Wheee more diy goodness...

Discussion in 'DIY Discussion' started by julian2002, Feb 15, 2005.

  1. julian2002

    julian2002 Muper Soderator

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    well, as my the new interconnect facilitating my direct injection plans has been delayed a few weeks i thought i'd have a go at making one of my own! so after impulse buying a soldering iron on sunday and a trip to maplins today i sat down this afternoon with an xlr plug, 2 phono plugs, 2m of coax and some silver solder. after 6 hours! much swearing, some burns and less hair than i started with, i now have a working 2 phono to 1 xlr cable for my 250. tested it with the variable outs from the squeezebox and it works fine - couldn;t go loud but it sounded pretty good too :eek:
    no doubt my soldering is laughably bad but it's taught me a lot and i'm going to have a go at soldering the internal wiring to my drivers next - instead of those horrible push fit terminals. probably do that next week though.
    much respect to those who make their own cables ,even more to those who do it commercially.
    cheers


    julian.
     
    julian2002, Feb 15, 2005
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  2. julian2002

    penance Arrogant Cock

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    Try SMT soldering mate, its maaking me blind!

    Congrats tho, satisfaction of creating it youself is the best bit:)
     
    penance, Feb 15, 2005
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  3. julian2002

    Dev Moderator

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    You people with masochistic tendencies.... :D.
     
    Dev, Feb 15, 2005
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  4. julian2002

    Chris Jennings

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    Yeah I've just finished a board with most of the ICs using 0.65mm or 0.5mm pitch, makes one crossed eyed real quick !!!

    Julian

    Try reading this as a starter.

    http://www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/solderfaq.htm

    The old fasioned method of learning how to solder was to bang some copper nails into a block of wood and practise soldering some bell wire to the nails. If you can do this without melting the insulation of the bell wire you can solder anything;)

    Chris
     
    Chris Jennings, Feb 16, 2005
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  5. julian2002

    julian2002 Muper Soderator

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    chris,
    after figuring out that soldering needs to be done damn quickly and that a meter of co-ax is a damn good heat sink i had a cast about and read up on things. things went pretty smoothly after that but the phono plugs are fantastically awfully soldered and the xlr end has more solder than is strictly necessary :D
    once i got the 'heat the components and blob on the solder' thing going it went ok but puting solder onto one bit and then trying to melt it and push a wire into the rapidly cooling solder is a bit of a non starter really :newbie:
    still the multimeter said it was all connected ok with no shorts so i was happy to give it a go. one thing, maplins only had 'black' phono plugs so i've had to use red cable ties to mark the right channel, rather in keeping with the entire heath robinson theme i have going i thought.
    cheers


    julian
     
    julian2002, Feb 16, 2005
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  6. julian2002

    zanash

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    Tin both bits to be soldered, then join them together reapply iron tip and then a little more solder remove iron and allow to cool. Sounds easy when said like that ! you get the nack after a few years!
     
    zanash, Feb 16, 2005
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  7. julian2002

    julian2002 Muper Soderator

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    hmm, i think i mistook 'tin' for 'cover in gobbets'. most of the 6 hours was spent trying to melt huge lumps of the stuff off the bit's i'd slathered it over. 2 things to remember here 1) buy a solder sucker and 2) don't clip large lumps of metal near the solder joint - they just make it take ages to heat up.
    still my new cable is doing duties in between my decade and 250 and music is issuing forth. i think the cable isn't letting the full goodness flood out though as i'm using the screen on the coax for the earth / return which is frowned upon i believe. still it works and i hopefully will be getting a proper one in the near future so hey ho.
    cheers


    julian.
     
    julian2002, Feb 16, 2005
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  8. julian2002

    Graham C

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    Julian, buy some old lead/tin solder before you damage something. It melts at about 75% of the temp of the new stuff - see archive posts. Especially speakers, where you could detach the copper 'tails' to the VC with excess heat
     
    Graham C, Feb 16, 2005
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  9. julian2002

    julian2002 Muper Soderator

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    i thought silver solder had a lower melting point than normal stuff? i'm actually thinking about leaving the speakers alone for now as the internal wire will be changing soon (hopefully).
    cheers


    julian.
     
    julian2002, Feb 16, 2005
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  10. julian2002

    michaelab desafinado

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    Nope - silver solder has higher melting point making it harder to work with.

    Michael.
     
    michaelab, Feb 16, 2005
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  11. julian2002

    penance Arrogant Cock

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    TBH, now the lead free policy is taking hold, most solder has a higher melting point than previous.
    Not sure on exact temps, but it has caused many problems with wave soldering etc..
     
    penance, Feb 16, 2005
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  12. julian2002

    julian2002 Muper Soderator

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    the maplins catalogue lies!!!!
    still not surprising though.
    cheers


    julian
     
    julian2002, Feb 16, 2005
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  13. julian2002

    Chris Jennings

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    Normal tin lead solder with a silver content is a lowerer melting point, silver solder is something diferent. i susspect from your comments that your iron is not big enought for the job, for soldering to large things like the earth of phono sockets you will need at least a 50W iron. A small cheap 15W job will just lead you to disapointment.

    chris
     
    Chris Jennings, Feb 16, 2005
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  14. julian2002

    julian2002 Muper Soderator

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    it's a 25w iron. once i had the technique right it was fine. the solder is 4% silver.
    cheers

    julian.
     
    julian2002, Feb 16, 2005
    #14
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