... How can I make a connection
to these conductors? Strip the varnish & solder, or can a crimp
connection be made through it?
I have a length of wire that's from an ear-pod. The outer diameter is
only about 1mm and there are 2 conductors, each consisting of 8 strands
of very fine filaments twisted together:
https://imgur.com/a/ybBRxHQ (the scale is mm's)
Each filament is insulated with a varnish. How can I make a connection
to these conductors? Strip the varnish & solder, or can a crimp
connection be made through it? If strip, how to? Is it not copper &
not solder-able? Or is it not even practical to re-use this wire at
all? So many questions, but I hope that I can save a LOT of trial &
error if somebody has experience with this.
BTW - I want to use this for its size & flexibility, to attach an LED to
be fed into small spaces for illumination.
Thanks, Bob
Each filament is insulated with a varnish. How can I make a connection
to these conductors? Strip the varnish & solder, or can a crimp
connection be made through it? If strip, how to? Is it not copper &
not solder-able? Or is it not even practical to re-use this wire at
all? So many questions, but I hope that I can save a LOT of trial &
error if somebody has experience with this.
BTW - I want to use this for its size & flexibility, to attach an LED to
be fed into small spaces for illumination.
Depending on the varnish there are several ways to get it off not
counting the scrapeing . Some will burn the varnish off with the heat
of the soldering iron. On others I have taken a butane lighter and
burnt off the insulation then clean off the burnt part.
Depending on the varnish there are several ways to get it off not
counting the scrapeing . Some will burn the varnish off with the heat
of the soldering iron. On others I have taken a butane lighter and
burnt off the insulation then clean off the burnt part.
My experience with trying to connect enamel-coated wire (much thicker
gauge than yours) to a 'chocolate block' terminal was that the screw cut through the copper before it punctured the enamel. ...
In the past I have connected fine wires made of 'unsolderable' material
using a 'Mitcham tagstrip', (so called because Philips and Mullard
radios used them). Wind about 6 turns of thin tinned copper wire around
the shank of a small drill bit, then thread the unsolderable wire
through it and fill it with solder. This usually results in a
connection, especially if you scrape the wire a bit while it is
surrounded by molten solder.
If that is a bit too big for your purposes, you could try something
similar by lacing the wire through a solder blob on a small piece of perforated Veroboard.
Some sort of chemical etch to remove the enamel would be ideal but I don't know of any. ...
What has worked for me is to use some extremely fine sandpaper, e.g. >500 grit and gently drag it across the strands. It is a delicate balance of using enough force to mechanically remove the enamel and not stress/break the strands. I've also use aexacto/modeling knife to scrape away the enamel but not nicking the wire to the point of breaking it is tricky. A magnifying glass comes in hands for this kind of work.
There is also a technique where thin solder is wrapped around the joint, heat the wires and at some point the solder will melt.
I don't know of any crimp that would work in this situation as they use mechanical force to make a connection. With this fine a wire, I don't think it would hold up.
brush on may help.
Depending on the varnish there are several ways to get it off not
counting the scrapeing . Some will burn the varnish off with the heat
of the soldering iron. On others I have taken a butane lighter and
burnt off the insulation then clean off the burnt part.
Most varnish will break down at soldering temperature. To get up to temp work against a firm insulating surface ( newspaper) (rather than working in mid-air) so you get good pressure and heat transfer. Tin the wires the same way. having extra flux to
On 11/27/2021 12:12 PM, Three Jeeps wrote:exacto/modeling knife to scrape away the enamel but not nicking the wire to the point of breaking it is tricky. A magnifying glass comes in hands for this kind of work.
Some sort of chemical etch to remove the enamel would be ideal but I don't know of any. ...
I have a bottle of methylene chloride (the stuff good paint strippers
used to be made with) - it would be worth a try.
What has worked for me is to use some extremely fine sandpaper, e.g. >500 grit and gently drag it across the strands. It is a delicate balance of using enough force to mechanically remove the enamel and not stress/break the strands. I've also use a
"it is tricky" indeed - I have had the frustration of trying. I mightMethylene chloride is what we used as a stripper when we soldered ends
come to being desperate enough to do it again.
...
There is also a technique where thin solder is wrapped around the joint, heat the wires and at some point the solder will melt.
That would be a good way to keep all those tiny strands in place
I don't know of any crimp that would work in this situation as they use mechanical force to make a connection. With this fine a wire, I don't think it would hold up.
I agree
Thanks for the help
I have a length of wire that's from an ear-pod. The outer diameter is
only about 1mm and there are 2 conductors, each consisting of 8 strands
of very fine filaments twisted together:
https://imgur.com/a/ybBRxHQ (the scale is mm's)
Each filament is insulated with a varnish. How can I make a connection
to these conductors? Strip the varnish & solder, or can a crimp
connection be made through it? If strip, how to? Is it not copper &
not solder-able? Or is it not even practical to re-use this wire at
all? So many questions, but I hope that I can save a LOT of trial &
error if somebody has experience with this.
BTW - I want to use this for its size & flexibility, to attach an LED to
be fed into small spaces for illumination.
Thanks, Bob
With earphone cables it has been my experience that you can simply
solder the wires without stripping them. The coating seems to
vanish under the solder flux.
In article <gQqoJ.126330$IW4.67570@fx48.iad>, BobEngelhardt@comcast.net says...
Each filament is insulated with a varnish. How can I make a connection
to these conductors? Strip the varnish & solder, or can a crimp
connection be made through it? If strip, how to? Is it not copper &
not solder-able? Or is it not even practical to re-use this wire at
all? So many questions, but I hope that I can save a LOT of trial &
error if somebody has experience with this.
BTW - I want to use this for its size & flexibility, to attach an LED to
be fed into small spaces for illumination.
Depending on the varnish there are several ways to get it off not
counting the scrapeing . Some will burn the varnish off with the heat
of the soldering iron. On others I have taken a butane lighter and
burnt off the insulation then clean off the burnt part.
In article <MPG.3c0c338eb52d0d5e989b75@news.eternal-september.org>, rmowery42@charter.net says...
In article <gQqoJ.126330$IW4.67570@fx48.iad>, BobEngelhardt@comcast.net says...
Each filament is insulated with a varnish. How can I make a connection to these conductors? Strip the varnish & solder, or can a crimp connection be made through it? If strip, how to? Is it not copper &
not solder-able? Or is it not even practical to re-use this wire at
all? So many questions, but I hope that I can save a LOT of trial & error if somebody has experience with this.
BTW - I want to use this for its size & flexibility, to attach an LED to be fed into small spaces for illumination.
Depending on the varnish there are several ways to get it off not
counting the scrapeing . Some will burn the varnish off with the heat
of the soldering iron. On others I have taken a butane lighter and
burnt off the insulation then clean off the burnt part.
Decades ago I recall a varnish that was specificaally formulated to
become a flux when soldering. So I am sure it is possible, but whether
that is what you have got is a different matter!
We have a winner.
Trying the simplest first, I used a soldering iron to burn off the
varnish. And threw on some solder to conduct the heat better. To my
great surprise, the solder stuck. Worried that maybe it looked good,
but was just sticking, without making good contact, I checked the
resistance. 0.7R with a so-so DMM. That's over 4 feet of conductor.
Good enough for me.
https://imgur.com/pmAyafu
I have a length of wire that's from an ear-pod. The outer diameter is
only about 1mm and there are 2 conductors, each consisting of 8 strands
of very fine filaments twisted together:
https://imgur.com/a/ybBRxHQ (the scale is mm's)
Each filament is insulated with a varnish. How can I make a connection
to these conductors? Strip the varnish & solder, or can a crimp
connection be made through it? If strip, how to? Is it not copper &
not solder-able? Or is it not even practical to re-use this wire at
all? So many questions, but I hope that I can save a LOT of trial &
error if somebody has experience with this.
Decades ago I recall a varnish that was specificaally formulated to
become a flux when soldering. So I am sure it is possible, but whether
that is what you have got is a different matter!
Back in the stone age, when telephone coil cord wiring was made of
"tinsel" (copper foil), we had a similar problem. I would strip off
any insulation from the tinsel wires with either furniture stripper, desoldering braid or Xacto knife. However, instead of soldering
directly to the tinsel, I would find the smallest diameter uninsulated
wire strand and wrap the tinsel with the fine wire. To give it more strength, I would continue wrapping around any remaining insulation.
After wrapping, apply solder.
remove some of the solder you added.
There is a further hazard which nobody has mentioned yet: if the wires
are very fine (48swg or higher) and they are made of copper, they will dissolve in ordinary solder. The way to overcome this is to use a
solder that is already saturated with copper, such as "Savbit".
It rarely causes a problem with normal work, but becomes significant in
the repair of moving coil meters and similar fine work.
On 11/29/2021 5:34 AM, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
There is a further hazard which nobody has mentioned yet: if the wires
are very fine (48swg or higher) and they are made of copper, they will dissolve in ordinary solder. The way to overcome this is to use a
solder that is already saturated with copper, such as "Savbit".
It rarely causes a problem with normal work, but becomes significant in
the repair of moving coil meters and similar fine work.
I didn't measure the strands, but 8 of them twisted together made a
0.01" diameter conductor. Pretty fine. Time will tell, but with any
luck I'll be dead before it's a problem.
Bob Engelhardt <BobEngelhardt@comcast.net> wrote:
On 11/29/2021 5:34 AM, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
There is a further hazard which nobody has mentioned yet: if the wires
are very fine (48swg or higher) and they are made of copper, they will
dissolve in ordinary solder. The way to overcome this is to use a
solder that is already saturated with copper, such as "Savbit".
It rarely causes a problem with normal work, but becomes significant in
the repair of moving coil meters and similar fine work.
I didn't measure the strands, but 8 of them twisted together made a
0.01" diameter conductor. Pretty fine. Time will tell, but with any
luck I'll be dead before it's a problem.
I really hope I have misunderstood your reply: the copper dissolves
during soldering, not afterwards; so unless you are doing something remarkably careless, you should still be alive at the end of it.
:-)
On 11/30/2021 11:19 AM, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
Bob Engelhardt <BobEngelhardt@comcast.net> wrote:
On 11/29/2021 5:34 AM, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
There is a further hazard which nobody has mentioned yet: if the wires >>> are very fine (48swg or higher) and they are made of copper, they will >>> dissolve in ordinary solder. The way to overcome this is to use a
solder that is already saturated with copper, such as "Savbit".
It rarely causes a problem with normal work, but becomes significant in >>> the repair of moving coil meters and similar fine work.
I didn't measure the strands, but 8 of them twisted together made a
0.01" diameter conductor. Pretty fine. Time will tell, but with any
luck I'll be dead before it's a problem.
I really hope I have misunderstood your reply: the copper dissolves
during soldering, not afterwards; so unless you are doing something remarkably careless, you should still be alive at the end of it.
:-)
I'm the one who misunderstood. For some reason, although you did not
even imply it, I took it to mean that the copper would dissolve over time.
Mike Coon <gravity@mjcoon.plus.com> wrote:
In article <MPG.3c0c338eb52d0d5e989b75@news.eternal-september.org>,
rmowery42@charter.net says...
In article <gQqoJ.126330$IW4.67570@fx48.iad>, BobEngelhardt@comcast.net
says...
Each filament is insulated with a varnish. How can I make a connection >> > > to these conductors? Strip the varnish & solder, or can a crimp
connection be made through it? If strip, how to? Is it not copper &
not solder-able? Or is it not even practical to re-use this wire at
all? So many questions, but I hope that I can save a LOT of trial &
error if somebody has experience with this.
BTW - I want to use this for its size & flexibility, to attach an LED to >> > > be fed into small spaces for illumination.
Depending on the varnish there are several ways to get it off not
counting the scrapeing . Some will burn the varnish off with the heat
of the soldering iron. On others I have taken a butane lighter and
burnt off the insulation then clean off the burnt part.
Decades ago I recall a varnish that was specificaally formulated to
become a flux when soldering. So I am sure it is possible, but whether
that is what you have got is a different matter!
It's very common nowadays, so the chances are that these wires will be >insulated with it.
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