Soldering Tips

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Hi All,
I'm nearing completion of my bookshelf speakers. Tweeter: Raal 140-15D; Midwoofer: ScanSpeak 18W/8531G00. The design utilizes a BSS Audio FDS-366 Loudspeaker Management System as a digital crossover.

I really just need some tips for soldering my internal wiring (Mapleshade Golden Helix) between the drivers and the terminals. Terminals are from Dayton Audio:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=091-1247

It sounds like I should be tinning both the wires and the soldering points and then heating them together. Does anyone Have any tips? The ScanSpeaks and the terminals have holes in their connection points. Should I utilize these holes? Tks
Jim
 
Wow, neat system. Post pics immediately! =)

Basically, here is the deal as best as my experience serves me. Take the tip of your soldering iron and tin it with solder, then wipe it off on a damp sponge or paper towel. Then twist the end of your wire together and slip it through the hole in the terminal and crimp it with your fingers or needle nosed pliers. Take the tip of your soldering iron and touch it to where the wire and terminal meet. Wait while the terminal and wire heat up (this will take different amounts of time depending on the power rating (watts) of your iron). You'll know they've gotten hot enough when the solder from the tip of your iron starts to flow a little onto either the wire or the terminal. At this point, with the iron still touching the joint between the wire and terminal touch your thread of solder to the joint as well. You should clearly see it flow onto both the wire and the terminal. Apply enough solder so that the entire joint is covered, but not so much that it is over saturated causing a lump to appear.


Hope that makes sense, it was completely stream-of-consciousness.
 
Sounds like you have some sublime components there - but the same basic principles apply (I hope!)
It's exactly as you say. Tin both the stripped wire and the terminals.
Tips?
Don't fill the holes - you need to push the tinned wire through and fold it over so that if the wire gets tugged it doesn't just break the solder. The strength of the joint should be mechanical - solder is a very feeble adhesive.
Clean! You need to clean the contacts and the clean wires before tinning the clean metal. You can use emery cloth to clean; or you can clean it with sand paper. You need to get the metal mechanically clean and bright BEFORE you the flux can clean it chemically.
A good hot iron - 40W, I suggest - with a fair-sized bit. You want a lot of heat in the tip so it transfers to the work quickly, rather than the work cool the iron down!
Depending on your preference, you might want to slip some heat-shrink tubing onto the wire first. Whent he joint is made - and tested - slide it back over and heat it to give a neat finish.
 
It can be a hassle to remove a wire which has been bent through a hole, but the bend does increase the mechanical strength of the joint.

If the driver terminals and post terminals are standard sizes, you can purchase female quick disconnect terminals which you can crimp and/or solder over your wire for the connections.
 
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I like to use a combo method. I use aluminum slide on female connectors and strip the wire long enough to reach the end of the connector that slides on to the tab. (remember to depress the wire retainer to allow it to travel to the end), crimp the connector to the wire coating and slide it on the driver spade. The wire is now in between the two curled parts of the connector over top of the driver spade ready to be soldered. The solder of course doesn't stick to the aluminum connector just the wire and the spade. This way you have a strong connection and the wire is held in place while soldering without having to bend it through the hole. It allows for easy de-soldering if needed.
 
A few more tips...

Tinning both prior to isn't necessary but it can make the job easier.

A lot of beginners are too timid and make a few common mistakes. First use a HOT iron (oh and clean and tin the tip as stated above) and use the biggest hottest iron that has a tip small enough to do what you need. Sounds counter intuitive I know but the idea is to get in do the joint and get out quickly before the heat has a chance to travel down the wire and melt the insulation or travel down the terminal ans melt the solder at the other end. Using a small iron you have to hold the iron to the joint for a long time and in extreme cases the parts being soldered will suck the heat out of the joint faster than the iron can put it in and you get nowhere except cook some stuff. Using a hot iron heats the joint locally very quickly and you can do the joint before the heat can travel anywhere and do damage.

Use the iron to heat the joint to the point where it will easily melt the solder on it's own even if you remove the iron. Failing to do so will probably result in what's called a cold solder joint. It will look like it's soldered correctly and will probably even work fine but what happens is the solder has just melted around the joint like putty and this will eventually fail. If the parts are good and hot the solder will wick into the parts and bond to them making a MUCH better joint. You don't need to hook the wire through the hole just passing it through is fine. You just need it to be mechanically sound enough to hold things inplace while you do the soldering. Mechanically a solder joint isn't very strong but it is easily strong enough for what we're doing and if there is enough mechanical stress on it to break a proper solder joint then you've probably damaged something else anyway.

Use flux core electronics solder, I like 60/40. You don't need to get crazy about cleaning the joint as the flux is a paste acid that will clean the joint when it melts but being thorough never hurts. I've never come across a time where my finger oils from twisting wires compromised the solder joint.

Having a clean tinned iron tip helps a lot with the heat transfer and as stated above you shouldn't be relying on the iron to melt the solder but sometimes i will touch the solder to the tip of the iron while doing the joint. It will make a small bead that further helps get the heat into the joint quickly. If you do this watch the solder, at first it will just sit there and then once the joint is hot enough for a proper solder it will soak into the joint like water into a sponge.... might give you a better feel for what's going on.

Hope that helps,
Ryan
 
Bravo Ryan_Mc!

I learned solder long before I (tried) to learn electronics - on my HO scale train set when I was single digit age.
30 years of experience says: Ryan_Mc's post before this post is dead on and well written to boot. If you have doubts on how to be a soldering expert, reread Ryan's post until you get it right.

I also agree with Moondog55, good 60/40 makes those beautiful mirror finish joints - NOT lead-free crud (yes I know silver is a great conducter but IMO makes a useless and dull solder).
 
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