On Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:47:11 -0600, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

On 11/30/2010 7:06 PM, zzzzzzzzzz 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.

You mean it will slowly flow apart if it rests on a sharp edge and cause
a short circuit?

Yep. We used to have that problem with teflon insulated wire-wrap wire. The
Gardner-Denver machines could work with it reliably, but it was easy to screw
up by tightening the wires too tight. The intermittents would drive ya'
crazy.

The tough nylon jacket on THHN seems to resist
that sort of break in the insulation. Geez, I just thought of the
thousands of feet of that stuff I've pulled into conduits and cable
trays over the years. :-)

It generally happens when its under tension going around an edge.