Soldering Tiny Wires Query

[[email protected]]

Yesterday I discovered a technique for soldering wire wrap 30 AWG wire in tight spots and was wondering if anyone else may have tried this.

I took the finest tip I had which is about a 0.5 mm dia on the point end and used an Xacto knife to score a V slot. This little slot aids in making solid mechanical and thermal contact with the 30 AWG wire.


Questions:

1. Anyone else tried this or similar?
2. Anyone know of commercially available "V tips" for soldering.

Thanks in advance.

EdV

 

[[email protected]]

Yesterday I discovered a technique for soldering wire wrap 30 AWG wire intight spots and was wondering if anyone else may have tried this. I took the finest tip I had which is about a 0.5 mm dia on the point end and used an Xacto knife to score a V slot. This little slot aids in making solid mechanical and thermal contact with the 30 AWG wire. Questions: 1. Anyone else tried this or similar? 2. Anyone know of commercially available "V tips" for soldering. Thanks in advance. EdV

I would think this would damage the plating of the tip and once it corrodesit will no longer "wett" well at that spot.

Mark

 

[Don Y]

Hi Ed,

Yesterday I discovered a technique for soldering wire wrap 30 AWG
wire in tight spots and was wondering if anyone else may have tried
this.

I took the finest tip I had which is about a 0.5 mm dia on the point
end and used an Xacto knife to score a V slot. This little slot aids
in making solid mechanical and thermal contact with the 30 AWG wire.

Questions:

1. Anyone else tried this or similar? 2. Anyone know of commercially
available "V tips" for soldering.

I've seen tips that look like a "forked tongue" (not sure if this is
where you imagined making the notch vs. along the "length" of the
tip)

 

[Nico Coesel]

Yesterday I discovered a technique for soldering wire wrap 30 AWG wire in tight spots and was wondering if anyone else may have tried this.

I took the finest tip I had which is about a 0.5 mm dia on the point end and used an Xacto knife to score a V slot. This little slot aids in making solid mechanical and thermal contact with the 30 AWG wire.

Better use a good iron with a relatively big tip at the proper
temperature (330 deg C). The secret to soldering is to use a bigger
tip than seemingly possible. Small tips lack the thermal mass and
conductivity to heat up a joint fast enough so the flux burns up
without doing anything.

Every now and then I solder wires as thin as a hair. The thinner the
better because surface tension pulls the wire right into the soldering
joint. Things can't get easier.

 

[[email protected]]

I did this with a Dremel:



https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53724080/Gear/Fork_Tip.JPG



It's for desoldering surface-mount resistors and caps.



My low-end Metcal doesn't have fork tips available.







--



John Larkin Highland Technology Inc

www.highlandtechnology.com jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com



Precision electronic instrumentation

Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators

Custom timing and laser controllers

Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links

VME analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer

Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators

Nice! Mine worked but the metal is more bent out of the way than actually removed.

 

[[email protected]]

wrote:






Better use a good iron with a relatively big tip at the proper

temperature (330 deg C). The secret to soldering is to use a bigger

tip than seemingly possible. Small tips lack the thermal mass and

conductivity to heat up a joint fast enough so the flux burns up

without doing anything.



Every now and then I solder wires as thin as a hair. The thinner the

better because surface tension pulls the wire right into the soldering

joint. Things can't get easier.



--

Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply

indicates you are not using the right tools...

nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)

--------------------------------------------------------------

It's the space constraints of the already crowded PWB in this instance that led to the modified tip. I often solder a 40 AWG wire strand then add insulation and strain relieve it and solder to another strain relieved wire bit there wasn't room this time.

 

[Lasse Langwadt Christensen]

Den torsdag den 9. januar 2014 21.00.08 UTC+1 skrev Jon Elson:

[email protected] wrote:








I make lots of patches and prototype test boards with wire wrap wire, and

solder them with standard soldering tips with no trouble.



Jon

I use enamel wire, no messing around getting the insulation off,
just dip the cut end in a blob of solder on a hot iron

-Lasse

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

I did this with a Dremel:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53724080/Gear/Fork_Tip.JPG

It's for desoldering surface-mount resistors and caps.

My low-end Metcal doesn't have fork tips available.

Do you have a tweezer type? Really fast and little possibility of
damaging the board.

The German Weller type is nice, but I've also noticed some knock-off
designs for a fraction of the price.

--sp

 

[DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno]

Questions:

1. Anyone else tried this or similar?
2. Anyone know of commercially available "V tips" for soldering.

Thanks in advance.

EdV

Usenet Line length is 72 characters.

Your contact does NOT need to be that intimate. That is why you do
NOT see it anywhere else in the industry.

I'll bet you plowed up a lot of pads and tracks in the thru-hole days.

At 30Ga., all you need is a tiny drop of solder on the end of the tip.
The flux is already at the solder joint location (or should be). A mere
touch of the tip to the entire connection node, and a reflow occurs, no
need to dig, plow, or gain weldement level conduction of the elements
involved.

The old Heathkit training is no longer valid.

Sheesh. Oh, and 30Ga wire is for point to point, and SURFACE attach.
Putting on into a through hole or via is asking for it to get broken.
For that, you want strands.

 

[Chris Jones]

I would think this would damage the plating of the tip and once it corrodes it will no longer "wett" well at that spot.

Mark

Yes, without the protective iron-plating, the copper core of the tip
will dissolve in the solder, and won't last long.

A small drop of fresh solder and perhaps a slightly bigger tip will fill
any gaps and ensure excellent thermal contact and this avoids the need
for desperate measures.

Chris