How to solder very thin stranded wire?

Plan A: Find a short length of very fine uninsulated wire. A single strand from some stranded wire is what I use. Wrap it around the insulation about 2 times, and then continue wrapping around the tinsel wire. Clip off the excess at the end. Solder the wrapped wire to the replacement connector.

Plan B: Buy a new iPod earphone. They're cheaper than the replacment connector.

Wire-wrap was considered an adequate technique for a decade.

Sounds good.

Not using it as earbuds. Just re-purposing the cord for a corded single-earphone-with-mic unit. Have both, and am an avid "not to the landfill will you go" kind of guy...

And beside, I'll learn something new (ie, soldering tinsel wire).

Dave

Very interesting.

But how does this apply to my particular need?

Dave

I did something like that... I just teased the wire away from the fibers, cut the fibers, and the enamel on the wire burned off from the heat of the soldering iron.

George H.

I don't even bother to try to tease the fibers away. I just get a good blob of solder on the tip of the iron and push the wire into it. In my experience everything burns away except the wire. Eric

That works for "SolderEze" coated wire. Regular Formvar doesn't dissolve in solder. ...Jim Thompson

For which you would recommend...?

You can tin the wire in a solder pot...or blob of solder on the end of an iron. Problem is that it will break almost instantly at the transition point from stiff to flexible.

The technique mentioned above seems to be an excellent solution to that problem.

I don't understand the technique.

The wire is enameled (insulated). Do I prepare the wire by burning (or sanding) off some of the enamel first?

I start wrapping back a way and wrap toward the end of the wire?

Then I solder not the tinsel wire but only the wrapping wire beyond the end of the tinsel wire? This looks like there is no actual soldering of the tinsel at all (which is intentional, I presume, to avoid stress points).

No, I think the wrapping wire creates a strain relief for a way back from the point where you solder both the wrapping wire, the tinsel wires, and the mating wire.

I think...

Sorry. I couldn't tell if it was coated or bare tinsel.

Take a knife and scrape off some of the insulation. You don't need to remove all of it or completely, just enough to make at least one connection to the wrapping wire.

Yes. The part that goes over the insulation acts as a mechanical support to prevent breakage where the insulation ends. It's not necessary to tightly pack the windings together. A loose spiral is sufficient as long as there are multiple points of contact with the tinsel.

Correct.

Correct. You just need a mechanical connection. If this were some device that carried some current, such a method would not be suitable. However, since EP/Mic audio is very low power, a simple mechanical connection is sufficient.

Incidentally, I learned this method back in the 1960's during my phone phreaking days, when fixing tinsel telephone coil cords was became a side business because nobody had cheap replacement coil cords or insulation piercing spade lugs.

What does "ablating" look like ?>:-| ...Jim Thompson

My kind of guy/

Yes, even before I r ead your post, I remembed reading that enamel insulation burned off during soldering. I've never relied on that, but I guess I should have, since trying to scrape off the insulation is enough to break the metal fibers.

Another problem with very fine wire is that it dissolves in solder. They do make/sell solders with high copper content to deal with that. Ersin "savebit" is one such (sold with the idea that soldering iron bits will dissolve or erode more slowly if the solder already contains copper.

They make 'nasty' chemicals that will strip the enamel. But for relatively big wires I just burn it off with a butane torch/ lighter. For the fine wire the burn method is a bit dodgy, 'cause you can melt the copper too... turns into a little copper ball on the end of the wire.

Goerge H.