What wires can you solder

Silver solder is for traditional non-electrical welding and could damage your electrical equipment. Acid flux can eat the plastic insulation around your wires leading to shorts and possible fires. Luckily, the most popular consumer solder is a lead-free tin and copper alloy with a rosin core.

You need a soldering iron to apply solder to your wires. This hand tool uses a standard volt AC to melt the solder across the gap between tire threads creating the electrical connection. You can find them in several form factors such as a gun or a pen, letting you choose the format the best matches your skill and style.

However, you want a watt or a watt soldering pen if you are new to the world of soldering. You also want your iron to have the right tip or replaceable end piece. The most common tips are:. While not required, you might want a soldering iron stand to go with your soldering iron. Irons get hot enough to ignite nearby flammable materials.

A stand reduces your risks from accidental injuries and fires. For many soldering jobs, you can go with a simple iron. However, if you plan on doing several soldering projects, you should invest in a soldering station. Soldering stations are complete soldering kits. They provide temperature-adjustable soldering irons with a dedicated stand.

These devices also come with temperature sensors, cleaning sponges, alerts, and password protection. Another optional but important soldering tool is a sponge or a cloth for cleaning the tip. You can use a regular wet sponge for this cleaning.

A damp brass sponge tailored for cleaning electronics will mitigate these effects. Because you want to solder wires together, you will want something to hold them in place while applying your solder to them. You can rig something together yourself, but you can use a pre-made helping hand tool.

These tools provide 2 or more alligator clips that keep your hands free for soldering. Some models even offer a magnifying glass to help you see what you are doing. A desoldering braid is a fine woven wick that sucks up liquid solder. You use it like solder by pressing it against the joint with a hot soldering iron. It is a great tool that everyone should have in their soldering kit. A solder sucker is a mechanical vacuum that acts like a desoldering braid.

You first heat the solder and then run the sucker over it. It is an excellent tool if you have a lot to remove. Now that you have your tools and the basics, you must consider several safety precautions before pressing your soldering tip to your cables.

Soldering irons can easily get as hot as degrees Fahrenheit. Solder also releases harmful fumes as it melts. Now that you have your equipment, you can start splicing your wires together.

Because the same procedures work with any number of wires, our examples will deal with splicing two wires. Adjusting the steps for the third wire is easy enough. You can probably do all three at once if you are careful. Your first step when soldering anything is to prepare a workspace for it.

It is as simple as placing all the equipment you need for your project where you can reach it. For instance, you want your helping hands set up right in front of you with your soldering station off to your dominant side. This way, you will have control over your equipment without blocking your view. The next task on your list is to strip the ends of your wires. You want to remove enough insulation so that you can easily manipulate the coper threads inside.

There is no wrong length to strip as long as you strip all wires to the same length. If you make a mistake and cut the wire threads, you can remove the damaged ends and start again.

You can strip the wires with a knife or with a wire stripper. You can use any sharp knife, but you must make sure you cut your wires at a small angle towards the tip of the cable. You want to file through the insulation until you can remove the threads.

At which point, you want to remove the insulation and cut it off completely. While a knife works, you will find a wire stripper is easier to use. With a knife, you can accidentally cut the wire along with the insulation. The wrong gauge setting can cut through the wire or leave too much insulation. Luckily, you can get an automatic wire stripper, which will set itself for you.

With your wires stripped, it is time to bind them together. The first step in the process is to mesh them together into a single mass of copper. This is the most critical step in the process. So, you want to take it slow. If you mess things up here, you will ruin your project. Meshing two or more wires together is as simple as spreading out their threads and then interweaving them together. The current flows through each strand. So, you have some room for error, but you want to ensure you cannot easily pull the wires apart.

You can use this process on all your wires at once. You just crisscross them at angles to each other. Tips and Warnings. Things You'll Need. Related Articles. Part 1. All rights reserved. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc. Strip 1 in 2. Secure the jaws of a wire stripper 1 inch 2. Squeeze the handles together firmly together and pull the jaws toward the end of the wire to remove the insulation.

Just be careful not to cut through the actual wire inside. If you accidentally break strands off of a stranded wire, then the wire could cause a fuse to blow. Cut any remaining strands on the wire and try stripping it again. Slide a piece of heat-shrink tubing onto one of the wires. Slide the heat-shrink tubing onto one of the wires and move it at least 1 foot 30 cm away from the exposed end.

Twist the ends of the wires together to combine them. Line up the centers of the exposed wires so they form an X-shape. Bend one of the wires down to twist it around the other wire as tightly as you can so it has a firm connection.

Repeat the process with the other wire so your splice looks even on both sides. Clamp the wires in alligator clips to keep them off of your work surface.

Alligator clips are small metal grips that work well for holding wires in place without them moving around. Place the alligator clips vertically on a flat work surface so the jaws face up. Secure each of the wires into 1 alligator clip so the splice is supported off the work surface between them. Make sure you work in a well-ventilated space since the fumes from the soldering iron can be harmful.

Use a scrap piece of metal or a non-flammable material under the alligator clips to catch any solder spills.

Put rosin flux on the spliced wire to help the solder adhere better. Rosin flux is a compound that helps clean the wires and allows the solder to stick to them. Put a bead-sized amount of rosin flux on your finger and rub it over the exposed wires. Wipe any excess flux off of the wires with your finger or a paper towel. Part 2. Solder is usually made with a combination of metals that melt at a low temperature, like tin or lead.

Lead can be harmful if you consume it, so make sure to wash your hands thoroughly after you solder with it. You can also get lead-free solder, but it may be more difficult to work with. Melt solder on the tip of your soldering iron to prevent oxidation. Put on a pair of safety glasses to protect your eyes. Turn on your soldering iron and let it heat up completely, which should only take a few minutes.

Hold the end of your solder directly on the end of the iron so a thin layer of it melts onto the iron. Continue putting solder on the iron until it has a shiny appearance.

Hold the soldering iron against the bottom of the splice to heat the flux. Soldering is the process of using a filler material solder to join pieces of metal together. Soldering occurs at relatively low temperatures around degrees Fahrenheit as compared to brazing and welding, which actually melt and fuse the materials themselves at higher temperatures.

In soldering the filler material becomes liquid, coats the pieces it is brought into contact with, and is then allowed to cool. As the solder cools it hardens, and the two materials are joined. Soldering is a quick way to join many types of materials, from copper pipe to stained glass. It creates an electrically conductive strong bond between components that can be re-heated desoldered if you should ever want to disconnect two items joined together.

It's great for joining electrical components and wires and is used in just about everything electronic. In this Instructable I explain how to solder the basics you see in most Instructables: electrical components and wires.

For further information and some more technical specs on soldering check out the wikipedia article. As with many skills, having the right tools for the job effects the quality of the work being done. When it comes to soldering you can end up using a lot of fancy tools, or just a few simple items you can pick up at the hardware store for a couple of bucks. I am going to use a couple of different soldering tools in this Instructable; there are many ways to solder, and you should use what works for you.

At the very minimum you will need the solder and a heat source to melt it - preferably something small which can get to degrees Fahrenheit. If you've got that, your ready to make a connection. That being said, there are a wide range of soldering tools and accessories that can be really helpful if you're going to be soldering frequently. Ladyada has compiled a nice list of equipment and sources to buy the tools on her site. I got together a solid supply of soldering tools by raiding the Squid Labs soldering station.

Here is the complete list of what I used Soldering iron Most people opt for using a soldering iron to solder. It's a great heat source that heats up and cools down quickly and can maintain a pretty constant temperature. Soldering irons can be purchased from a variety of places. I have picked up some at Radioshack - evil yes, but convenient, some from the hardware store, some from garage sales and a bunch more from retailers online. Low wattage watt soldering irons work best for soldering components on circuit boards while more powerful watt soldering irons work well joining thicker materials like braided speaker wire.

If you use too powerful of a soldering iron on a circuit board you might damage the components you are trying to join. I like to keep a low-wattage iron around for detail work, and a high-wattage iron that I can use when I am not too concerned about exposing the material I am working with to high temperatures.

It's a real pain to solder thick wires without a powerful soldering iron. The soldering iron in most of the pictures is made by Weller, and has a variable temperature control. This is the best of both worlds since you can set the heat exactly where you want it, but it's significantly more expensive than fixed-temperature irons. If you're just going to do some occasional soldering it isn't a must have by any means.

Solder There are lots of kinds of solder available. They come in different thicknesses from around. You use thin solder for detailed work like putting resistors onto circuit boards and thicker solder for joining larger materials like speaker wire.

I use solder around. Recent international health codes from Japan and the EU California and New York have adopted similar policies as well mandate that lead solder be phased out of certain commercial products and substituted with a lead-free alternative. The manufacturing deadline was this past July so we should be seeing the changes now. Even if you don't live in California or New York its still worth staying away from lead solder since lead has been known to cause all kinds of a nasty health effects from birth defects to severe developmental and neurological damage.

Plus it's pretty easy to find the lead-free stuff. Some solder will contain a small amount of silver. This pushes the melting temperature up a bit, but the silver helps the solder to flow and makes a stronger joint. If you are worried about burning whatever your working with, try to stay away from solder with silver in it, but it works very well if you're just joining wires or something that won't be easily damaged.

The last thing to know about solder is that you want to use a solder that has a rosin core. The rosin acts as a flux when soldering and helps the connection - it's also the kind that's most readily available at the hardware store and from electronics suppliers. Soldering iron tips Soldering irons come with a tip, so you don't have to go out and get a special one, but it's important to know the differences between them and make sure you're using the right tip for the kind of soldering you're doing.

Some small-wattage irons come with conical pointed tips for detail work, while most high-wattage irons come with a flatter screwdriver-style tip that works well on wires. You want your tip to be a little smaller than whatever you are soldering so you have good control of what you heat up and what you leave alone. Soldering iron holder and cleaning sponge It's nice to have a safe place to put the soldering iron down in between soldering.

A soldering stand safely holds the iron and gives you a place to clean the tip. Some soldering irons come with their own holders. If yours doesn't have one, you can buy one or make one. The stand isn't a necessity for learning how to solder, but it does help. Tools to work with wires I have a go-to stock of tools that I round up when working with wires or electrical components.

They consist of wire cutters, a wire stripper, needle nose pliers, and an automatic wire stripper courtesy of the Squid Labs soldering station.

The automatic wire stripper is really convenient if you're going to be stripping lots and lots of wire, but by no means necessary. I have stripped lots and lots of speaker wire using my teeth not the best idea, I know I know. Clips to hold your work Often called "third hands" or "helping hands," these little guys help a whole lot when soldering. You have to hold the soldering iron with one hand and the solder wire in the other, so it really helps to have something else to hold the components you're actually trying to join.

You can use alligator clips, clamps, or even some tape to hold things in place if you need to. The third hand is generally a good investment if your going to be soldering regularly, and there are plenty of Instructables with with ideas to modify them if you do happen to pick one up. If you would like to make a set of helping hands of your own there are already a number of good Instructables on that too.

Exhaust fan I do most of my soldering at a soldering station that is equipped with an exhaust fan. It's really not such a good idea to breathe in solder fumes, and soldering does produce fumes. Vent the fumes outside or use an indoor fan with a filter if you can't vent them outdoors.

Here is a Window-mounted solder fume extractor not just for RVs! Also check out Dr. Solomon's low tech, but functional Solder Fume Extractor if you're looking to build something that you can place right on your table. If you're just doing a quick soldering job, the fumes wont kill you by any means. I have certainly done my fair share of soldering without a vent, but anyone doing repetitive soldering should definitely pick one up or make one.

Safety goggles I hadn't ever used goggles before while soldering, but while doing research for this post I saw it mentioned elsewhere and agree that its a good idea. Little molten bits of solder tend to fly out of the soldering joint when you're feeding in the solder, and if it landed in your eye it wouldn't feel too good. The materials that you want to join together I was just messing around, and mostly soldering for the purpose of this Instructable so my materials didn't necessarily make anything.

You can solder wire, electrical components like resistors and capacitors, circuits, breadboards, electrodes, small pieces of metal and whatever else you can think of. Don't know if it can be soldered?

Give it a try - you won't blow anything up. Once I get my tools rounded up I like to plug in my soldering iron and let it heat up while prepping my materials. First things first, the tip of the soldering gets hot - up to degrees Fahrenheit, so don't touch it.

I know this seems obvious, but many people seem to burn themselves at some point while soldering. If you're using a new soldering iron you will want to put a small amount of solder on the tip of the hot iron before you start working.

This is called tinning the iron and you only have to do it with a new iron. Once you start using it will usually have some solder on it already and be ready to go. Once the iron reaches temperature some irons take minutes to do this and some irons take seconds , I like to clean the tip of my iron on a wet sponge.

You can wet the sponge on your soldering base if you have one, or you can just use a damp sponge or steel wool. Gently touch the tip of the soldering iron to the sponge and clean off any old bits of solder that might be stuck to it. It will sizzle a bit; this is normal.

I asked Mitch, a soldering expert who works at the control tower by day and is numberandom by night, for some tips.