips help.

Hank~~~assuming it is a Pencil type soldering iron

you don't solder aluminum. You might think you are, but no, you're not.

--
Steve Barker

Like I said, I don't know much about soldering. I'm pretty sure the
wire is aluminum and stranded. It is high quality aircraft wire. It is
silver in color. Maybe its some alloy. Anyway, what I'm doing is
working for me. :-)

Hank
Aircraft wire is silver plated or tinned copper - and one of the
easiest types of wire to solder - it is "pre-tinned"

The stuff with the Teflon insulation?

TDD
Virtually all of it. Teflon, Tefzel, and all the other fancy schmansy
stuff.

I love that wire for electronics work and surprise, it's the best wire
in the world for soldering to those Bendix aerospace connectors and
making wiring harnesses. :-)

Teflon insulation doesn't burn but it does creep. It's not good around
anything even slightly sharp.
There has been a lot of "bad" teflon wire out there too - if the PTFE
is not fully cured (crosslinked) it outgasses flouride, which
corrodes even siver plated wire. And before anybody says I'm blowing
smoke, here is a reference:
http://www.residues.com/pdfs/foresite_teflon.pdf

And aircraft (mil spec) wire can be silver plated, nickel plated, or
tinned.

Also, teflon WILL burn, but it is self extinguishing - meaning it will
burn as long as a separate source of ignition exists.

I've got a reference around somewhere that covers the shortcomings of
all the mil-spec (aviation) rated wire and insulation.
There is really NONE that are "ideal". Either they have physical
limitations like cold flow or abrasion resistance, or they produce
toxins when heated or burned.