Soldering 550m of copper wire

step one: order 600m of tinned copper wire.

done!

eg:

"some time" is an understatement. This is wrong newsgroup for what is essentially a industrial process.

The most obvious question is "why"?

You've asked in .basics so it may be that your logic about this is faulty. You've not explained what this is about, simply want a solution, and from experience here since before sci.electronics was split up into the current subgroups, people often ask questions that are the wrong questions, since they haven't started with the actual question.

I can't see why you need solder coated copper wire. I can see why you might want it protected against tarnish, I can see why you might want to make it easier to solder to, I can see why you might want it to keep hi Q if this wire is used for winding coils, but all of that comes other ways, not coating it in solder.

Michael

Maybe a troll? He can buy tinned wire and he is talking about doing two football fields of wire.

I think it would be cheaper to get tinned copper wire ready made..

However, if you insist, a solder pot with a deep roller in it so you can wrap the wire around it and pull.

Jamie

"Jasen Bleats"

... Phil

Probably an acid bath first, to get the oxides off, then a flux dip. After the solder bath, some stripper to remove the excess. A big deal.

---------- Yes, as you mention it this are different things. In this alloy i have to use 70 or more % of lead.

Solder pot and solder bath suggested by Jamie and John is the only solution. The problem is that i dont know if this will work. I can melt lead and put some tin in it to get the alloy but will this alloy stick to wire ?

In general it should be no problem if the wire is oxides free...

Yes - did something similar with hot melt glue and ordinary magnet wire.

But you'd have to watch out for corrosion or possibly run the wire through a bath of flux before hitting the solder.

Iron doesn't "take" solder well - or not with any flux I know of...

Zinc coated (galvanized) will work with flux. Not easily or well, but it can be done.

you too

---------------- OK. Thank you !

About any wire you'd want to tin, will have an oxide layer and you need to pre-treat with some kind of flux.

In the tinning process, your alloy doesn't "stick" to the wire - it alloys to the wire surface.

As for iron wire - in my first year at college, the lecturer demonstrated a little trick, first he snapped a thin iron rod and dipped the broken ends in a bath of mercury - nothing happened. Next he snapped an iron rod while it was submerged in the mercury bath - this time the mercury alloyed into the broken ends.

The demonstration shows that exposed iron immediately forms an oxide layer - I use *active* plumbers flux for stainless steel bicycle bowden cable, iron may need even more aggressive flux than that!

There are some strong acids used in the building trade that seem to take over where the strongest soldering fluxes leave off.

I had a gallon can of acid for darkening brickwork, unfortunately the can got damaged laying around in the shed and I rescued the surviving contents into a dishwash detergent bottle - so I don't have the product name or make.

The acid can also strip the iron plating off the soldering bit, so I use it only when I have to and only with a heavily tinned bit.

And then you have electroplate.

Jamie

That reminds me of all the debate in the amateur radio magazines about soldering to aluminum. No it can't, yes it can. ANd then when it was esplained, one I scheme I remember was "liberally apply oil to the surface, scrape the surface under the oil, then start soldering" or something like that. The oil keeping it from oxidizing, the scraping to thet the existing oxidation off.

Michael

"John Fields" "Phil Allison"

Do try to follow the context - f*****ad.

... Phil

This sounds like a real PITA. What is the purpose? (Maybe there is some o ther solution?) Once you get away from the eutectic mix of tin and lead th e solder has this temperature range where it's not really solid or liquid.. but this weird mixture, I have no idea what happens when you try and coat a wire with it.

You might try a post on the rec.crafts.metalworking. Lots of political 'ju nk', but just ignore that.

George H.

I've heard much the same thing - but if you can afford it, a roll of Alusol is much easier.

A company I worked for made an ultrasonic solder dip for soldering aluminium - allegedly didn't require any flux.

As usual your question is based on flawed premise and ignorant of context.