AIUI, when soldering to an enameled wire, there is no need to remove
the enamel first. It just burns up and disappears when one is
applying the solder. Is that true?

Otherwise, are there any tricks to repairing a small transformer**
such as used to power an audio device such as a clock radio from
110VAC: I take the cover off and the first layer of "tape" and if
there is only a half inch of wire going to the priamary winding, and
if when I try to solder to it, it breaks off just as it goes into the
winding, under other stuff, I haven't been able to fix them in the
past. But maybe there is a trick I don't know.

**The one in question today has 3 secondary windings,
green-yellow-green, red-red, and blue-blue. Does that indicate what
the output voltages should be?

It's 1 3/4 x 1 3/4 x 1 1/2 inch and it runs a high-quality Panasonic,
clock-radio, sterero cassette player/recorder. Model 680-3870


If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)

"mm" wrote in message
...
AIUI, when soldering to an enameled wire, there is no need to remove
the enamel first. It just burns up and disappears when one is
applying the solder. Is that true?

Otherwise, are there any tricks to repairing a small transformer**
such as used to power an audio device such as a clock radio from
110VAC: I take the cover off and the first layer of "tape" and if
there is only a half inch of wire going to the priamary winding, and
if when I try to solder to it, it breaks off just as it goes into the
winding, under other stuff, I haven't been able to fix them in the
past. But maybe there is a trick I don't know.

**The one in question today has 3 secondary windings,
green-yellow-green, red-red, and blue-blue. Does that indicate what
the output voltages should be?

It's 1 3/4 x 1 3/4 x 1 1/2 inch and it runs a high-quality Panasonic,
clock-radio, sterero cassette player/recorder. Model 680-3870


Some enameled wire can be soldered without stripping , but I doubt it is the
case in your transformer. Most o f the time it will have to be dipped in
special stripping liquid or removed by scraping it off with a knife or
sandpaper. It can also be removed by burning it off with a match , but with
small wire , the wire will probably burn before the insulation.

The colors of the wire only mean there are 3 seperate windings and have
nothing in general to do with the voltage. You will have to find the maker
of the transformer and see what they used the colors for.
In the days of tube radios, the green was usaully 6.3 volts , the red was
for the high voltage (again voltage by the maker) , yellow was 5 volts, the
black was for the primary voltage. Again even that was not 100% all the
time.

"mm" wrote in message
...

**The one in question today has 3 secondary windings,
green-yellow-green, red-red, and blue-blue. Does that indicate what
the output voltages should be?

Nope. There are no standards for that, only suggestions as to possible
colors.

http://tritium.fis.unb.br/Fis3Exp/fc.../transfor.html

and many more.

If you are lucky, you might be able to burn off the insulation, try a
hot iron/soldering gun, and use plenty of flux (NOT ACID FLUX). A
delicate hand is required if you try to remove the insulation by
scraping. Sometimes you can get the solder to stick to the end of the
actual wire, that is a minimal connection, but if the wire is very
short it is better than nothing.

H. R. (Bob) Hofmann

mm wrote:
AIUI, when soldering to an enameled wire, there is no need to remove
the enamel first. It just burns up and disappears when one is
applying the solder. Is that true?

Otherwise, are there any tricks to repairing a small transformer**
such as used to power an audio device such as a clock radio from
110VAC: I take the cover off and the first layer of "tape" and if
there is only a half inch of wire going to the priamary winding, and
if when I try to solder to it, it breaks off just as it goes into the
winding, under other stuff, I haven't been able to fix them in the
past. But maybe there is a trick I don't know.

**The one in question today has 3 secondary windings,
green-yellow-green, red-red, and blue-blue. Does that indicate what
the output voltages should be?

It's 1 3/4 x 1 3/4 x 1 1/2 inch and it runs a high-quality Panasonic,
clock-radio, sterero cassette player/recorder. Model 680-3870


If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)

"mm" wrote in message
...
AIUI, when soldering to an enameled wire, there is no need to remove
the enamel first. It just burns up and disappears when one is
applying the solder. Is that true?

No, if you could burn the enamel off you still have residue on the wire. Do
you want to solder dirty wires? Use sandpaper or fine steel wool down to
shiny clean copper - works for me.


Otherwise, are there any tricks to repairing a small transformer**
such as used to power an audio device such as a clock radio from
110VAC: I take the cover off and the first layer of "tape" and if
there is only a half inch of wire going to the priamary winding, and
if when I try to solder to it, it breaks off just as it goes into the
winding, under other stuff, I haven't been able to fix them in the
past. But maybe there is a trick I don't know.

A little tricky when the wire is small as its hard to solder (almost no
contact area with the iron tip) and a little pull could break it. But its
done all the time. Clean and tin the tip of the iron would help in heat
transfer. Another thing you could do if the wire is too short to work with
is pigtail in another larger gage wire - twist together and than you could
solder much easier, heat shrink and solder the other end of the pigtail to
the terminal.

they make a chemical stripper to strip off wire enamel. I know its sold at
Radio Shack (or used to be sold). DOn't know if an ace hardware would carry
it.

Transformers can get really hot in their cores. I have never seen one that
used burnable enamal.
The burnable stuff is usually used for small inductors that get dipped into
a solder pot. THe solder is hot enough to burn right thru the enamal and
they don;t have to have an extra process step to remove it.

"# Fred #" wrote in message
news

"mm" wrote in message
...
AIUI, when soldering to an enameled wire, there is no need to remove
the enamel first. It just burns up and disappears when one is
applying the solder. Is that true?

No, if you could burn the enamel off you still have residue on the wire.
Do you want to solder dirty wires? Use sandpaper or fine steel wool down
to shiny clean copper - works for me.


Otherwise, are there any tricks to repairing a small transformer**
such as used to power an audio device such as a clock radio from
110VAC: I take the cover off and the first layer of "tape" and if
there is only a half inch of wire going to the priamary winding, and
if when I try to solder to it, it breaks off just as it goes into the
winding, under other stuff, I haven't been able to fix them in the
past. But maybe there is a trick I don't know.

A little tricky when the wire is small as its hard to solder (almost no
contact area with the iron tip) and a little pull could break it. But its
done all the time. Clean and tin the tip of the iron would help in heat
transfer. Another thing you could do if the wire is too short to work with
is pigtail in another larger gage wire - twist together and than you could
solder much easier, heat shrink and solder the other end of the pigtail to
the terminal.

mm wrote:

AIUI, when soldering to an enameled wire, there is no need to remove
the enamel first. It just burns up and disappears when one is
applying the solder. Is that true?

Otherwise, are there any tricks to repairing a small transformer**
such as used to power an audio device such as a clock radio from
110VAC: I take the cover off and the first layer of "tape" and if
there is only a half inch of wire going to the priamary winding, and
if when I try to solder to it, it breaks off just as it goes into the
winding, under other stuff, I haven't been able to fix them in the
past. But maybe there is a trick I don't know.

**The one in question today has 3 secondary windings,
green-yellow-green, red-red, and blue-blue. Does that indicate what
the output voltages should be?

It's 1 3/4 x 1 3/4 x 1 1/2 inch and it runs a high-quality Panasonic,
clock-radio, sterero cassette player/recorder. Model 680-3870


If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)

overheating enamel insulated magnet wire never makes it
solderable. Just destroys it's insulating qualities. On
fine wire, use a thumbs worth of fine steel wool. Poke the
enameled wire into it, squeeze lightly and pull the wire
out. Repeat (rotate wire a little) until the end is shinny
copper. Practice with different sizes until you get the
squeeze pressure down, before taking on the real repair.

There is magnet wire manufactured with synthetic insulation,
that can be heated and soldered in one step. Some trade
names were Nyleze, Soldereze etc. These are almost always
bright color insulations, red, green, blue, and yellow are
common. If you touch a hot soldering iron to it, the
insulation will form small beads that will move along the
wire, away from the iron tip.

One caution, a lot of shop appliance motors (drills, hedge
trimmers, weed eaters) use insulated ALUMINUM magnet wire!
No matter how well you remove the enamel, the wire looks
"tinned" and just won't solder. You will also see only
small brass crimps used to connect to this stuff.

Many manufacturers offer reasonably priced replacement
transformers. I also wonder why you have so many failures?
I have on occasion "unwound" a bad (internal short)
transformer, removing the "lams", counted the turns. Then
gauged the wire sizes and rewound the coil and relaminated
the stack. It's getting difficult to find small quantities
of numbered magnet wire, the papers, and electrical varnish
these days. The only high tech tools? Micrometer, wire
standards, and an oven. Kitchen type works fine if the
"boss" isn't home ;-)

-larry / dallas

On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 02:31:40 GMT, larry wrote:

mm wrote:

AIUI, when soldering to an enameled wire, there is no need to remove
the enamel first. It just burns up and disappears when one is
applying the solder. Is that true?

Otherwise, are there any tricks to repairing a small transformer**
such as used to power an audio device such as a clock radio from
110VAC: I take the cover off and the first layer of "tape" and if
there is only a half inch of wire going to the priamary winding, and
if when I try to solder to it, it breaks off just as it goes into the
winding, under other stuff, I haven't been able to fix them in the
past. But maybe there is a trick I don't know.

**The one in question today has 3 secondary windings,
green-yellow-green, red-red, and blue-blue. Does that indicate what
the output voltages should be?

It's 1 3/4 x 1 3/4 x 1 1/2 inch and it runs a high-quality Panasonic,
clock-radio, sterero cassette player/recorder. Model 680-3870


overheating enamel insulated magnet wire never makes it
solderable. Just destroys it's insulating qualities. On
fine wire, use a thumbs worth of fine steel wool. Poke the
enameled wire into it, squeeze lightly and pull the wire
out. Repeat (rotate wire a little) until the end is shinny
copper. Practice with different sizes until you get the
squeeze pressure down, before taking on the real repair.

There is magnet wire manufactured with synthetic insulation,
that can be heated and soldered in one step. Some trade
names were Nyleze, Soldereze etc. These are almost always
bright color insulations, red, green, blue, and yellow are
common. If you touch a hot soldering iron to it, the
insulation will form small beads that will move along the
wire, away from the iron tip.

One caution, a lot of shop appliance motors (drills, hedge
trimmers, weed eaters) use insulated ALUMINUM magnet wire!
No matter how well you remove the enamel, the wire looks
"tinned" and just won't solder. You will also see only
small brass crimps used to connect to this stuff.

Thanks for all the valuable, interesting information. I'll remember
it.

Many manufacturers offer reasonably priced replacement
transformers. I also wonder why you have so many failures?

Me? In the last 10 years or more, I have only had this one failure of
a transformer. I have failures in general because I look for them. I
pick up broken things to fix them. They are usually broken before I
get them. Often my friends save them for me, or I get them out of the
trash or at yard sales. It's a hobby. Often I give them away after
they are fixed, or give them to Goodwill.

One time in NY, on my to the car on a Sunday I found a tv in the
trash. I had a date -- we went to the zoo and to dinner -- but I
looked forward to working on the tv when I got home. Sadly, it worked
fine.

I have on occasion "unwound" a bad (internal short)
transformer, removing the "lams", counted the turns. Then
gauged the wire sizes and rewound the coil and relaminated
the stack. It's getting difficult to find small quantities
of numbered magnet wire, the papers, and electrical varnish
these days. The only high tech tools? Micrometer, wire
standards, and an oven. Kitchen type works fine if the
"boss" isn't home ;-)

Interesting.

When I was about 12 to 14 I unwound a broken motor from an erector
set. We couldn't afford an erector set with an electric motor, only
the one with the spring motor, but a friend gave me his broken
electric one. I unwound the enameled wire and found that it was
broken at every 2nd corner or maybe every turn. I scratched the
enamel off of both ends of every piece, hooked them together, and
wrapped it up again. Then I made the mistake of wrapping it in
electric tape instead of plain cloth. It worked but as it got hot, it
started to melt the adhesive and started to smell or smoke. Maybe it
was getting too hot too fast, because the wire was shorter than it had
been and partially shorted, but anyhow, I figured if I tried to take
off the tape, too much adhesive would stick anyhow.

And I don't think we could afford to buy me a roll of enameled wire.
Nor did I know any place that sold such stuff.

Anyhow, getting there is more fun than having a motor. I did my best,
even if I failed. I wasnt' upset.

-larry / dallas


If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)