Soldering 101 for Audiophiles

I had fellow who installs landscaping (plastic pipes) tell me that he "is real good at sweating pipes" so I let him into my basement to replace a small area of galvanized.

As soon as I saw him torching the solder---not the pipe---I smiled and called a real plumber.

06-24-07: Davehrab
Here's a link with video tutorials to get you started

http://www.tangentsoft.net/elec/movies/

I agree.

He uses a pencil iron and a few extra tools; so realistic for the occassional DIY'er.

I just played the desoldering tutorial and there where plenty of good techniques there.

Make sure you use solder made for electronics, namely rosin-core solder. Don't use acid core solder - that's for plumbing.

Herman

I don't what you are really trying to say or accomplish, but I am always curious when someone on this forum says "why don't you just Google _________ ?!"

Having been online for at least a few hours a day since about 1997, I am pretty familiar with Google, and assume most Audiogoners are as well.

In my experience, this forum tends to be geared more towards audiophiles than a universal search engine and is therefore likely to offer a more concentrated source of audiophile friendly advice.

To everyone else, thank you - this all sounds pretty straightforward.

Cheers,

In general one should not rely on solder for mechanical strength. Crimp the wire to the terminal, and then add solder.

Plumbing soldering is a bit different, and probably as much a skill as electronic soldering. Of course you don't heat the solder, but you don't heat the pipe either. Only apply heat to the fitting, and the solder will be drawn into the connection when the pipe gets hot enough for solder applied at the joint to melt.