[Elecraft] Soldering Power Poles

[Kurt Pawlikowski]

Jim, Et Al,

     Just a note about what I heard regarding the crimp/solder debate: 
When you solder stranded wire, you loose strain relief. That is, under 
any flexing, individual strands tend to break. Granted, our application 
doesn't usually involve a lot of any type of strain, but it's a good 
thing to keep in mind.

     Regards,

     kurtt

     Kurt Pawlikowski, AKA WB9FMC
     The Pinrod Corporation
     kurtt at pinrod.com
     (773) 284-9500
     http://pinrod.com
On 12/11/2013 14:11, Jim Brown wrote:
>
>> I think cost new less than $50?
>
> Why would I want to spend $50 (plus shipping, of course) for a crimper 
> when the soldering iron I already own works really well? Some of my 
> techniques:
>
> 1) The biggest inserts are the most difficult to use, so I use them 
> only for the #10 wire for which they are designed. I first carefully 
> strip and tin the wire long enough so that the stripped conductor will 
> just fit inside the shell once the pin is inserted. That's because the 
> insulation of a larger cable often does not fit inside the shell. I 
> find that liquid flux applied to the wire before tinning keeps the 
> solder layer thin enough to fit in the insert. I then use the pliers 
> to fold the "wings" over the wire so that, when soldered, it will fit 
> in the shell.  I also use a drop of flux when soldering.
>
> 2) The middle-size insert will handle #12 if carefully stripped and 
> tinned, as above. Again, I use flux for the tinning, and also for 
> soldering to the pin.
>
> 3) I use a lot of the smallest inserts for small diameter cables, like 
> those from small accessories. I strip the conductors long enough that 
> I can fold the stripped part over itself with the folded length just 
> enough to fit in the pin. Again, a drop of flux helps the soldering 
> process.
>
> 4) I use a nice bench vise to hold the cable to which I am soldering, 
> orienting the cable upward so that the pin sits on it, and oriented so 
> that the V+ cable is on the right with the lip facing away from me.
>
> Once the pins are installed, I mate a red and black shell, put the two 
> shells in the vise, then carefully orient the pins and push them in 
> one at a time until the lip latches to the blade in the shell. For 
> smaller cable, I use a little green Xcelite screwdriver to push the 
> pin over the blade.
>
> In general, these techniques work well for almost any connector I need 
> to install, all the way up to PL259s and multipins of various sorts
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
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