How do you do this? I'm using lead free solder. Both wires have a diameter of about 0.8mm. It doesn't seem to stick and even if I have the solder in an "O" around either end, I can still pull the wires apart.
Thanks, Jessie xx
Make sure you strip all of the enamel off the magnet wire.
Then use real solder with real flux.
Have Fun! Rich
Dang, how to solder two wires together has got to be a sci.electronics.basic question.
George h.
'tis not funny! :) I've soldered other wires before but for thick single cored copper (stripped insulation) and enameled ones the solder just doesn't stick.
I tried stripping the enamel off the wire by using the serrations of a needle nose plier, but I'll try using an emery board on the ends and see what happens.
Jessie xx
Soldering enamelled wire is a bit of a swine. I scrape off the enamel with a sharp knife, while the coil-winding crew at Cambridge Instruments all had little, tightly-lidded pots of molten sodium hydroxide screwed firmly into their benches - there was a small hole in the lid through which they could poke the end of the enamel wire, and the hot caustic soda would strip off the enamel in an instant.
Caustic soda is nasty stuff, even at room temperature, and I'm not sure how happy the Health and Safety at Work inspectors were about this arrangement. It's not something that you'd want to try at home.
There are self-fluxing enamels, but they never worked too well for me.
-- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen> George h.
e
Get one of these:
The advantage of this over a knife is that you don't nick the wire and=20 create a weak point at the joint.
Top Tip : Don't get the fibre fragments on your fingers, or they'll be=20 itching for weeks afterwards!
Are you sure the magnet wire is copper? This is for the =FCber-magnet=20 project, I'm guessing? If the wire is salvaged from e.g. an old welder=20 transformer, it might be aluminium, in which case crimping rather than=20 soldering is the way to go.
If you're still learning soldering techniques, good old leaded solder is=20 much easier than lead-free. RS and Farnell still sell it, I can't see=20 the RoHS police coming after you for a one-off school project...
Best of luck
R.
: : :George Herold wrote: :> On Oct 1, 7:49 pm, Rich Grise wrote: :> > On Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:41:56 -0700, Jessie wrote: :> > > How do you do this? I'm using lead free solder. Both wires have a :> > > diameter of about 0.8mm. It doesn't seem to stick and even if I have :> > > the solder in an "O" around either end, I can still pull the wires :> > > apart. :> >
:> > Make sure you strip all of the enamel off the magnet wire. :> >
:> > Then use real solder with real flux. :> >
:> > Have Fun! :> > Rich :>
:> Dang, how to solder two wires together has got to be a :> sci.electronics.basic question. :>
:> George h. : :'tis not funny! :) I've soldered other wires before but for thick :single cored copper (stripped insulation) and enameled ones the solder :just doesn't stick. : :I tried stripping the enamel off the wire by using the serrations of a :needle nose plier, but I'll try using an emery board on the ends and :see what happens. : :Jessie xx
Dip the end of the enamelled wire into a pot of fast acting paint stripper. Leave it a minute or two then wipe off with a tissue. Soldering will be a breeze...
e
Sorry Jessie, How big are the two wires? You may just need more heat.. bigger soldering iron. Besides the scraping and sand-papering I've also used a butane torch to burn the enamel off the wire. (You then need to clean it up with some sand paper.) You might also try tinning the wires before soldering together.
George H.
Try a Bic lighter followed by scraping off the mess. Formvar (you can't get real enamel any more) is very tough stuff, roughly like nylon fishing line.
Cheers
Phil Hobbs
-- Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal ElectroOptical Innovations 55 Orchard Rd Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 845-480-2058 hobbs at electrooptical dot net http://electrooptical.net
I can't remember what it was called now, but there used to be some vile chemical in a little bottle with a brush that would take Formvar coating off in 30 seconds... also your skin if you touched it ;-)
Very useful if your transformers used Litz wire.
...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
snip
I think it works great, a blob of solder on a hot iron and feed the cut off end into the blob. only works at the end where the bare copper get in contact with the hot solder, guess it is combo of heat transfer and solder getting sucked under the enamel.
-Lasse
What George meant is that your question should have been posted in the sci.electronics.basics newsgroup and not in sci.electronics.design. (It's s.e.basics, not s.e.basic) According to its newsgroup charter, s.e.b is the right place to ask basic questions about electronics.
The enamel is supposed to melt off. Set the temperature of the iron higher to about 340 to 350 degrees Celsius. You have to melt the enamel and put tin on the wire before soldering the wires together. Adding a little of flux will help.
--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
"If it doesn\'t fit, use a bigger hammer!"
--------------------------------------------------------------
It's really not too bad in a work environment. Nitrile gloves seem to stand up to it long enough to prevent any possible splashes. Runs at
800F (IIRC) with a digital PID temperature controller. Good for the nasty insulations used in scientific apparatus.Supposedly molten ASA (aspirin) tablets on the end of a soldering iron will work for some enamels, but it didn't work very well the one time I tried it, and the fumes might not be good to breathe.
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
-- "it\'s the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
Strip-X. Not as good as a lighter.
Cheers
Phil Hobbs
-- Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal ElectroOptical Innovations 55 Orchard Rd Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 845-480-2058 hobbs at electrooptical dot net http://electrooptical.net
There is are lot of wire types that the insulation is not true enamel and carbonizes at reasonable soldering temperatures; Belden's Thermaleze comes to mind. If the insulation on your wire is not of that type, then you must remove the insulation either by chemical means (nasty corrosive gloppy stuff) or mechanical means (sanding or scraping).
mel
Use a Dremel tool with a wire wheel. Hold the wire against a bench top or other while touching it with the wire brush. Just be sure the wire wheel is rotating towards the end of the wire, if not you will know something is wrong.
If it's varnish, a candle flame or lighter will take it off. You might have to clean it with a Scotch Brite pad or something - wait 'til it cools.
-- Les Cargill
Not acceptable for fine wire...
Dear all,
I figured out how to do this in the end. Firstly both ends of the
0.8mm thick copper wires were mechanically stripped - one of the enamel and the second of its rubber insulation. For this I started off with the textured grips of pliers and then finished off with an abrasive.At this point I still found that solder didn't stick, so I bent both ends using needle nose pliers into J's and hooked them onto each other. I then closed off the eyes so that the joint had some stiffness to it.
I then added solder to the joint by touching the soldering wire to the copper wire, and then touching the soldering iron to the copper wire. The solder directly melted on the copper wire, instead of me trying to transfer a blob on the tip of the iron and getting it to stick.
Works a treat, the joints look nice and are strong :)
Thanks for all your suggestions!
Jessie xx
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