[Elecraft] K3 Solder Help

[Tom Hammond]

Bob:

>I bought a Sennheiser Headset to use with my K3, and the stereo headset
>audio plug is defective.  I wanted to put on a new plug and discovered to my
>dismay that my 60/40 solder does not stick to what looks like a copper wire.
>Any suggestions?

Chances are that it might be copper 'tinsel' (thin flat copper strips, twisted
with cotton thread) to give the cord a lot of flexibility.

If it IS tinsel, any time you attempt to solder to it (as-is) you'll burn the
threads first and they'll foul the copper for taking up solder.

The ONLY way I've found to satisfactorily solder to tinsel is to wrap the tip
of the tinsel with a VERY FIND BARE COPPER WIRE (like a single strand 
of stranded
#24 wire... e.g a #30 or so bare copper wire).  Wrap the turns around the tip
of the tinsel and wrap the turns up against each other.  Once wrapped, solder
to the wrapped wire. This will quickly accept solder and transfer the heat to
the copper in the tinsel quickly enough that it'll accept solder before the
threads get to burn.

Good luck,

Merry Christmas,

Tom Hammond   N0SS