How solder to very fine enamelled woven wires in earphone lead?

I have some Sony in-ear headphones. The lead to one earpiece has been cut through completely and I want to rejoin the two wires (which I will call 'conductors' to avoid confusion).

The two 'conductors' inside the lead are rather thin. And what is more, each of the two 'conductors' is made up of something like a dozen smaller copper wires which are woven around some very fine threads (perhaps the threads are very fine polyester yarn). The threads run along the lead as the core of the 'conductor'.

The wires of one of these two 'conductors' looks like bare copper and is unoxidised so I can probably solder to it. But the OTHER CONDUCTOR is the PROBLEM because its fine wires are enamelled.

How can I remove this enamel coating in order to be able to solder to the fine copper wires of the 'conductor'?

Below is what I have tried.

Can you advise?

Will

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Maybe my general technique is not delicate enough or maybe I am being too clumsy but this is what I have tried with no success:

(1) Using fine glasspaper but it seems to tear the fine wires rather than strip their enamel away. Even if the wires don't break, there is still a portion of uncleaned enamel of the inner sides of the fine wires.

(2) Using a match to burn off the enamel but this leaves a black deposit which I have to scrape away with glasspaper and I am back to the beginning.

(3) Using a gas flame always seems too fierce as it burns through the wires.

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Reply to
Will
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Both wires are covered with different color enamel. You can likely apply solder directly to the wires and the heat will burn off the enamel while the flux does its job. Some enamels are designed that way.

Regards,

Boris Mohar

Got Knock? - see: Viatrack Printed Circuit Designs (among other things)

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Reply to
Boris Mohar

They might be. However, the standard way is to burn them off with something like a cigarette lighter.

--
*Bigamy is having one wife too many - monogamy is the same

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
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Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Enamel is likely present on both conductors - the 'bare' group's enamel is just not dyed with distinctive color pigments.

Tin the leads using a soldering iron tip loaded with fluxed solder, starting from the cut end, where heat transfer to the copper is facilitated by direct contact. If there are a lot of wires, a solder pot speeds things up - dip in flux, then dip in the solder pot.

Do not overheat. Better to repeat the process, with fresh solder and a clean tip, than to persist with a hot tip that has burned out of flux.

The enamel used in commercial equipment is designed for solderability. Larger bundles of litz, or wires with heavy enamel, may require that this operation be repeated to contact all internal wires in the bundle. In this case, abrading the tip to increase bare copper surface area reduces time in the soldering operation.

Use of an open flame will contaminate, weaken and oxidize the conductors, making them harder to eventually solder.

RL

Reply to
legg

Hey man, brilliant!

I just soldered the wires and, as you rightly said, the heat of the iron removed the enamel. It worked a treat.

Thank you.

Reply to
Will

I've done this several times. The technique used is to put the tip of the soldering iron under the wire so that it just touches it. Then apply solder and it will melt on the iron tip and surround the wire. You will see a little dimple where the wire enters the solder blob. When the laquer burns away this dimple will disappear and the solder will flow a little way along the wire. Remember you will be burning off the laquer and the plastic fibers. After tinning all the wires then they can be soldered together. BTW, I think Sony uses clear, green, and red laquer. The wire with the clear laquer will appear to be bright copper but is actually coated. This wire is the common. ERS

Reply to
Eric R Snow

It's more likely to be tinsel wire.

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N
Reply to
NSM

This is "tinsel wire." It really doesn't solder well, and if you do manage to solder it, it will soon break at the joint. It's usually crimped. I don't know how to strip the enamel.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

Yup this worked a treat for me! I never realised I could solder straight onto this stuff by letting the heat of the iron remove the enamel.

Reply to
Will

This is known as "self fluxing enamel". Doesn't work on the old style stuff though.

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N
Reply to
NSM

I'm at a los as to why you're posting this to a component newsgroup; it should only be in sci.electronics.repair. But anyway, each of the enameled wires is a separate conductor, and should be separate from one another. Like green might be left, and red right. And the other bare wires are the common or ground.

Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, th

Tinsel wire is characterized by it's flat spiral winding around the core. It is not enameled and each conductor will be insulated conventionally.

It is solderable, but requires mechanical security to prevent vibration at the SJ. A crimped contact requires the same stress relief.

The OPs wire is not tinsel wire.

RL

Reply to
legg

Oh, don't be crabby. It's a lot of fine conductors woven around a fibrous insulating core, and it's not very solderable. So it might as well be tinsel.

So, what's the absolutely correct name for this construction?

John

Reply to
John Larkin

It's easier and better to just replace the entire headphone cable. Get oneoff a pair of cheapo headphones.(I get them for a buck at my local dollar tree and just desolder the leads at the transducers.) As for removing the varnish insulation you canuse a standard exacto knife and gently scrape it away or a clean solder tip to burn it off. Resolder the leads to the Sony transducer elements using a 20-30 watt soldering pencil, any higher will just melt half the project.(You can also use a hemostat clamped on the downside of the wire to act as a heatsink to keep from melting any of the lead.) Helps to use a good brand of flux and solder.(I use a high silver content solder, not the 60/40 tin/lead stuff.)

Reply to
none

My experience with Sony headphones was as above G=left, Red=Right & Copper=Common. Sometimes they're actually all wound together, you just need to tease the colors out. I've usually tinned them using a gun. Also check the cord down aways as there is probably damage further along. All the tinsel cord I've seen used crimp connections or mechanicaly attached plugs. That goes back to the '50s and my crystal radio set. My stepdaughter dances around her room with her headphones on. I've repaired the cord ~ 10 times. Richard

Reply to
spudnuty

Same here in the Atari 2600 and Super Mario Bros years back in the '70s, when a neighbor bought one for his kids. I must've repaired the joystick at least a half dozen times.

Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, th

My kids were just hitting their teens when the Atari 2600 came along. We bought one, and it was almost never turned off... After two power supplies burned out, I built a supply robust enough to last. The joysticks and the switches on the main unit were all rebuilt *many* times. That Atari finally just got too hard to maintain, and we bought another one and, except for the power supply problem, started the whole sequence again.

It was fascinating to watch the kids learn to fix those things. Initially I had to work on it, but it wasn't long before they did all the repair work.

Another fun thing about that Atari was the process that we went through with every new game. I could understand the instructions better, so I'd win at most of the games... for about the first half a dozen iterations. That's when the kids would catch up in understanding what the point of the game was. Then their reflexes took over, and by the time they had the experience of maybe 10 or 12 games, there was simply no point in me even attempting to play against them.

--
Floyd L. Davidson           
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)                         floyd@barrow.com
Reply to
Floyd L. Davidson

OMG! Buy a new pair of headphones!

Reply to
Brian

OMG! NOT if the old ones are still serviceable! NEVER let it hit the ground!

Reply to
none

Valley Girls and soldering irons, a curious mix.

RL

Reply to
legg

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